9th September 2014       16-26℃        463km
Ankara – Şile

After a quick, and very ordinary breakfast at the hotel, I packed and prepared to leave. As I gathered my socks to put my boots on, I smelt smoke, and then noticed that my socks had freshly burnt holes in them. I’d left then hanging on the desk lamp to dry last night. It seems the heat from the lamps had nearly bought them to combustion, and potentially the whole hotel. I unpacked again, and pulled out my backup pair of socks, tossing the burnt pair in the bin.

Fortunately, the traffic leaving Ankara was lighter than the night before, and I was out on the freeway in good time and with little stress.
The road turned into a wonderful cruise of fast twists. Stopping for lunch, I ate the longest pide I’ve ever seen, reaching from one end of the table to the other.

Turning off the main road, I reached the northern coast of Turkey, and the Black Sea. The road now turned single lane, and very tight turns. I was constantly on the lookout for erratic Turkish drivers, fast, on the wrong side of the road. Winding along the coast, I had magnificent views of the farming communities to the left and the sea to the right. Passing through valleys filled with chestnut trees.

Eventually I reached the seaside town of Şile, locating a brilliant, but cheap hotel on the side of a cliff, with a balcony view over the sea.
Just down the hill, a seafood restaurant where I had an excellent fish dinner before walking back up the hill and crashing out after a long day in the saddle.

8th September 2014     18-28℃      190km
Goreme – Ankara

I was up at 4:20am, ready to be picked up to watch the sunrise from a balloon over Cappadocia.  While I seemed a crazy hour to be awake, it all proved worth it, at the sight of hundreds of balloons covering the horizon as the sun rose.  It was a truly spectacular experience.

On landing, there was cheap, sweet and nasty bubbly wine, mixed with purple sugar syrup and served in a thick rimmed glass.  Lovely.  I might have been riding a motorcycle for months, unshaven and unwashed half the time, but there are some finer things that I still appreciate and should be done properly. Champagne is one of those things and this morning didn’t tick any of the boxes on that front.   At least the flight was awesome.

I headed back to the hotel, packed my gear and rode out of Goreme, towards the Turkish capital of Ankara.  But on the way a massive storm appeared, dumping torrential rain.  It was the serious first rain I’d seen since Mongolia, over two months ago, and it was cold.   I stopped in a petrol station and waited the storm out, drinking tea with the service station attendants, all of us sitting around on oil drums on the driveway, trying to stay warm.

On reaching Ankara, the traffic was madness, and I came close to being knocked off a few times, usually by taxi drivers or people texting while driving.  This seems to be a universal practice in Turkey, people get in the car, pick up the phone and don’t put it down until they stop.   So they are never actually looking at the road at any time, only ever the phone.

I found a semi-decent hotel near the centre of town and was offered underground parking, which was inside a car lift, which was broken.  I questioned the wisdom of parking inside a faulty lift, especially one that sank 4 inches when I rolled the bike inside.  But the receptionist at the hotel assured me it would be fine, as he pulled the doors closed by hand.

I explored central Ankara on foot and managed to obtain a haircut, although it was not what I asked for (not having a single word of common language between the man with the scissors) but it is shorter than when I walked in.

7th September 2014         23-33℃           110km
Ihlara – Goreme

I started the day very early, so that I could walk the length of the Ihlara Valley before the midday sun.
Leaving the hotel, I descended into the beautiful cool valley, and followed the course of the river at the bottom of the canyon.   Into the walls of the canyon, many cave shelters and churches had been carved by Christian monks, who resided here during the Byzantine period.  Most of the frescos are from the 10th century, and despite their age still show brilliant colours, although sadly many have been damaged by both vandalism and religious bigotry.

About half way along the walk, I met a father and son who had setup a small stall selling fresh juice, made from oranges and pomegranates that they kept cool in the river.  The juice was delicious and I relaxed by the river for some time, enjoying the river sounds and the ducks making their way down to the waters edge.

Arriving at the far end of the valley, it was still early, but I managed to find a store and asked them to call a taxi for me.  The taxi driver was surprised to find me wanting to ride back to the hotel at such an early hour, he said noone ever walked so early.  I told him, “Exactly! I had the whole valley to myself”  To which he laughed.

Back at the hotel, I had breakfast and packed before heading out on the bike, back towards Goreme.  On the way, there was a section of roadworks, where the road was deep gravel.  The speed limit was 30kmh due to the surface, but two semi trailers passed me at over 100kmh, pelting me and the bike with gravel, so hard that one of the stones hit the toe of my boot and it still hurt, despite the protection from the boot.  I waved madly at the second truck, trying to get him to slow down, to no avail.

Back in Goreme, I made arrangements to take a hot air balloon flight for the next morning, and after watching the sunset over Goreme, headed to the hammam for a scrub, massage and soak.

After steaming up in the sauna, I was instructed to lay down on a warm marble table, with water flowing from the centre.  There I was scrubbed from head to toe, before my hair and beard were also scrubbed clean.  It was probably the cleanest I’ve been in months, after having an entire layer of skin removed by a man wielding 4ft of emery cloth.
With this cleansing stage completed, I was moved to another room where a Turkish truckie (he at least looked like one) massaged my sore muscles and tried to restore my body to pre-ride state.

I left the hammam spotlessly clean, and somewhat refreshed, although I still prefer the self-service approach of a Japanese onsen, over a Turkish hammam.