28/1/25
By 2am it had got a lot colder. Jonathan’s sleeping bag was definitely no longer meeting it’s original rating of -6C comfort as it was nowhere near freezing. It actually got cloudier overnight luckily. When we woke up it really felt warm.
It was about 9am when we took on the hill to Behram. This was the new town set below the ruins of Assos. It was far steeper than the garmin had suggested. Probably not the overall gradient, but when it says 4% and we are going up sections of 14% we just feel a little misled.
We took the side road towards the ruins and ended up walking up an even steeper cobbled road. Some men shouted to us from the nearby cafe. Nothing else looked open anyway. We ordered a couple of Turkish coffees, which came in the snazziest serving vessels yet. It didn’t redeem their price though. Somehow we got ripped off to the tune of 180 Lira, almost £5. This was a tourist hole for sure.
We left our bikes there to walk up to the entrance of the ruins. Hopefully after charging that much for coffee they would at least keep an eye out for our beloved machines. The narrow streets were lined with merchandise. All seemingly left to rot. Some of it was just lying broken in the dirt. The whole place was dead. Off season we guessed.
We decided against the €11 to go through the turnstile. We felt like they were milking it. It didn’t have anything we hadn’t managed to see before, and people on google slated the poor amounts of information and how well it was looked after.
We had to walk back to the cafe and then walk our bikes along really steep cobbles to leave. We didn’t get to reap the benefits of our earlier climb. It was a peaceful undulating road for a short while. But we weren’t done climbing yet. The road went uphill for 4km and 190m of ascent. It was fairly steady though it had some vicious angles in there too.
By the time we got to the top we were ready for another beverage. We sat in the cafe at the top to have some çay. Reasonably priced at 20 lira fortunately for us. We were there a while, and when we left we really felt the cold coming across the hills. We’d been shielded in the cafe garden but we were over 300m up and it was an icy cold breeze.
Not long after we stopped in a small village for something to eat. We were still feeling apprehensive about some foods but managed some bread and halva. Afterwards the road went down then up. Then down. And up again. This was a day of climbs.
There were some glorious climbs through beautifully yellowy rock and pine covered landscapes. It’s always fascinating to see such large rocks, having seemingly been placed into the open terrain. Only giants could do that.
It was finally time to descend from the plateau we’d been riding on. A couple of hundred metres to drop and not too steeply. We were covering some kilometres now. As it was that unfortunate time of the month for Frankie we’d had no choice but to book another hotel further ahead along the coast. When we got to Gülpinar we went to the supermarket for some fruit and also some instant noodles. Picking food to eat had definitely become trickier.
We went across the street for some bread from the bakery. Behind the counter was a young boy, smiling. His father, and similarly aged, brother were sat near the large bakers oven. Feet up, chilling. We asked for a brown circular loaf, which the boy duly sliced using the vigorous machine.
The road gladly carried on descending, a road down to the left took us to the Apollon Smitheion. The ruins of a temple dedicated to Apollo, who was in these parts know as Lord of Mice. Hence the ‘Smintheion’ part. It was only €3 to go in but we felt we had a good enough view from behind the fence. We did contemplate it, and maybe it was a mistake not to explore, but it was already 4pm and we felt we should try to get on.
We rode through Tuzla, and on the other side of the village were some beautiful rock formations known as the ‘rainbow rocks’. Shortly afterwards the road started climbing up a valley. It was a long gentle climb, the type where it simply made us feel like there was something wrong with our bodies or our bikes. Once the road got to Babedere there was a sharp hairpin and we knew it was uphill.
It wasn’t a long climb but it was rewarding. The views from the top reached far out across the farmland to the sea. We’d already noted how much agriculture there was here. It was a bit like the Lake District we thought. Mountainous farming territory. It was a gorgeous descent to Kösedere. We went flying down the hill in the Sun. Now we were lower
it was much warmer.
The hotel was only a few kilometres further, mostly downhill still. We’d reached the coast again now, and it was a long straight road north. The sign for the hotel appeared, but we were a little nervous looking into the car park. It looked dead. We’d booked the ‘last room’ so we were a little confused. We had thought that was unlikely but maybe they didn’t put that many rooms on Expedia.
When we found the entrance, the door to the courtyard was open. We pushed our way in and a man came out, stepping over dust cloths in the doorway, with an expression and words that obviously meant closed. This was a bit of a bummer. We had to try and get a refund which, even the manager type guy who showed up, didn’t know how to do. We were invited to have some çay and wait for a phone call.
It was after 5pm, so we really needed to get moving. We could either camp on beach somewhere or turn up at this campsite that according to a host on warmshowers, he owned. While chatting to Expedia on an online chat, we left and headed up the road. A couple of kilometres up was a good spot. We debated but given how beneficial an actual toilet would be, we pushed to the campsite.
The gate was wide open, but there didn’t seem to be anyone around. It looked like a nice place, not focused on caravans at all. When we got near a big timber framed building we saw a woman round the other side. She was happy for us to stay, and we mentioned warmshowers to hopefully avoid paying. It seemed to work. She still wanted copies our passports though.
The pitch near the sea was nice, there were hot showers and even a kitchen. After we’d washed and pitched, we sat on a wooden bench eating those long desired noodles. They went down well. It had really warmed up and we sat outside the rest of the evening. The host came over to ask about the lights and we were very happy for her to turn them all off.
Surly They Won't Make It 