Ride Pray Laugh....... the not so MiddleEast Adventures (now): Doggy-biscuits

Ginger was perched precariously on the edge of the ferry boat her front wheel cm’s from the edge. Paulo holds his bike close…I’d better do the same. I’d met Paulo and his wife in Nemrut Dagi... an Italian couple who are whizzing across Turkey on a huge BMW. Everything had to be backed into the ferry because there was only one way in. The trucks enter first and the 20degree incline of the ramp to the boat becomes a 5 degree decline with one truck …what was in it??? We hold onto our bikes for the 15 minute voyage across the lake into Eastern Turkey. And hurry to back them off as the impatient cars and trucks rev their engines.

The road leads through plain lands with low rock walls dotted over the countryside to keep the nomads' sheep in place…although it seems as if they make new ones each year. Honeybee hives and yurts also dot the landscape. Paulo and Maria take off…they travel at a speed Ginger could only hope to reach in her youth. I’m officially in what everyone one has been telling me are the bad lands of Turkey. But the kids wave at me and the people are very friendly when I pull up for directions. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel any different. I know that some terrorists in this area tried to bomb the Turkish president’s motorcade while he was turning for the up coming elections only two weeks ago…so I am cautious.

As the road leaves the plain lands, I go through smaller towns where there are military posts every 10 - 20 kms. Small square two storey outlooks with a Turkish flag flying to show someone is on duty. Every 60km or so (or perhaps it is at strategic areas) there is a large post with sandbags, tanks and machine guns. These have speed bumps and barriers that are lowered at night to stop the traffic Unfortunately these posts turn up just when there is nice scenery so taking photos is a risk I‘m not prepared to take.

Red dirt mountains with mossy green grasses and summer flowers encase the road where cows just wondered freely (normally they would be controlled by a shepherd). It is beautiful but dangerous as you don’t know what animal is around the next corner. I am determined to eat something for lunch as it’s now 2pm and I have only gone half way. I choose to stop in a little town with a large military presence - just to be on the safe side. Three women poke their heads out from behind a shop curtain and when they see I’m female they come to speak with me. One is a police officer with 4 kids, another a hairdresser and her assistant. They get someone to get me lunch and we laugh together as we try to talk - they know no English and my Turkish is still very basic. Funny how I’m prepared to make gestures, sign language, anything to get the point across. But I find that some Turkish people will just speak - no acting, no gestures - just saying the same thing a number of times as if I will magically understand through repetition what they are saying.
They ask me to stay the night there and suggest that I could have a free hair makeover…hmmm…wondering if I’m looking that bad! If time wasn’t so urgent, I would have but I want to try to meet Joseph at the Turkish border so we can cross over to Iran together - he will be there in two days time. I met him at Nemrut Dagi with the Italian couple but he was going a different way to the border than me. He is a German grandad who is travelling the Silk Road over the next four months.

I keep riding but it’s getting late and I need to make a decision about whether to keep going to Erzurum or stop short of my intended destination. As I’m thinking about whether to keep going an ambulance passes me in the middle of no-where which I have never encountered before…ok….and slightly further down the road I see a dog limping with what looks like a broken leg (I immediately think of Juliet and David) then I think ok...I should take this as a little warning…maybe best not to keep going today. So as I’m wondering where a safe place to stay would be a small bus comes around the corner with a large Bingol sign written across the front. Ok, I get it, I’ll stay in Bingol, it was another 45 mins away.

I arrive amidst more stares than normal but find a great hotel with rooms the size of some houses I have been in. The hotel staff are very friendly and help me find a place to get my luggage re-stitched as the strain on the bags has ripped some of the stitching out. I get a cup of tea and some watermelon delivered to my door to make me feel welcome. Thinking about where to get some dinner is interrupted with a knock and there’s Joseph…Hello!!! It turned out he decided to come the same way as me and out of all the hotels in Bingol we happened to be in the same one. Yippee! Dinner is spent discussing the internet reports of border scams, kids on the side of the road throwing stones at motorbikes the closer we get to Iran and the massive sheepdogs that chase you away from the flocks they are guarding. I’m concerned my Carnet (bike passport) will not have arrived from England in time to cross the border together - it’s being delivered to a hotel in Dogubayzit. Joseph has only 12 days in Iran to meet his visa entry dates for Azerbajan so he needs to cross the border within two days.

We awake the next morning to thunderstorms and hail. The weather radar says it is covering most of Eastern Turkey and will stay for most of the day. The distance to the border is 480km much longer than my biggest day riding and I have no idea of the type of roads we will be travelling on. If it keeps raining and they are twisty, it would mean I could take over 12 hours to travel the distance. Joseph decides to stay in Bingol and make the whole journey the next day. I’m in two minds whether to break it up and travel some today with the remainder tomorrow. The fact that I picked up another stomach bug in Mount Nemrut doesn’t help my anxiety. Finally I decide to wait it out…hoping that tomorrow would bring better weather.

To calm my nerves the morning brings sunshine and I head off ahead of Josep - knowing that I will probably ride slower and he will catch me along the way. While there is the occasional game of dodge the massive potholes in sections, the ride is good through some spectacular scenery. I notice that cars flash me more in this part of Turkey, I

keep slowing down thinking that there is police ahead as I had already seen two patrols but I figure they are just being friendly and wave at them as they pass. Joseph catches up towards the end of journey and we travel the last 80kms together.

We pass through a large military check point set high in the mountains next to an extinct volcano with it’s black lava tentacles flowing over the land decorated with snow and sheep. Then in the distance small figures stoop…we are beside them in no time and I see them aiming at Joseph…we both brace for the stones - angling our helmets to shield our face and crouching low behind our screens. Unsatisfied with the outcome of their onslaught on Joseph, one boy hurls his three foot long thick sheparding stick at me. Luckily he was too far away to hit me but that was something I wasn‘t expecting - I‘m not sure of the damage had it hit me or my wheels. Coming down a beautiful mountain stretch that leads into town we are meet by two massive sheep dogs who try to chasing down Joseph and then turning their stare on me just as I drive past I don’t look back in the mirror, I just keep on riding as fast as I can. When I told Joseph that night about the sticks and the dogs he was totally unaware….damn…should have gone first!

Finally in Dogubayzit we look for the hotel that will receive my carnet only to turn corner and find ourselves in the middle of an election rally..not the best place to be in these areas so we duck through a pedestrian pathway to get to the other side of the road and away. Unfortunately the hotel entrance is just outside the rally so with bikes parked in an ally around the corner and Joseph on guard, I duck in to see the owner. My carnet had arrived two hours ago - Yippeee! - and he shows us to another hotel where we can stay for the evening.

After a huge day on the bike, the anxiety of getting to the border and a tummy bug, I rush to the toilet once I’m in my room. Relief is immediate….until I notice that the toilet has a broken flush button….oh noooo! There was no way I was going to get someone to come up and fix the toilet with that mess in the bowl. I channel Mcguiver and reefing the top off the cistern I fiddle with the plumbing and bucket water in until the bowl is cleared. My last night in Turkey for a while…being a plumber and working out how to tie my scarf so it stays on when I take my helmet off. Tomorrow is Iran…..