Wildcamp near Kızılören

August 16, 2023

We were in the dining room at ten to seven, eager to shovel as much down as quickly as possible and get on the road. But the staff member on duty this morning wasn't one to be rushed so we spent the next fifteen minutes enjoying the view while he got things ready.

The view from the dining room on the top floor of the hotel.

Never the less, we were on the road soon after seven thirty. A long gentle uphill threading through low hills for most of the way and a headwind would ensure that we traveled quite slowly. The temperature would once again head into the upper thirties but good cloud cover and the headwind made it bearable.

There wasn't much to see along the D330 that leads to Konya. Mainly wheat fields at the end of the season, mostly harvested and with the straw being bailed or waiting to be bailed.

A small patch of wheat yet to be harvested.

After about forty kilometers we passed through a vague valley between rugged granite hills and the wheat gave way to pine trees.

At around the fifty kilometer mark we came upon, what used to be, a well restored han. It had been changed into a nice looking restaurant (if photos and reviews from a few years ago are to be believed) but had now fallen into disrepair.

A delapidated old Fiat was parked at tge entrance.

The courtyard had a cloth roof a few years ago.

Fifty five kilometers brought us to a number of Et Mangal restaurants. Their speciality is grilled meat, either lamb chicken or sausages. We took a table in the garden of the first one on our side of the road, selected some lamb chops and spent the next few hours eating and relaxing in the shade. Interestingly, the restaurant staff were all Afghans.

At four o'clock we felt it would be polite to vacate our table and cycled on further to look for a place to camp. Leigh had noted a wooded area on the old D330 a few kilometers further on that, according to Google, had available water. Alas the tap was dry but it was a good spot to stop for the night. So I cycled back to the restaurant and stocked up on water. We are a few hundred meters away from the rather noisy D330 but we have become accustomed to traffic noise on this trip so hopefully we will have a good night's sleep.

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 351 km (218 miles)

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