Expedition into the wild, two people and two bikes, crossing the Taurus mountains in Turkey.
Cold air in my hair, the sun burning on my face, as far as I can see no trace of civilisation. Few trees, hills and endless grassland. When I stop for a second the silence is laying itself on me, bigger and emptier than the huge sky over my head.
We get up with the morning prayers, before sunrise. The air is freezing cold. A lot of kilometres lay in front of us. I am a bit sick and it is my birthday.
Since days I am hugely excited to cycle through Turkish mountains.
Silence, wilderness and freedom are my expectations.
We cross Afyon in the early morning hours, stacking up our banana and breakfast supplies.
Out of town, the scenery starts to get interesting straight away, combined with a little uphill ride, taking longer than expected. Little trucks smoking black are passing us almost the same speed. Almost every car is horning at us, waving. People are looking at us as if we had lost our minds, then they smile and wave. We wave back and keep on going up.
The view we chose for our breakfast made me forget, that I was promised 0km of cycling for my birthday. This landscape unfolding in front of my eyes, is everything I could have wished for!
Bananas, peanut butter and "Simit" are our breakfast.
We cross a little town, the last one in a while, where we stack up on snacks. Two old guys are asking us if we are lost, and if we need help. At least that’s how I interpret, without understanding a word of what they say. After we explain that we have a map on the phone and everything was fine, they seem reassured and say goodbye.
The midday sun begins to burn down heavy on our skin, while the air is still piercing cold. We cycle across some promising big trees offering the most wonderful shade. But then we decide to cycle up the next mountain instead, as any reasonable cyclist would.
Every single person we cross waves and smiles at us, amused and happy.
We feel welcomed and safe in this deserted but beautiful, harsh but peaceful land. It is as if all those people invite us, two dusty travellers, to cross their land.
Eventually reason takes over and we choose to have a siesta in one of the inviting shady spots next to the road. As we stop complete silence overcomes us. Every step in the dry grass makes a loud crunching sound, every car passing bursts the thick silence, wind in the trees is singing into our ears.
Even though I feel weak, my stomach hurts and I do not dare to eat anything else than bananas and bread, I couldn’t feel better.
But the day isn’t over!
We cross another village, endless roads, every turn around a curve makes us fall into admiring silence of this land. Every shape of it is clear, round, soft, laying there in front of us. Calm and endless.
As we approach the last mountain for the day, we stop midway on the side of the road. Greeted by a puppy and a truck driver who offers us a baklava. Gladly accepting, I wouldn’t have had another birthday cake opportunity that day.
Enjoying the two bites with the view, gasping at the endless straight road we came from. “Once we used to be all the way over there…”
At the top 1440m sun is setting, we should have set up camp, but that only occurred to us later, too late.
Cycling down I almost laugh and cry of love because I can’t believe what my eyes see. Clear colours, round rocks a bit of warm air, peaks of giant mountains tinted in red. Everything passes, time, the descent, wind.
Peace and beauty.
Moments later we are at the lake, feeling stupid, because now we are searching for a spot to sleep, when up there we wanted to stay everywhere. When I start to cry out of exhaustion, feeling like I failed at everything, we pitch the tent next to the lake. Trying to remind myself that there is no reason to regret any previous decisions, even though they might have been stupid.
Again, I managed to go through every possible range of emotions in only one day. Glad to be here, on my birthday, celebrating another year on this beautiful earth.
We barely sat down, as the sound of the evening prayers echo into the evening.
Sunrise to sundown, over 100kilometres and I don't know how many meters of elevation.
Many thanks to everyone passing by, have a great week!
All the words and photos are my own written and taken by me.