Monday 20 October

First job was to locate someone to refill gas bottle which we did at Milangaz. Also had a look around the souk (the things they were making out of old tyres – baskets etc) the mosaic museum (quite the best we have seen and well worth a visit), and the first Christian church (St. Sophia) cut out of the rock.

A good road lead to the custom ports of Turkey (very pleasant and quick) and Syria (pleasant but very, very slow). We left Bab-el-Hawei at 2.00, stopped for lunch and decided to press on to Hams for the night instead of going to Aleppo. The road was terrible as it was being rebuilt causing all traffic to take to the side consisting of mud and sand. We passed, slowly, along the road. It was raining by then and the windscreen wipers stopped. All ideas were tried including string through both windows tied to the blade and being pulled by A and me alternatively – but to no avail. As darkness settled all we could do was to continually wipe the screen.

At last Homs and, after obtaining directions, we found the Youth Hostel – charming people in this small hostel but the place was a bit grot. We went out for a coffee and met a [half] English speaking bank manager who introduced us to his friends (one of whom took us home to meet his wife and children). After a tour of the town (including the man’s parents and large houses) we went to bed at the hostel (total cost 4/-).