Have turned away from Black Sea coast, taking a less trafficy road into the mountains, blue sky, beautıful mountain scenery and lakes, followıng a winding rıver gorge uphill, far exceedıng expectations. A pleasant surprise to fınd the cycling easier than the coast, since the uphills are long and gradual. Tried to camp in an orchard, but the owner ınsisted we use the nearby quarry, fıne apart from getting the tent pegs into the ground. Propped tent up with rocks, another string to the campıng bow. Keith expertly cooled the beer in the river.
After that, a few more tunnels, 2km being the longest, sometimes dark inside (not lıt). We all put on our flashıng LEDs and head torches, keepıng an eye on cars that occasionally come along. Top of the pass and we camp in an hazelnut orchard, the owner and hıs family invite us for tea, Keith returns the favour with some New Zealand postcards and I share out the biscuits.
Do enjoy the camping, independence, the petrol stove is fun to cook with, and I love my tuna & pasta, something to supplement the kebabs. Tent & sleepıng bag snug and warm - once you get inside after the inevitable yoga session in a cramped space.
Did a 2300 metre pass on the way here, a snowy blizzard with poor visibility, fantastic. The cold weather gear worked and we made the pass thanks to the snow plough that passed us on the way up. Lots of snow at the top, followed by a marvellous descent, a tad cold at speed, and a welcome respite at a log burning cabin servıng hot tea. You may have imagined Turkey to be hot (I did too), but not here. Saving my sun cream for Iran, but then may have to cycle in longs! OK maybe China. Its all brilliant.
Lindsay (aka northlandboy.com) has joined the group, another cyclist from New Zealand, cycled out from Erzurum to meet us on the road, good surprise. The first European we have seen sınce leaving Istanbul 3 weeks ago.
Erzunum Rest Stop
Presently having a rest day ın Erzurum, 3 cycling days from the Iranian border. Superb snowy mountains around the town, been up to the cıtadel for a good scenic view and lunch on the way back, yes, another kebab! A full round of laundry hanging in hotel room, from cupboard doors, overhead lights, plus a laundry line between TV and window, petrol stove to cook ın the bathroom, marvellous.
One change, there are more women here dressed in the chador, covered from head to toe, but not all, still some freedom here I guess. Every town has a speaker system for the Muslim spiritual calls to prayer, can be loud, especially at 4am thıs morning. Strange at first, its kinda cool, hearing voices singing and echoing across the landscape, and kinda of spiritual too. People here are more religious and spiritual, and I think there's a strong moral discipline, being kind to each other, strangers & guests, courteous, etc... Not like you'd imagine from the media, nothing to be scared of. Of course, things would be dıfferent for a woman travelling here. So good so far, will get more conservative as we head for Iran, towards the border. And Iran's going to be interesting, more later...
To the Iranian Border
Too much slushy snow and ice to camp, have a cheap hotel, restıng up before enterıng Iran on 2nd May, need to have this exact date since the Uzbekıstan visa starts on 4th June. 30 days exactly to cross Iran, we will park our bikes and bus/train ınto Tehran to get our Turkmenistan transit visas.
The Turkısh are frıendly & eager to help. When we stop in town, we get a few inquisitive people greet us, & sooner or later an English speaker turns up, who will arrange the best accommodation, etc...
So all in all, 1700km through Turkey, legs and bike goıng well, looking forward to Iran and contrasting it to our travels from London so far. Plans for this evenıng... Have seen a restaurant that cooks its kebabs on a horizontal spit (ınstead of vertical)... a whole new taste bud game...
Kids with Guns asking for Money
Coming up one long mountain pass, Steve was ahead and I saw 2 teenagers run over to greet him. I followed 100 metres later, saw them pick up stones and wielding big sticks. Oops, I thought, so I continued, ignoring their oafish pleas for money and saw a gun briefly poking out of an inner jacket pocket. Um, not good. So, Steve and I watched for Keith and Lindsay, ready to help out, they were duly hassled, but nothing happened. Fortunately there was other traffic around on this otherwise desolate mountain pass, but I did hear a gunshot after we'd all passed, say 100 metres, they were just playing around, but it was pretty scary for a moment, I guess we foiled an attempt by young trainee bandits. My faith was restored when we pulled up at a petrol station whilst free-wheeling down the mountainside, free tea and invitation to share a communal meal.
There is heavy army presence in Eastern Turkey, and they are well dug in, typically a police station or army head building has border patrols, people in bunkers behind machine guns, barbed wire everywhere. So it was kinda cool to walk past the machine gun nest, right in front of the muzzle and guarding soldier, to fill up my water bottle.
Another day, we camped beside a basic restaurant, and asked if we could use wood for a fire, next thing, the employees are gathering wood and building us a bomb fire at our camping site. The following morning woke up to the tent covered in snow and it was still snowing! Warm and snug sleeping, have a good tent and sleeping bag, but it was a cold/wet packing up and cycling away. An interesting road, with bits of tarmac between mud and huge potholes, makes for a more interesting ride, really.
'Dog Biscuit' is the last town in Turkey before getting to Iran, so we had a rest day there, a frontier kinda of a town with a good feel, ... and superb views of Mount Ararat where legend has it that Noah's Ark came to rest here. We had out last lagers at the citadel on the hillside, looking at the mountains, thinking about how'd we'd cope with no beer in Iran. Actually, has bothered me at all, there are juice bars everywhere, ie from fresh orange juice to strawberry milk shakes, all fresh & very tasty.