8.05.2001 Goreme to Kayseri - A tough nut to crack

Cass writes...

Leaving Goreme village - too much like a set from the Flintstones with its kitsch cave hotels and fairy chimneys - sheet rain, hail and a dark, brooding sky accompany us on the road to Kayseri. It's our first proper haul on the fully laden Limo and a sharp climb out of Urugup has us re-equating our payload - a 400 metre climb in just a few kilometres. But we make it to the top, enjoying a slow and drawn out descent to Kayseri. Stopping for supplies in a sheltered village, we cross paths with cycle tourer Tore from Denmark, happy to be close to home after riding from China.

Needle rain strikes down and lost in the murky backdrop, Erciyes Dagi is nowhere to be seen, an extinct volcano of almost 4000 metres. But it feels wonderful to be riding on a quiet, open road once again. As the blood pumps around my veins, I yodle at the top of my voice. This is what riding is about - feeling these extremes. Being close to the earth.

As the road levels out, we enjoy the advantages that a tandem offers & each other's company and a good turn of speed on level ground, as we cruise along at a comfortable 30 kph. A reporter takes our photo for a local newspaper aIIIenjoy a few Lamajun - the elongated pizza placed in a clay oven with an oar-like implement.

Then, just one bus ride awaits, the night journey to Erzurum. Several hundred kilometres into Eastern Turkey, it will place us just a few hundred kilometres with the border of Iran...