Day 54
Sleeping location: Mum and Dad’s house, Kalkan, Turkey
Distance (km today/total): 106 / 5368
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 45900
% of Turkey successfully crossed by dad without incident: 99
Day in three words: Dog bites dad
At breakfast we picked up the last pocket eggs of the trip, and also saw the first western tourists since Istanbul (Germans in this case). No sign of Rusty on our way out of Elmali. Stay strong Rusty. The first 35km was along another wide flat valley, this one full of apples as expected. Dad expressed a desire to try one, so he went back to his West Country roots and engaged in a spot of scrumping at the side of the road. Maybe the pocket eggs have given him a taste for theft. Along this section there was a pesky headwind, and for the first time since the Macedonia/Bulgaria border (two and a half weeks ago!) some rain.
We had coffee and eggs in Gombe, a town at 1300m which is surrounded by mountains which are way bigger than that. It was pretty atmospheric as a lot of said mountains were shrouded in clouds, and on the way out of town there was a big reservoir with bright turquoise water which made things even more atmospheric. After this was a winding road through forests and mountains, with stunning views in every direction. The road lead down a fun descent into a giant bowl with a boneshaking surface along the bottom, then up a really tough climb to 1200m and the knowledge that we were just 20km from the the sea and a beer, most of it downhill. I put on some joyous tunes and we set off down the amazing descent in a buzz of excitement.
Halfway down was one last bowl, which had a short climb out of it to start the final descent into Kalkan. The first section was really fun, all switchbacks and nice gradients. I got my first glimpse of the sea at about 600m up* as the road bent sharply to the right. I was looking ahead for a nice place to lean Maggie on for a picture, and was startled by an angry red dog bursting out of the red earth towards me, barking his head off. I was going quickly and even though I slammed on the brakes he had to jump back to avoid going under my wheels. I was away before he could chase and remember hoping that dad wouldn’t get similarly startled.
As it turned out, he got much worse. I waited round the corner and was thinking about pictures when he turned up with his right shin an absolute mess. The dog (or one of its friends, he says there were three) had badly bitten him. I must have riled the little fuckers up. We put on a makeshift bandage and headed straight for the little medical centre in Kalkan, where they did a much better job, but said he needed to go to hospital in nearby Kas to get a rabies shot and to have them look at the wound properly. We went to my parents’ villa to drop the bikes and say hello to mum in less ideal circumstances than we’d envisaged. No hire cars were available at super short notice so instead my parents’ local caretaker Mehmet generously offered to take us. The whole thing was actually very efficient and we were out within an hour; it also only cost about £20, which is quite annoying considering that my course of rabies shots in the UK was about £250.
Upshot is, dad is fine but the whole thing is going to be a real drag for the rest of his time here, as he can’t do any real exercise or get hot in case the dressing sweats off. Not easy when it’s about 30 degrees in the shade in the daytime. Kalkan itself is so, so different to everything else we’ve seen in Turkey; loads of Brits, loads of tourism, loads of wealth, everything costs 2-3 times as much. It’s almost like another country entirely. Before this trip my entire experience of Turkey was just Kalkan and Istanbul, and I’m glad I’ve got to experience the real country, its amazing natural beauty and the sort of genuine hospitality that doesn’t come with a side order of trying to sell you stuff.
As in Bari I’ll be taking a few days off here to rest and do various admin. Whilst not as mental as the first month, this has actually been a surprisingly punchy three weeks; almost 2100km in 22 days, over a whole heap of mountains. I’ll take this opportunity to remind y’all that you can sponsor me here and that your money will be going to a top, top cause. If nothing else, do it for my dad’s poor chomped up leg. It would also be very funny** if you wrote “I support the dog” or “#notalldogs” or some such whimsical thing in the comment box. Also, please share the blog with anyone you think might be interested, especially if they are philanthropic billionaires.
*The geography of this place is ludicrous
**Humour is subjective
Distance (km today/total): 106 / 5368
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 45900
% of Turkey successfully crossed by dad without incident: 99
Day in three words: Dog bites dad
At breakfast we picked up the last pocket eggs of the trip, and also saw the first western tourists since Istanbul (Germans in this case). No sign of Rusty on our way out of Elmali. Stay strong Rusty. The first 35km was along another wide flat valley, this one full of apples as expected. Dad expressed a desire to try one, so he went back to his West Country roots and engaged in a spot of scrumping at the side of the road. Maybe the pocket eggs have given him a taste for theft. Along this section there was a pesky headwind, and for the first time since the Macedonia/Bulgaria border (two and a half weeks ago!) some rain.
We had coffee and eggs in Gombe, a town at 1300m which is surrounded by mountains which are way bigger than that. It was pretty atmospheric as a lot of said mountains were shrouded in clouds, and on the way out of town there was a big reservoir with bright turquoise water which made things even more atmospheric. After this was a winding road through forests and mountains, with stunning views in every direction. The road lead down a fun descent into a giant bowl with a boneshaking surface along the bottom, then up a really tough climb to 1200m and the knowledge that we were just 20km from the the sea and a beer, most of it downhill. I put on some joyous tunes and we set off down the amazing descent in a buzz of excitement.
Halfway down was one last bowl, which had a short climb out of it to start the final descent into Kalkan. The first section was really fun, all switchbacks and nice gradients. I got my first glimpse of the sea at about 600m up* as the road bent sharply to the right. I was looking ahead for a nice place to lean Maggie on for a picture, and was startled by an angry red dog bursting out of the red earth towards me, barking his head off. I was going quickly and even though I slammed on the brakes he had to jump back to avoid going under my wheels. I was away before he could chase and remember hoping that dad wouldn’t get similarly startled.
As it turned out, he got much worse. I waited round the corner and was thinking about pictures when he turned up with his right shin an absolute mess. The dog (or one of its friends, he says there were three) had badly bitten him. I must have riled the little fuckers up. We put on a makeshift bandage and headed straight for the little medical centre in Kalkan, where they did a much better job, but said he needed to go to hospital in nearby Kas to get a rabies shot and to have them look at the wound properly. We went to my parents’ villa to drop the bikes and say hello to mum in less ideal circumstances than we’d envisaged. No hire cars were available at super short notice so instead my parents’ local caretaker Mehmet generously offered to take us. The whole thing was actually very efficient and we were out within an hour; it also only cost about £20, which is quite annoying considering that my course of rabies shots in the UK was about £250.
Upshot is, dad is fine but the whole thing is going to be a real drag for the rest of his time here, as he can’t do any real exercise or get hot in case the dressing sweats off. Not easy when it’s about 30 degrees in the shade in the daytime. Kalkan itself is so, so different to everything else we’ve seen in Turkey; loads of Brits, loads of tourism, loads of wealth, everything costs 2-3 times as much. It’s almost like another country entirely. Before this trip my entire experience of Turkey was just Kalkan and Istanbul, and I’m glad I’ve got to experience the real country, its amazing natural beauty and the sort of genuine hospitality that doesn’t come with a side order of trying to sell you stuff.
As in Bari I’ll be taking a few days off here to rest and do various admin. Whilst not as mental as the first month, this has actually been a surprisingly punchy three weeks; almost 2100km in 22 days, over a whole heap of mountains. I’ll take this opportunity to remind y’all that you can sponsor me here and that your money will be going to a top, top cause. If nothing else, do it for my dad’s poor chomped up leg. It would also be very funny** if you wrote “I support the dog” or “#notalldogs” or some such whimsical thing in the comment box. Also, please share the blog with anyone you think might be interested, especially if they are philanthropic billionaires.
*The geography of this place is ludicrous
**Humour is subjective
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