Other worldly sights

Day 14 0 km (5205 km total) - well I walked about 10 km today, but I'm not counting that.

My first rest day since I left home in the UK, so not including today thats an average of 400 km per day (~250 miles) . I am about 25% of the way through my planned route in terms of distance, but only about 18% in terms of time, the reason being of course the roads after Turkey will become progerssively more challenging so journey times will increase.

The tent & camping gear is unlikely to come out again as its just too hot, although Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan & Kyrgystan are still possibilities if distances between towns prove to be too great.

The Tiger is running fine, tyres are wearing well and may still have life left by the time I get to Astrakhan in Russia which is where I hopefully have a fresh set waiting. I'll decide when I get there whether to change then or carry a set until needed.

I spent a while this morning doing domestics - its the first chance since I left home to do a proper clothes wash. Dont worry, everything important gets rinsed in shampoo each night before being re-used. Also gave the bike a quick check over, tighten up etc.

 

Then it was off out to explore - on foot. .....

I turned away from the main tourist trail & decided to go off-piste. The lanscape round here is unbelievable, with houses carved into the soft volcanic rock being 'de rigeur'.

The area is a UNESCO world heritage site, who say,

"A spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there."

All I could say as I worked my way along the narrow sandy trails was ... Wow!

So of course the selfie stick had to come out :-)

Pretty flowers with lethat spiky bits that get stuck in your shoes and legs.

 

 

Close up of a cave dwelling

And a small church carved into the rock

This one had two floors inside, I've posted a short video onto the facebook page

I sort of got a bit lost by this point, but was emjoying myself too much to care. Lucky I had a camelback full of water as it was rather hot!

They had carved steps at this one so you could access the back door.

 

The landscape is punctuated by valleys ... With handsome young men using them as a bacdrop whilst taking selfies ;-)

There was more sights round every turn

This one was still occupied

Back down to the town, many of the houses & hostels (including mine) make use of cave houses for some of the rooms.

 

 

 

Apparently some of the star wars scenes were filmed in the area, so I might go out in my bike gear later & pose as a stormtrooper!

Evening update -

Strolled into the village for some tea, here's a photo of my pad

And one of a shop selling interesting car covers ...

 

And this evenings meal at a lovely family local place i found just out of the village,

 

The traditional bikers starter!

Starter of lentil soup, warm olive bead & a yoghurt, garlic mint & chilli dip

Main course of lamb stew, salad & rice - very tasty ...

Good night ...