Last Monday I called Nasrin at Persian Voyages to find out what the crack with my visa was. My application had been submitted and I needed to wait a week to find out whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran would care to have me in their country. I decided against hanging round in Erzurum, since George and Morgan had left to go over the border and I had pretty much visited everything worth visiting during a walk lasting about 2 hours.
My plan was to go on a short detour for a few days. First would be up to the Armenian border to visit the ancient castle city of Ani, which sits perched along a gorge which makes up the border between Armenia and Turkey. There is a collapsed bridge that spans the gorge, forming the original Silk Road, the reason why the ancient city gained much of it's wealth. I decided to camp that night to save on funds and made myself comfortable in the grounds of an abandoned tourist centre. A young Turkish lad, probably about the same age as me, came and said hello whilst looking after his cows and we ended up becoming friends, as much as is possible by communicating in sign language interspersed with Turklish. He pulled some old coins out of his pocket and showed me a couple of fine specimens of some sort of ancient money which he said he had found in Ani. The smallest coin in the worst condition he gave to me and said I could keep it. Not knowing whether he wanted money for it or whether he was just being gracious, I fished around in my jacket for an old English penny from 1921 I had found abandonned at Uni. I gave him this and he seemed pretty chuffed. I seem doomed to carry around random pieces of metal as lucky charms. I can't bear to throw away the worn camshaft from my engine which was replaced in Istanbul.
That night there was a huge storm on the plain, and I was half convinced that my tent would be blow away, as I had managed to position it in the only portion of the walled compound without much shelter. Luckily the wind died down to be replaced by lightening. I'm sure it would have been a fantastic sight but I decided to stay tucked up and warm in my sleeping bag.
The next day I made my way to the Black Sea Coast, just to have a look at it - It's just lots of water. A French couple I met told me that the road to the coast was very alpine. I didn't really believe them since we were in the middle of a huge plain but they were right. One moment you ride over the crest of a small hill to be greeted by what honestly felt like Switzerland again. Only the roads are crap. Half the roads in Turkey are being rebuilt. But they don't do it in logical steps oh no! They do it in 1km intervals about 10km apart. The road will go from okish asphalt to gravel and potholes. No problem for the KTM though! The person with the most important job amongs all these road works is the guy with the red flag. Typically he seems to spend all day sat on a convenient rock waving for the traffic to slow down. A pretty important job which I'm grateful for. Anyway, enough ranting about the roads.
The foothills after descending from 2000m+ passes to the coast are used to produce tea. The farmers have constructed curious little zip lines to the roads which they use to send the bags of picked cay down in. I spent the night at a hotel somewhere near the coast which was a bit more expensive than I was willing to pay but they let me park the bike in the hotel lobby which I thought was pretty cool!
The next day I made my way along the coast, which was nothing special, aiming to waste another day by camping next to an alpinesque lake at ulungol. I turned off too soon and couldnt be bothered back tracking so continued up into the mountains, climbing from sea level up to 2600m through some stunning scenery. It's funny how the more places you travel to remind you of places you've already been. During the ascent the scenery at first reminded me of France then Switzerland then the Lake District then Iceland. Turkey is a seriously diverse country and not just a place where beer swilling Chavs come on holiday.
I passed through the town of Ispir where I planned to stay another night but the hotel didn't look too appealing so I kept going. I pulled over shortly afterwards to have a breather when an old bloke on a scooter pulled up and appeared to communicate that he had some bees in an allotment and was on his way to take care of them. He offered to show me so I followed him for a couple of kilometers and he did indeed have lots of bees. He gave me some bread and fresh honey, literally scraped off the comb and amidst a swarm of beestrying to get their precious nectar back, I feasted whilst he either ranted about Turkey or explained something, I'm not really sure which.
I found a small family run hotel for the night and after a very cold shower had a fantastic meal of locally caught trout. So much better than some of the random meals I get given in the city. The next day I spent my time making my way back to Erzurum by cruising at a fuel saving 80kph and coasting downhills. I still arrived back too early for my liking at 11am and checked back into the hotel I stayed in previously. The guy on reception wrote down that it was 35TL a night, where I had previously paid 20TL. He then wrote down 30TL which I then crossed out and wrote 20. He said ok, so that's what I'm paying whilst I await the verdict from Tehran.
I met another couple of British bikers, John and Bev, who are also awaiting a visa decision. I think they have also gone off for a couple of days whilst they await their result. Good luck guys in case I don't see you again!
This morning I recieved an email. My visa application has been accepted. I have an authorisation number. I can go to Iran. The minor problem (there's always a nagging problem) is that the authorisation number is for the embassy in Istanbul, 1500km away, but is being sent here and will take a day or two (for some reason they telex things between embassies?!?). Still, after recieving the email I almost cried out of happiness. Great Success!
I met some Iranians staying in my hotel who seem extremely friendly. They don't speak any Turkish, just some English, and asked me if they were getting a good deal on the room they wanted in front of the guy on reception. Not knowing whether the guy on reception was overcharging or not and not wanting to jeapordise the security of my bike or belongings I said yes. It turns out they are getting the same deal as me though as there are 3 of them and a baby. Sadly they had a car accident today, which provided me with something to watch for 30mins. Someone ran into the back of them, practically destroying their bumper and the head honcho from the consulate is coming round to help them sort it out tonight. They said they would let me know when he turns up so that I can pester him about the visa. Yn Shallah we will be out of Erzurum and Turkey and back on the road by the weekend. I'm sure I'm starting to put weight on by surviving on a diet of crisps and biscuits.
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