Day 130 to Yusufeli, Turkey, 104km, 10,609 to date, 603m up, 627m end.
A very nice ride, mostly downhill, a bit of wind behind and wonderful scenery. Only 12 more riding days left, I'm both happy because tthe end is in sight and sad since this wonderful, hard, exciting, exotic trip is almost over. More on this point in the remaining blog posts..
We noticed a fair bit of military presence, essentially all the roads leading south had military checking each vehicle. We also saw collections of armoured troop carriers heading south.
I had sent an email to the hotel we end at in Istanbul asking for an additional two nights. They haven’t got back to me, so I looked at their website - October on is fully booked?? Turns out the answer is the opposite, because the tourist business is so poor, they are closing on Oct 15. The hotel we stayed in in Kars was similar, we were there for 3 nights, we were the only guests in a fairly large hotel for 2 of the 3 nights we were there. In general tourism is a disaster in Turkey now, many hotels are closing, some for good.
On a positive note, the ride today went through some very rough mountain gorges, some pics from the day:
Terry W. I wondered if you had a hand in any dam design/construction in Turkey?
I was told this was a short-cut:
The delivery system for places on the other side of the river:
Ron,
ReplyDeleteHad a binge read of your blog this morning......from Osh onwards. Seems to have been tough at times considering your intestinal issues. Fair dues to you for ploughing on. And your unique 'Ron Outfit' has finally caught on!!! Hope the final days in Turkey will be incident free and finish with a crescendo in Istanbul. Would love to witness that. Safe onward trip.
Ron
ReplyDeleteOver the last few days I have been reading back on your blog for the days we shared together (May 15 thru July 18) and came across an interesting and embarrassing entry on Day 40, June 19 (to Rubtsovsk). In that entry I am named and well identified and reference made to the knee-problems I had in 2013 and my inability to walk across a room. No problem with that. You say this was linked to me being 'over 300 lbs'. I don't know where you got this totally inaccurate information. Beats me. I've never been next or near 300 lbs (even with a daily and permanent bag on my shoulders) I've never been over 180 lbs and fitness was never an issue. You must have picked up some camp gossip and published. Could have checked it out; I was never too far away.
On a number of occasions, in conversation with other cyclists I was quite open about that worrying time for me in 2013 and shared the facts. 300 lbs or anything that could be linked to such an idea never arose. I was diagnosed with pseudo-gout in the knees i.e. an excess of calcium crystals in the joint fluid as opposed to uric crystals (as in regular gout). A period of inactivity during a very cold spell seems to have brought the condition on. Draining, medication, rest and anti-inflammatories rectified the matter and within 5 months I was cycling across Australia with no ill effects. I shared all this with those I cycled and socialised with.
I'm sure you'll correct the matter on the blog and with any of the cyclists that got the inaccurate information.
Keep those pedals turning right on to Istanbul and leave all the international strife behind ye in the eastern part of the country.
Safe riding and cheers,
Richard.