End of the holiday within the holiday and back on the road
Well, my holiday from cycling is over. I spent a week on the Med coast of Turkey with Helen relaxing (and very relaxing it was too!), mostly just lying on the beach. I've got some nice photos to post but they will have to wait until I get to somewhere I can upload them. Before this interlude I wasn't too keen to get off the bike, when I finished I wasn't too keen to get back on! One thing worth mentioning is bumping into Oliver and Ernst, who I'd last seen a god month back on the Black Sea coast. These were two of the three in the van who directed Rob and me to a good beach then cooked us dinner... came across them again in Kas which was surprising but very pleasant. Helen and I went round with a couple of beers and we had a god catch up. In the time I'd been swannıng around Turkey they'd been down the Syria and back.
I spent my last day in Antalya trying to get some euros together. One of the many things Helen delivered was the Lonely Planet guide for Iran which indicates that due to international sanctions ATM cards don't work in Iran so cash is king. All well and good but it meant trying to get €1000 together. Alas, my Ezurum where I've got to stop for a day to pick up my Iranian visa. Matters weren't helped by the pound losing 5 or 10 percent in value last week. Damn you British economy!
This was followed by an overnight bus back to the small town of Imranli where I'd left my bike. I had a valium to help me sleep and boy did it do the job! Out like a light for most of the journey and bright eyed for my 8AM arrival. I had been thinking about staying for a night but decided to go pretty much straight out as it was a nice day. Hmm. Bright eyed perhaps but not bushy tailed... to be fair there was a hell of a climb up yet another mountain pass but by three in the afternon I was done for. I should have pushed on and found a campsite but I don't like to camp until it's getting towards night particularly when there's no cover from the road. Still, as luck would have it there was a motel and that did it for me!
Up and away this morning. Alas, the weather has turned somewhat which was a bit of a shock. Started off nicely enough, around 12C and soon warmed a couple of degrees. Then came the mornings climb, a pass at 2200 meters. As I climbed, twisting and turning up through the mountains I could the mist swirling around the mountain tops. Would it envelop me? It was difficult to tell at the time as each peak hid the next. Of course, in the end, it did. I watched the tempreture fall below 10... time for the fleecy top! Then it diped further and the drizzle started. Off with the fleecy top and on with the waterproof. The temprature continued to fall as I went higher, bottoming out at 3C. I was in shorts and wearing cycling gloves... my hands felt like blocks of ice, even more so when the downhill started as even with the breaks on I was hitting 40mph. Mind you, I didn't realy notice my hands at the time as my forehead felt like it was being hacked open by a chunk of frozen melon.
I made it to the town of Erzincan, some 1000 meters lower by which point the temprature was a balmy 10C! Decided it was time for another hotel and a spot of shopping. I'm now the proud owner of a new pair of gloves, a wooly hat and extra warm socks. And lots of chocolate. They should help me through the next ten days or so I've got in the mountains before I descend to the plains again in Iran. In'shallah.
I spent my last day in Antalya trying to get some euros together. One of the many things Helen delivered was the Lonely Planet guide for Iran which indicates that due to international sanctions ATM cards don't work in Iran so cash is king. All well and good but it meant trying to get €1000 together. Alas, my Ezurum where I've got to stop for a day to pick up my Iranian visa. Matters weren't helped by the pound losing 5 or 10 percent in value last week. Damn you British economy!
This was followed by an overnight bus back to the small town of Imranli where I'd left my bike. I had a valium to help me sleep and boy did it do the job! Out like a light for most of the journey and bright eyed for my 8AM arrival. I had been thinking about staying for a night but decided to go pretty much straight out as it was a nice day. Hmm. Bright eyed perhaps but not bushy tailed... to be fair there was a hell of a climb up yet another mountain pass but by three in the afternon I was done for. I should have pushed on and found a campsite but I don't like to camp until it's getting towards night particularly when there's no cover from the road. Still, as luck would have it there was a motel and that did it for me!
Up and away this morning. Alas, the weather has turned somewhat which was a bit of a shock. Started off nicely enough, around 12C and soon warmed a couple of degrees. Then came the mornings climb, a pass at 2200 meters. As I climbed, twisting and turning up through the mountains I could the mist swirling around the mountain tops. Would it envelop me? It was difficult to tell at the time as each peak hid the next. Of course, in the end, it did. I watched the tempreture fall below 10... time for the fleecy top! Then it diped further and the drizzle started. Off with the fleecy top and on with the waterproof. The temprature continued to fall as I went higher, bottoming out at 3C. I was in shorts and wearing cycling gloves... my hands felt like blocks of ice, even more so when the downhill started as even with the breaks on I was hitting 40mph. Mind you, I didn't realy notice my hands at the time as my forehead felt like it was being hacked open by a chunk of frozen melon.
I made it to the town of Erzincan, some 1000 meters lower by which point the temprature was a balmy 10C! Decided it was time for another hotel and a spot of shopping. I'm now the proud owner of a new pair of gloves, a wooly hat and extra warm socks. And lots of chocolate. They should help me through the next ten days or so I've got in the mountains before I descend to the plains again in Iran. In'shallah.
posted by Bill at 1:22 pm
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