Into Iraq – 2017

Northern Iraq 2017 (Phase 1 complete – bike reached Bulgaria late July ready for onward movement in August): UK – France – Belgium – Germany – Austria – Hungary – Romania – Bulgaria

KTM being cared for in Bulgaria pending next phase

Northern Iraq 2017 (Stage 2) August: Bulgaria – Turkey –  Iraq

Burgas, Bulgaria to Sulaymaniyah/Slemani, Kurdistan via Turkey (Istanbul, Adana, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Şırnak and Cizre) into Iraq at the Ibrahim Khalil Border Crossing.  Some lengthy security checkpoints in Southern Turkey and a lot of questions at the border…. but considerably more relaxed on the Kurdish side.  

Over the next couple of weeks I visited Duhok, Amedi, Erbil, Halabja, Sulaymaniyah and many other  small towns and villages.  I visited the border village of Tawella طويلة next to Iran in the east and watched the sun set from the Neanderthal burial cave at Shanidar in the north, close to Turkey.  Wonderful place; gracious, kind people.

And the bike was left behind c/o some very security minded men in green… to be collected in 2018.

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