Onwards and upwards

Camping in the mountains above the euphrates.....
So we got a visitor... Phil has come out from the uk to cycle with us for about 10 days... How excited were we!!! We met at Diyabakir and had a day to sort stuff out then off into the mountains... The usual plan.. plan on the way..
The weather seemed to be quite good, signs of spring in the air, flowers out and the usual amazing scenery..

A small detour due to building a new road!! but what a fantastic route... this is down the black canyon along the Euphrates.. the road (taş Yolu ..the stone road....over 4000mtrs of tunnel )has been dug into the side of the canyon, quiet and very scenic.

But then we got caught out!! up at about 2000m it got a bit cold.. as many of you will know! ok going up!.... but on the way down.... just a bit cold.. An enforced camp (due to me (jon) freezing: must eat more pies..as soon as you can Amos) we had a very cold night.. but in the morning, all of us with hot water bottles down our pants, we got started again..

(Phil here...) The best cafe in Elazig... with the best family serving us. Chorba (soup), wonderful Ekmek (home made bread) and cake to warm us. Brothers, sisters and mum all helping out. This poor city had experienced a terrible earthquake the day before with the loss of life but it couldn't demolish the amazingly generous spirit of these people. I've been overwhelmed by how the people here treat you. Some days progress (in dıstance) is so slow because everyone invites us to share cay (tea) with them and we end up swapping sign language (Nic is not bad at her Turkish actually) and sharing tıme with shepherd families, soldiers, petrol station folk and many others. So in other ways progress is just how it should be.....at a pace much more centred around people and their stories than about jobs. That's my medicine right now.

Çay with some shepherding folks. Nic trying to explain that "No, Phil was not married " and thus if Jules does,nt want him then either of the two younger girls could have him. Quite complicated in turkish. They had 200 sheep which had just started lambing. They were a good laugh and gave us an especially big stick to fend of kotu kopeks (Bad Dogs )