Ankara to Cappadocia – Goreme
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Right before the wind blew the bike over
After a four days relaxing, two sets of new tyres and two serviced bikes it was time to keep moving south east to Cappadocia. We had decided that Goreme was going to be our base for a few days of exploring the surrounding area. Goreme is only around 250km from Ankara but we decided to take an extra night so that we would arrive early in the morning to make the most of the day. The ride out of Ankara was frantic with the “normal” traffic of Turkey plus the Ankara special…. running red lights. As we travelled further south east the terrain started to become more rocky and exposed. This is where heathers superb skill of being able to secure items to her bike became a jinx.. while going over a rough section of road all her water bottles fell off the bike rolling down the embankment.It was too unsafe to go fetch so that was the end of our water for the evening.. We decided to turn off from our back road blitz onto an even more minor road… this was where the fun started. We pulled over to take some photos on the top of a ridge which had really great panoramic views. The wind was so strong that it blew over James’ bike.. This caused us a few issues.. not only did it get blown over it was now down a small slope almost upside down.. after trying for some time to pick the bike up without any success we started to unpack it. As soon as we started to do this two Turkish men on a little moped appeared out of nowhere.. they stopped and helped us pick the bike up.. much to their amusement and comments about us having too much gear haha.. all the same they took the opportunity to have a few cigarettes and admire the bikes.. during this whole scenario our small digital camera was broken… more than likely it was trodden on when it was on the ground after the bike dropped…ohh well down to only the SLR which makes taking easy snaps a real pain.
Wild Camping near Goreme - Turkey
About 2-3km further down the road Heather found a small dirt track leading up to an ancient burial mound. There was a Turkish camp setup next to one of the lower fields and the track looked fairly well worn. After about 500m the “well worn” nature of the track became more than apparent.. “well worn” by the rain creating some very interesting riding up a steep sandy track covered with loose rocks. Getting up was a challenge, any challenging riding we now call preparation for Kazakhstan and Mongolia… but it was fun all the same. We ended up stopping on a flat patch to do a reccy (reconnaissance) of the track further up the hill. We needed to make sure it was possible to get up AND back down with fully laden bikes. After a short walk we decided that we had gone far enough. Camping on the top of the burial mound would have to wait until another day… Where we had parked there was a nice patch which we decided would be our accommodation for the night around 1600meters above sea level. With a beautiful view out over the mountain and surrounding valleys it was perfect. The wind was still strong but we decided to erect out mosquito net between the two bikes and sleep under the stars. The night was clear and there was a real bite to the cool dry air.
Sunrise before Goreme
Perfect for sleeping… well actually it was not so great.. We both kept waking during the night thinking that the bikes would blow over… two squashed peas in a mosquito net pod. Ahhh the vision… I could just imagine the perfect headline.. two stupid Aussies squashed by own bikes in turkey.. another one for the Darwin awards. After a pretty weak nights sleep we awoke at first light to pack and get back on the road early so we could make the most of the day… (and so that we could vacate the area before anyone came asking why the hell we camped on their land).. This is where Heathers “fun” began. Going up the hill to the spot where we camped was fairly easy.. all the weight was on the rear wheel no problems.. However now that we had to go back down the mountain the weight was now on the front wheel.. This meant that the front wheel would basically guide our fate… into the ground that is.. It was very slippery and the front wheels kept on loosing traction and sliding out.. After several “almosts” it became a whoops.. drop number one for Heather. Caused by her bike sliding and her back wheel hitting a boulder forcing the weight to go off centre.. Luckily the bike fell fairly easily and the speed was low. The only real damage had been to Heathers confidence. The track down for James on the heavier bike was just as interesting having to ride slowly with the ABS off so to not slide out. All up to go the 500-800 meters back to the road it took around 30minutes. When we hit the road it was time to make way to Goreme…. After 2 minutes further down the road it was drop number two for Heather.. Two drops in less than an hour making it a new record. This time it was the sound of a little girl in the ear piece as she frantically tried to pull over.. However the only place to pull over was a gravel section on the side of the road.. The wheel went in and over she went.. she was screaming running around doing some sort of voodoo dance trying to get her helmet off.. It turns out that she was stung by the same type of wasp that James had the pleasure of a few days ago.. and geeee.. it really hurt him.. and this time the wasp had got her on the temple. We picked the bike up and pulled what was left of the wasp stuck to heathers temple out. Applied some cream.. Of course this being Turkey a guy on a donkey came past right at that exact moment and offered his assistance.. This time we didn’t need it. The sting had started to swell slightly but Heather said she was okay and we continued on our way.. or way to getting lost at least.. the road signs in turkey are completely stupid. What looks like a LEFT actually
Night over Goreme from Panorama Camping
means straight ahead.. at least that is how it was for Goreme. After going left for about 10+minutes we decided to do a U-Turn and go back to where we saw the last sign. Unfortunately the road was gravel and Heathers U-Turn was drop number three.. She just wasn’t having a good time of it. With damaged confidence and a poor nights sleep its so easy to screw up.. We eventually made it to Goreme and found a camp site with a pool to relax and enjoy the view over the town..
