We left behind the wonderful Cappadocia and travelled to the north east of Turkey to a town called Bayburt. This is the start of the D915, according to dangerousroads.org, this is right up there as one of the most hazardous.

Initially it wound slowly up through small villages to the switchbacks in the photo below.

The tarmac road then turned into gravel.

The climb to the top took about 2 hours.

The views getting better the higher we go.

The summit was 2330 metres. This is the highest I’ve ever been on a bicycle.

As we crept towards the otherside the clouds started to build up, this was a real shame as we knew the outlook would have been spectacular.

The road then started to get thinner and deteriorate in quality. Lovely stuff!

We then hit the much anticipated big drop.

Visibility became poor but didn’t detract from the fun of rolling down the switchbacks.

This is what we were cycling down!

We eventually dropped below the clouds and the landscape opened up, creating some nice photo opportunities.

We also had time for a mid-afternoon waterfall shower, it was freezing!

This was one of my favourite days of cycling so far.

The next morning we started the 100 miles of flat dual carriageway to the border of Georgia.
At lunch time we both ate a dodgy kebab and spent the following evening violently ill, topped off with bowel issues. Turkeys leaving present!

We carried on tenderly and eventually made it to the coastal city of Batumi. I was pleasantly suprised at how modern and vibrant it was.

We stayed for 1 night before heading on a mountainous route to the capital city, Tbilisi.

The first day we steadily climbed up for 50 miles, following a ever narrowing river. We were treated to some nice views along the way.

Day 2 was agony, we completed the final 20 miles to the top of the mountain pass. The road quality had turned to rubble, it took us 6.5 hours. In total this peak was 70 miles uphill. Brutal cycling.

The decent was fun, we passed through small villages complete with cattle traffic.

We camped by the river that night.

The next day we chose to cycle around the second mountain, turned out to be a good option. The roads were smooth and over rolling hills, we were even blessed with a strong tailwind.

Another night was spent camping by a river.

Just before we reached Tbilisi we visited the Stalin museum in the small town of Gori.

and then moved on….

and made it to the city.

A bit heavy for touring!!!

Over the next few days we explored the city.

A view of the city from the cable car.

Local church garden.

Dodgy wonky building work

The funicular railway to the top of the hill.

The city by night.

A huge ferris wheel on the edge of the hill.

Barry had a friend visit for the weekend. We hired a car for the day and explored the mountainous region we had skipped passed a few days earlier. During the day we found a lost puppy in the road! (above pic).

Our car, a gutless Renault duster, at least the petrol was cheap. 60p a litre!

The valleys we would have cycled through.

We also visited a cave monastery.

Barry also spotted a bridge made from a old train on our way back

So our time in this country is now coming to a close and we head to the city of Baku in Azerbaijan.

From here we plan to pickup our Uzbekistan visas and get a freight ship across the Caspian sea to Kazakstan.

Exciting times lay ahead!

Leaving Ankara was a pleasant affair, knowing we had 3 days of cycling ahead until the highly anticipated region of Cappadocia was great.

The roads were big but uncrowded. It was fairly hilly, sometimes taking an hour or 2 to summit, topped with temperatures reaching 40 degrees celcius.

After a week of relaxing we were exhausted after the first days ride.

We camped for free each night on our way. The first under a abandoned building next to a lake. No need for the tent rain cover!

The second was behind a roadside restaurant. We chose here as we could use their bathroom facilities.

The landscape eventually opened out as we got within 40miles of our destination. One last big 5%  7km downhill provided a lot of fun.

You may notice a plastic bag on the back of my bike. As we had lunch earlier that day by the roadside a lady approached us and offered us some plums from her front garden. We gladly accepted.

That night we stewed them up and added a touch of honey. Sugar overload!!! Delicious…

Our third night camping was on a cliffside, the sunset that night was rather nice.

When the sun had completely gone the stars on show were incredible. That night I saw 2 shooting stars and a few orbiting satellites. A night to remember. Barry experimented with a few long exposure camera shots which turned out well.

We reached our destination early on the 4th day.

We stayed in a hotel in a town called Goreme. It was pleasant and cheap.

We had hoped to do a sunrise hot air balloon ride but unfortunately the conditions weren’t right so had to miss out.

Instead we opted to go hiking for 2 afternoons which turned out to be a real adventure. The first time we made the mistake of taking our bikes with us, we still had a lot of fun though.

I will now post a selection of photos of this wierd and wonderful area. Enjoy!

Our journey now continues to north east Turkey and into Georgia. We will be hitting the D915, uncommonly known as the most dangerous road (for cars, mum) in the world! (not to be compared with the death road in Bolivia made popular by Top Gear).

I plan to make the blog post in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, at the end of the month.

Leaving Istanbul was a pretty easy affair. A 10 mile cycle along the waters edge led us to a ferry port where we caught a boat. This took us to a small town called Yalova and straight onto a quieter route towards Ankara (500km away).

Boarding the ferry, a mere £3 for a 1 hour trip.

The road out of the town was over 1 big hill then down beside a lake. We carried on until the light faded and camped in a olive tree field.

The next day the sun came out in full force, a healthy 35 degrees celcius. The roads were good quality and very quiet most of the time.

We wound around a lot of small mountain passes, giving us delightful views and really fun downhill races!

Barry cruising on one of the long downhill stretches.

Barry got his first puncture of the entire trip from London one morning. The shard of glass had gone through his tyre and inside the inner tube!
Being a bicycle courier as a profession it was a quick repair turnaround before setting off again.

Turkey has already made a big impression on us. Its beautiful, colourful and incredibly vast.

It has been hard to cycle longer than 30minutes before stopping to take more photos.

This was a photo I wanted to capture, its the first pass and probably the smallest we will cross over that is measured. Upon riding in central Asia our altitude will hit 4500+ metres.

Every few hours upon topping another hill we were rewarded with a nice outlook to rest at.

Camping spots presented themselves in abundance but this particular spot was too early on in the day.

Berry’s second puncture was due to a few miniscule glass shards from the first puncture that had penetrated through the inside of the tube causing a slow deflation. This time the inner tube was replaced. Whilst he got on with business, I brewed up some coffee!

Our camping spot another night was beside the road, however no drivers seemed to mind. Usually just waving and honking their horns.

The sunset provided a lovely backdrop for when we ate our dinner.

The final ride was along dual carriageways. However as you can see it was basically empty and we had a very generous shoulder to cycle in.

Upon reaching Ankara we treated ourselves to a proper kebab.
We’ve spent a week here as that is how long it takes to obtain a Kazakstan visa!

So now we have 2 visas (Tajikistan & Kazakstan), we have 2 more to go (Azerbaijan & Uzbekistan) but we can obtain these whilst moving.

We now head down to the region of Cappadocia. A really popular area and a must see attraction. Hoping to also take a sunrise balloon ride too!