It may have taken four hours in total, but we were successful in the end and had a much quieter and fully functioning Land Rover by lunch time. Quite a lot of the time was taken unpacking and repacking in order to get to the spare UJ, find all the right tools, our coveralls and the grease, all of which were buried under and behind our everyday baggage. Anne also started to get frustrated by all the kids that kept stopping to have a look and the would be mechanics who tried to lend a hand. We did get some genuine enquires as to whether we required help, with directions to nearby garages, but we were determined to do it ourselves.
For a test drive, we retracted our route back up the Euphrates about 40 miles to visit the fortresses at Halabiyya on the southern bank and Zalabiyya on the northern. I wouldn't call either must sees, and the overcast skies didn't help, but it was a nice drive back along the other side of the river, through farming communities. A mix of concrete and mud brick houses, washing lines full of brightly coloured kids clothing, flocks of floppy eared sheep, donkeys carrying very big loads, piles of braches for firewood, and, unfortunately, lots of rubbish lined the road. We had to cross a somewhat rickety pontoon bridge at one point, but having seen a lorry go over ahead we were fairly confident that it would support our weight. SPOT
Arriving back at our hotel in Dayr as Zawr four Italian overland motorcyclists pulled in; looks like Syria is the place to go.
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