Topless cycling on the sunny coast of Cyprus to 2 ft of snow in the Tauras Mountains 5 days post. Suffice to say our testicles retreated so far they could have been masquerading as ovaries, ouch bodyform!

In typical tommy and Brian style we didn’t hang around after our admin day in Tusucu, still working on the listening to our bodies debacle.  In fairness, with only 10 days left in Turkey and still so much to see, time was of the essence.  Our ascent from the Mediterranean coast over the 6000ft pass onto the upper plateau of the Taurus mountains would have been a sure-fire time gobbler hence we opted for the bus into the town of Karaman.  Boarding at 3pm it was magical to enter the familiar mountains again.  The snow-covered peaks ahead and the now bursting rivers promised a different side to these friendly giants.

Another reminder that hit us about this region of Turkey was the number of cave dwellings instantly and continuously visible in the surrounding landscape.  This part of the world, along with Syria and Iraq, has been heralded as the geographical origin of the first settled civilisations.  We’ll come back to a juicier visual representation of this later via our sojourn to Cappadocia, though it surprised us both that this wider area is not pedastooled as a place to visit.  The beaches of Bodrum and the West coast ubdoubtedly play to a bigger audience but what a treasure trove of goodness awaits the more intrepid traveller.

Cave dwellings meet your gaze in every direction

By the time we’d arrived in Karaman our coach had long been wrapped in the veil of darkness, so stepping out into two foot of snow was a surprise indeed.  Cycling on icy roads is not for the faint hearted and by the time we’d re-loaded our bikes and picked up dinner, I’d been blessed by a puncture.  The snow-covered city was such a visual change of environment we didn’t mind the slushy push around town to find a budget pensiune.

Caraman under snow

Skiing gloves, and every other item of clothing we have, were on the following morning for our ride out-of-town and it was David Attenborough moment as we peddled through the morning mist onto the sparkling white plateau.  The biting wind and misty chill were not around for long as our descent bought with it the surprisingly quick detoriation of the snow.  By the end of the day we’d come 50 miles and down a few hundred feet but the Colombian disco dusting on our world had disappeared.  Eregli was our destination and though the city greeted us with the biggest turn out of fellow cyclist we’d seen since Holland it was slightly lacking in the cheap accomodation department.  A few miles out-of-town saw us sparking up our old relationship with the petrol station owners of Turkey and camping in a muddy field behind such an establishment.

A David attenborough moment

Rain, lots of and chilled to the bone woke us the next morning.  After a persistent cycle back to Eregli, re-tracing our steps to take a different route forward, the rain was still giving it hard like a boy band reunion. Our ticking Turkish clock prompted another bus trip onto Kayseri that evening.  Although it’s with reluctance we’ve used our motorised friends the odd time on this trip, it’s makes a nice change to be a passenger and Turkish buses come with 3 staff per vehicle, hot drinks, hand towels and happy finishes…well maybe hold the last one. We crashed in Kayseri and were back in the saddle with the crack of dawn the following morning to reach the Unesco heritage region of Cappadocia.

CAPPADOCIA.  A place that absolutely deserves a full capital letter line up.  A few people have been championing this district since we changed our route via Central Asia but nothing could have prepared us for bounty that awaited.  We’ve tried to convey with pictures and words but are both agreed, a life lived without seeing the wonders here would be a shame.  A spare week in late October or early Nov will rock your socks off, cheap flights are easy to find and expenses are rock bottom.  Whatever is written below will truly pale in comparison. DO IT!

The old and new as Cappdocia is continuously updated and re-inhabited over the centuries

The geological foundations for the region are set by volcanic ash from 3 massive monsters that have long ceased to pump their glowing powers.  This makes all the rock very soft, still such that you can easily scrape it away with your fingernails.  Rain erosion has left the most incredible landscapes and structures, very difficult to put into words, but think lava lamp meets Tolkien with a side order of Moomins and Star Trek sauce.  With the ease at which the sediment can be manipulated by human tools, the rocks, mountains and earth itself make up the most wondrous dwellings and have done for the last 3.5 thousand years.  We walked valleys and mountains that quite literally took our breath away.  We visited an underground city, which at its peak had 10,000 inhabitants living on 8 levels 50 metres below the ground and generally spent a lot of time in absolute wonder. If you fancy reading a little more links are here for the following; Cappadocia, Derinkuy Underground City, Ihlara Valley.

Lava lamp landscapes of Cappadocia

Ihlara Valley

The river at the bottom of Ihlara Valley

Brian keeping things creative 😉

Wall paintings inside the churches that scatter the Ihlara Valley

Map of Derinkuy underground city

Going up!

This is my underground city stance. Always on!

Post the come down of Cappadocia it was back to Kayseri and the hospitable home of Sarper, a Warmshower host – the couch surfing for bike tourers.  We’ve had the most wonderful 48 hour send off in the hands of the sparkling Sarper, an Opthamologist and lecturer at the local university.  A guided bike tour of his beautiful suburb, sampling quite possible every local delicacy known to this region and a few bottles of Cappadocian wine has left us feeling very spoilt and honoured by our meeting.  He even sorted out the boxes for our bikes with a local friend and dropped us off this morning at 5 am for our flight to Istanbul, legend! A typical Turkish overwhelmingly warm and helpful farewell from a country that will remain firmly in our hearts and also no doubt, the start of what will be a super friendship 🙂

Sarper in the gang, What a cycle angel this man is 🙂

As we boxed up our bikes for Sri Lanka and now sit here typing at Istanbul airport, its feels like the end of our first chapter and indeed the beginning of the next.  What an incredible journey it’s been and what a bevvie of delights and memories we’ve been served. There’s a few lessons we’ll hold with us as we go forward, golden nuggets everyone should take heed of 😉

• There just aren’t enough Snickers in the world. With an average of 1.5 per day we’ve clocked up an astonishing 274 each and we’d still cross a road and mug a granny if we ever ran out

• The further off the beaten track you go the more awaits; more space, more magic, more air, more peace, more freedom and always more Snickers

• Ones concentration of body odour has absolutely no correlation to their level of happiness.  We really do hum like sweaty kippers in a heat wave but we’re two very content young men

A last huge big up to my little sister Frankie and her wonderful fella Jack who passed out from their officer training year in Australia today.  Very proud of you both and can’t wait to see you for some Sri Lankan celebrations in a couple of weeks 🙂

Go wild under the mistletoe and once you’ve had a mouthful, take another because in Christmas!

YUM

Tommy and Brian