29 June, Pinarbaşi to
Gϋrϋn, 105km
Hotel Feza 70TL
Another very long day, but through
beautiful terrain. The first 60km undulated through patchwork farmland past tiny
villages, with more ups than downs, the ups bringing us at last to the top of Ziyaret
pass at 1900m. “Undulating” is a more gentle word than reality warrants. A
downhill might bring you two minutes of joy; the matching uphill might take you
ten times as long. Pinarbaşi lies at 742m.
“Undulating” means climbing to 1900m more
than once! From Ziyaret we swooped into a narrow green valley, following the
river there for around 25km. Then there it was, the sign you dread when you are
leg-weary and thinking with longing of a shower, dinner and bed; a sign showing
a 4km climb at 7%. Nothing to do but get your head around the thought of it and
climb back up to 1800m... For two months now we have relied heavily on Turkey’s
garages which have shops, loos and often restaurants and which have appeared
regularly along all routes cycled so far. Today there was not one garage, shop
or tea house for over 100km. This came as quite a shock to us as we had
departed Pinarbaşi with under 2 litres of water and
with a small packet of biscuits only. Luckily it was a cool day, which
substantially reduced our water needs. We also managed to top up our water at
two “tap” spots on the route. We have grown accustomed to seeing a picture of a
tap on a small roadside sign and to wetting our heads and hats at these on a
hot day. Today I asked a Turk topping up his water bottles if one could drink
the water. Actually I said “Tamam?” (OK?) while miming drinking. His unanticipated erudite response: “It’s potable; it’s pure spring
water”. For the second time we had to find someone, this time the furniture
shop guy, to track down the receptionist of a completely unattended hotel, the
manager arriving 15 minutes later with two lime green towels under his arm.
Between Pinarbaşi and Gϋrϋn
Between Pinarbaşi and Gϋrϋn
Between Pinarbaşi and Gϋrϋn
Between Pinarbaşi and Gϋrϋn
Between Pinarbaşi and Gϋrϋn