Darende - Kayseri

Days 131 - 136

I wake up after an amazing, warm sleep in my hotel room. I have grand plans for the day - rest, type some blog, eat, read my book etc. I go out only for a short while to buy some food. 

In my little hotel room I fire up my stove and make some food. My warm showers host in Van had made stuffed capsicums on the stove top. I was sure this could be replicated on my camping stove. 

I set to work and soon enough I have some delicious stuffed capsicums ready to eat. I think this is the greatest thing I have ever cooked on my stove. 

The following morning it is time to head off. I have a couchsurfing host arranged in Kayseri, 230km away.  I wonder if I can get there in three days. Normally I would say for sure but there are 2 passes to go over and the previous week had brought small mileage each day. 

I make fast kilometres in the morning. The landscape has changed. The muddy, ploughed fields of the previous week has been replaced by loose, sandy soil, the occasional sheep herder out and about. 

I make it over the first pass easily and then I head back down to the plains, at a lofty 1600m. I don't want to camp this high. It will just be too cold. About an hour before sunset I make my way into a small village and find a lady out and about. I go through the awkward sign language conversation of 'do you know where I can sleep?'  She points me in the direction of her house. 

I am hustled into the warmth, given çay and food and made to feel at home. The hospitality of Eastern Turkey continues to live up to its reputation. Despite a massive language barrier the family seems genuinely happy for me to stay and very interested in all my photos. 

After a large breakfast (roast potatoes and gozleme) I head further west. The last pass between Kayseri and me is a breeze. After a small descent I continue along undulating steppe.  I have a quick stop in town to find some internet (couchsurfing arranging) and continue to another village. I find two women washing carpets at the water fountain. Soon enough I have a warm place to sleep tonight. 

After two pretty long days of cycling I am fairly tired. The family are great. I am literally tucked into my bed. 

I only have about 80km to get to Kayseri and I am pretty sure I can do it. My expected descent takes 70km to appear. I just put my head down and grind out the miles. Mt Erciyes looms ahead of me, I edge closer and eventually past the giant monolith. 

I have heard so many amazing things about cappadocia and the landscape. I was expecting the ride into the area to be a little more interesting than it was. Turns out I still have a days ride before I am in Cappadocia proper. 

Nonetheless, I am now in Kayseri, I have a great couchsurfing host and plan on a couple of rest days before continuing. 

Ahmet, my couchsurfing host is an architect and is very busy running his business. He largely leaves me to my own devices. I spend a couple of days doing my washing, eating vast quantities of food, catching up on emails, afternoon naps, reading my book. I even get to have a bath at his house!

I do manage to visit the castle in town. Kayseri is famous for its pastrami and I buy a little to eat for my lunch the next day. It tastes pretty good but is very salty and I am not really sure what all the fuss is about. It's not especially cheap at about $USD35 per kilo. 

9/11 Darende - Kaynarca: rode 72km, ODO 4277km

10/11 Kaynarca - Emegil: rode 82km, ODO 4358km

11/11 Emegil - Kayseri: rode 85km, ODO 4443km

12&13/11 Kayseri: rode 17km, ODO 4460km

Further into Turkey

Day 124 - 130

Thankfully there are blue skies when I leave Severk. I feel well rested after nearly a full day and night tucked away in my hotel room. It was nice being warm and dry but it has ended my run of 42 nights of free accommodation (camping, couch surfing and warmshowers). 

I have now left the main highway and take a smaller road west.  I catch a ferry across lake Ataturk. 

The sun gives way to clouds and then showers in the afternoon. I manage to set up my tent inbetween showers but unfortunately I have only three quarters cooked my dinner when the thunderstorm arrives. I eat it in my tent. 

I am relived it's not raining in the morning and head off.  It's not particularly intersting cycling. I am aiming to sleep just a short distance from Adiyaman so I can use some internet in the morning and head out of town in the afternoon. 

I find a sweet spot inside and abandoned building. I will be dry if it rains. Of course the night I have a dry place to sleep it doesn't rain.  

I have been trying to decide whether to catch a bus part of the way to Cappadocia. I don't mind the cold weather too much as long as I am dry. The problem is that it has been raining on and off nearly every day for the last five days. I figure I will check the weather in Adiyaman and decide. 

I arrive in Adiyaman and ask at a hotel if I can use the wifi. I spend a great couple of hours skyping mum and dad, checking email and of course planning what I am going to do. It looks pretty cold but the weather is great today. I finay decide to cycle to to Malatya and take a bus from there. The people at the hotel don't charge me for the internet. 

I grab a kebab before I leave town and head uphill, out of town. My campsite that night is next to a building on a grape and olive farm. I have a great view of lake Ataturk and the sunset is lovely. 

I have a terrible sleep - it is pretty cd and great bug gusts of wind make my tent flap all night. By the morning the wind has not eased. 

The riding today is tough but beautiful. The quiet road winds it's way up, over and around the tree lined hills. However the wind is biting and relentless. 

At about 1.30 I am invited into a house for chai. The family are tobacco farmers. They want to know where I am going. Malatya I tell them. 'Malatya tomorrow' they reply. Sounds good to me. Çay and gozleme is soon placed in front of me. 

The wind the next day has eased only a little. The family tell me that it is too cd and I should stay another day. At that rate I would be here until next spring. I head off. 

I head towards the highway, stopping briefly in a small town to try and find some internet to check the weather and arrange some couchsurfing. A man that owns the hardware store kindly let's me use his computer for a little while. 

I decide to push on for Kayseri and not catch a bus from malatya. The weather forecast shows cold nights, cool days and sunshine. Shouldn't be too bad right?

I camp in an orchard of apricot (I think) trees. The leaves are chades of yellow and brown. It looks as though it will only take one big gust of wind to make the branches bare. 

It's cold tonight. I can't keep my toes warm. One pair of socks. Nope, not good enough. Add another pair of socks. Toes still freezing. Wrap both my feet in my jumper. Bareable, but still not particularly comfortable. There is a heavy frost on my tent in the morning. 

The road north brings more beautiful autumn colours and little traffic. I grab a kebab in town and push north. It says cool all day. I camp on the edge of a hill, surrounded by trees with very brown leaves. I prepare for another cold night. 

In the morning I have to smash the ice in my water bladder and melt it to make my tea. The sun stays behind my hill for longer than I like and it is past 9am by the time I hit the road.

I make it over a 1800m pass before lunch time. I road keeps undulating, past a brown land.  By 2pm I have barely made it 40km. I am tired. I haven't had a decent sleep since my hotel stay in Severk. I stop in a town and ask about a hotel. 30km further on to Darende I get told. I ask someone else. Same reply. 

I decide to go for it, see how far I get. I do not want to sleep outside tonight. Thankfully I lose much of the elevation I gained in the morning. I cycle the 30 km at a cracking (for me) pace and make it to town by 3.30pm. I find a hotel and negotiate a reasonable price. I am staying two nights. I need a rest. I haven't had a proper day off the bike since I left Van.

1/11 Severk - just before Narince: rode 58km, ODO 3919km

2/11 just before Narince - a bit before adiyaman: rode 45km, ODO 3965km

3/11 a bit before - after adiyaman: rode 28km, ODO 3994km

4/11 a bit after adiyaman - house in the middle of nowhere: rode 38km, ODO 4034km

5/11 house in the middle of nowhere - a bit past dogansehir: rode 56km, ODO 4089km

6/11 a bit past dogansehir - past develi: rode 49km, ODO 3138km

7/11 past develi - darende: rode 64km, ODO 4203km

Heading west from Van

Days 118 - 123

I awake on Sunday morning, not feeling too crash hot (self induced, I deserve no sympathy). My hosts Selçuk and Batikan head out early to go hiking. My ferry doesn't leave until after lunch and I spend the remainder of the morning dozing, interneting and watching movies. 

I head down to the ferry and whilst I wait I have a little picnic - tea and baklava and other assorted Turkish sweets.  By 3 pm we are off. By we I mean me. I am the only passenger. It is quite odd. There is space for a few hundred passengers and I am all alone. Of course the workers want to talk to me. The ferry connects the train line and carries train carriages. 

One of the workers asks me if I am a boy or girl. I answer girl. He starts typing something on his phone. Using google translate he wants to know if I want to 'be together?' I guess I fulfill his criteria. Female? Check. Awesome. I gently decline, resisting the urge to kick him in the nuts. There is still about three hours of the ferry ride left and I am the sole female on the boat. 

It turns out that daylight savings time has finished today. Sunset is at 4.30pm. Yes, 4.30pm. That is a short day. At least sunset from the boat was beautiful but vast majority of the ferry ride is in the dark. I am a little disappointed that I miss the view. 

I am on edge most of the time. The crew only turn on two lights in the whole entire passenger area. I sit in a little circle of light, surrounded by a few hundred empty seats in darkness. Surprisingly, dinner is brought up to me - soup, lamb stew, rice and bread. Pretty tasty. Followed up by çay of course. 

I am relieved to get off the boat and I find a place to stay in town. 

I get an early start the next morning, daylight is limited. I cycle west, downhill most of the day. The view is pretty good, steep hills line the road, the trees are shades of green and gold, another reminder that winter is coming. 

I cycle past a honey seller on the side of the road. He invites me for çay. It is morning tea time so I accept. I am snacking on walnuts and raisins that the man has kindly given me. It's all going well until he tries to hand feed me. I hightail it out of there. 

I havn't had to deal with men like this since Kyrgyzstan. Every encounter with a male I am on edge. What do they want with me? Can I trust them? Are they being normal friendy or too friendly?  It is exhausting. 

I hate that a few bad encounters puts a whole shadow over every male I meet. The other problem is that 95% of the people that strike up a conversation with me are male. In the villages especially, women just aren't seen very often. The streets are lined with çay houses, which seem to be male only establishments. Men work in the shops and petrol stations. Where are the women?

Later in the afternoon I find a pretty good campsite behind a hill and all too soon the sun has set. I find myself setting a new earliest to bed record - 5.30pm. Practicing for old age maybe? 

The following day is a boring day on the road. The scenery is rolling ploughed fields. I couldn't even tell you what they grow around here. Every spot of land that  isn't a house, road, petrol station or mosque has been ploughed. 

The road is constantly undulating, combined with a niggle in my knee it makes for tedious and mostly slow kilometres. All too soon it is time to find somewhere to sleep. 

I wake up with the sun and yesterday repeats itself, same scenery, same hills.

 I camp about 20km from Diyarbakir, a large town that I intend on visiting in the morning to find internet and then cycle out of in the afternoon. My highlight for the day is cooking a delicious, spicy lentil soup. This is pretty different from my usual veges and pasta and I am pretty pleased with myself.  I watch the sunset from my hilltop campsite and listen to the call to prayer in the distance. 

I arrive in Diyarbakir with plenty of time to do my interneting. I ask someone on the side of the road if they know where I can find wifi. He invites me to use his computer in his pharmacy. Whilst sitting there, sending out some emails and arranging some couchsurfing I am given tea and some sweet bread. After an hour or so I get ready to leave. I try to buy some ibuprofen and paracetamol but my payment is refused. My faith in humanity has returned... For an hour or so. 

As I cycle out of town I stop at a park to have a bite to eat. I soon have company. My new friend (male) studies medicine at the university. The crowd around me grows. I am soon surrounded by university and school students. 

One of the school students snatches my kindle out of my hands. My med student friend gets it back for me. I quickly pack up my things. It is time to go. 

The same school student starts trying to remove things from my bike. I am a little tense and angry at this stage and backhand him across the face. He tries to kick me but the bike is in the way. His friends pull him away. The med student is at my side, holding my bike. We shake hands as I leave and he apologises. I yell a few choice words at the young student and cycle off in tears. Faith in humanity lost again. 

I cycle out of town, the grey weather matching my mood. The head wind is just another slap in the face. I feel lonely. 

Campsites seem few and far between. I stop at a petrol station for water and the owner starts chatting to me. He has passable English and asks if I need a rest. A glass of çay is brought to me. Despite my protests this is followed up by another four glasses of çay. 

This person seems trustworthy. By now it is raining and I am shown a very dingy room in the back of the petrol station. It's pretty grotty but it is also warm and dry so I sleep there for the night, the door dead bolted closed from my side. 

The morning brings grey skies. I head off and before long it is raining. A quick stop for morning tea at a shop and I am given yet more çay. Soon after I am offered a lift to Severk, the next town. It's too tempting and I say yes. 

The drivers drop me off at a hotel in town and I spend the day in my hotel room, drinking tea, reading and washing my clothes. I venture outside only for a short while to find some baklava. My run of encountering horrible men seems to have ended, thankfully. 

26/10 Van - Tatvan: rode 9km, ODO 3576km

27/10 Tatvan - just past Baykan: rode 80km, ODO 3657km

28/10 just past Baykan - just before Silvan: rode 64km, ODO 3722km

29/10 just before Silvan - near Köprübaçi: rode 73km, ODO 3798km

30/10 near Köprübaçi - just past Diyabakar: rode 38km, ODO 3834

31/10 just past Diyarbakir - Severk: rode 26km, ODO 3861

Van

Days 114 - 117

Van was like another mini holiday. I arrived quite anxious about the upcoming winter and fairly exhausted from the previous few days. I also wanted to drink beer. Van was perfect. 

The first day I head to the local hospital where Levent, my warm showers host works. While he is busy working I take over his computer and do the usual catch up of emails, Facebook, news and blogs. Lunch is a kebab at a nearby restaurant followed by çay in the doctors lounge. It turns out that Levent gets an hour and a half for lunch!  He then finishes work at 3.30pm. A little different to the hours I see the doctors working back home. 

That evening we catch up with Selçuk and a couple of other friends and have beers at a bar that overlooks the lake. This is followed by dinner with different friends and more beer. 

I head out of town on a bus the next day to Akdamar island. There is a beautiful Armenian church on it that was built about 1100 years ago. I spend quite a few hours wandering around the church and the island. If it wasn't for the snow capped mountains surrounding the lake it would be easy to forget about the crazy snow I went through just a few days ago. The sun is out and it feels like a very cool brisbane winters day. 

I spend the following morning at a western style cafe, paying far too much for a coffee but also using their wifi for two hours.  

In the afternoon I move all my stuff to Selçuk's apartment - Levent's girlfriend is visiting and he understandably wants the place to himself. After the move Selçuk and I head to the castle. On the way we visit some cats that have an interesting mutation and can only be found in Van. We wander around the castle and then watch the sunset over the lake. Awesome. 

That evening a few of us go out for dinner. I have my first Pide (pronounced piday, not pied as I thought!) and it does not disappoint. Dinner is followed by beers with more people at the smokiest bar I have been to in years. 

Saturday is the day I have been waiting for, the famous Van breakfast. Levent, his girlfriend, Selçuk, Özgen and I head out on our bicycles to a hotel that overlooks the lake. 

Breakfast is a smorgasbord of many different dishes, bread, cheeses, honey, jams, olives, dried fruit and endless cups of çay. I feel like I am about to explode.  Someone may have to tow me back to town on my bike. 

We sit in the sun on the deck, admiring the view for a good couple of hours. We eventually ride back to town, through the back streets, pick up some beer and go to the castle. It's a perfect afternoon lazing in the sun, enjoying the view. 

My plans for a quiet night and a small dinner are abandoned once we head to Özgen's house for dinner. A quiet dinner turns into a dinner party followed by a party proper. I drink far too much red wine. 

That night I say goodbye to many of my new friends. I plan to catch the ferry to Tatvan the next day and won't see them. I am very sad to say goodbye to this great group of people that were so welcoming and showed me a great time. 

Total cycling van: 99km, ODO 3567km