Cappadocia

I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Goreme, Cappadocia, sheltering from a sudden downpour. For those of you who don't know of Cappadocia it's a beautiful region in centre of Turkey famous for the natural "fairy chimenys" made by the erosion of a soft volcanic rock (called tuff) which has a layer of harder material on top. Mankind has also been digging into this rock for thousands of years to make whole underground cities in places.

I was heading out on the bike to visit one of these cities but got a text through about bike spares and nipped into the aforementioned internet place thus neatly missing the downpour you might be able to see in the picture above!

I should be leaving Cappadocia tomorrow and heading to the East for the next three days after which I'll be (hopefully) finding somewhere to leave the bike whilst I backtrack to meet up with Helen for a few days on the coast. After that it should be a quick exit from Turkey and on to Iran. One thing that is getting to be a concern is the dogs here: not strays but sheep dogs bred to be aggressive and independent. The further east I'm going the bigger and more vicious they're getting. I've had two packs of them now, one just marking territory the other going for the full chase. Luckily there was a hill to scoot down that time. I'm also using a "dog dazer" which is an utlrasonic device designed to discourage dogs. It seems to get them to back off about a meter, which may just be enough. I need to pick up a stick or cudgel when I hit the road tomorrow really. On the bright side I've not encountered any Kangal sheep dogs yet, they've got the worst reputation of the lot!