28 June, Kayseri to Pinarbaşi, 90km
Çener Hotel 60TL

Our first 30km took over five hours; the following 60km were kinder to us, but what with needing several breaks and having to wait out a storm, it was still an 11-hour door-to-door day. It was already hot by 08:00, the heat making each hill seem longer. On a long hot incline, the sweat runs down my forehead, gathering at my eyebrows which are soon saturated; if I do not catch it with peak or glove, it then drips onto the inside of my sunglasses, or runs into my eyes, blurring and burning. Such fun! Luckily in the early afternoon a large cloud obscured the sun, and a cooling breeze began to make the day tolerable. Today is the first day of Ramazan (Ramadan) and we were not sure how it might impact us, but the garage shops were open and at around 14:00 we found a restaurant serving food and ordered an omelette and salad. Charl found he had a puncture just as we were leaving; by the time we had changed the tube our friendly cloud and cooling breeze had become a storm, which we sat out over coffee. Then over the last three hills of the day to little Pinarbaşi on its lake, where an incredibly strong wind persuaded me to get off the bike and push, the additional buffeting of passing trucks causing me to wobble about like a drunkard. Tiring day, but we feel good about it.

Between Kayseri and Pinarbaşi

Between Kayseri and Pinarbaşi