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Houses in the volcanic rock Goreme - Turkey

After a few great days in Gerome it was time to move on. Our plan was to travel through Kayseri, Sivas, Refahiye, Macka. We had an unknown schedule for the ferry from Trabzon to Sochi in Russia because we kept getting different reports on when it actually sailed. Some said there was a daily ferry, Others said that there was only two ferries a week. Unfortunately the internet was only partly useful and we had to actually get to the port to find out when we could buy our ticket (or phone and speak to someone who didn’t speak any english). Our first day back on the road after Cappadocia was an interesting yet trip through more volcanic area’s where the scenery was dry and dusty with beautiful mountains jutted out along the horizon from time to time. (more…)

Puffy Eye

After a night looking at the stars and enjoying the panoramic views of Goreme from under our mosquito net. We awoke early to see that Heathers eye had swollen to such an extent it looked like she had been punched in the eye… her new name is now puffy.. the entire left side of her face had swollen around the wasp sting of the previous day. I said it was revenge because she broke her evil eye which was meant to ward away evil spirits. Her wasp sting was only the beginning of her bad luck.. now she had a swollen face, then the bungie cord snapped and the hook ripped through the skin between her thumb and pointer finger.. she had to wear sunglasses to try and hide puffy and she had dropped her bike three times in such a short period of time the day before..

Kaylaki Underground City - Turkey

When we checked into Panorama camping in Goreme the guy who owned the place gave us a map of a recommended tourist route. The route allowed us to take in as many sites as possible without back tracking on ourselves. Overall the camp site was fantastic and was crawling with other motorcycle groups. One Dutch guy who camped next to us was very friendly and was on route to Syria with a guy he met on the Internet. We shared loads of ideas of where to go and what to see and gave him the map we got given when we no longer had a need for it. I highly recommend Panorama camping in Goreme to anyone looking for a place to stay on a budget we paid 25 TL per night. The view/Location is superb and beats and of the Hostels in town. There is a Bar, Pool nice area to relax etc..

Kaylaki Underground City (Room) - Turkey

With Cappadocia on our must see list we had to make the most of our new map. There is so much history crammed into such a “small” area that it was going to take us a few days to really get out an explore it. Unfortunately we only had 3 days to really get the most of the area and only two remaining. Our first stop was to see the underground city at Kaymakli. It was built as a hide away to protect the citizens of the town from invading armies. The earliest such cities date back at least 4000 years. Kaymakli is one of the largest going down 8 levels and spread out some several hundred meters in each direction from the entrance. We bought a tour guide to explain all the different rooms etc and how the systems in side the cities worked. It was well worth the 35 TL that we paid for it despite having a very rushed feel. After visiting the city we headed towards the Ihlara valley which is an oasis like canyon that comes out of nowhere. Its very beautiful and has thousands of small

Ihlara valley - Turkey

houses/homes built into the cliffs over the years. The area above the canyon is very dry which is a complete contrast to how lush and fertile it is at its base. A very welcome surprise from the dust on the way there. The canyon itself is not that long but what it lacks in size it makes up for in history and beauty. The journey to the valley was filled with yet more cities of a bygone era. It seems in this area of Turkey especially its a dime a dozen. Around every corner or on every mountain there was another city or fortress just waiting to be explored. Many of which are completely free and open to the public. Some of the more spectacular ones require an entry fee.

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..