Mainly Pictures......

Jon relaxing in the "womens only" pool... Very hot spring
The wadi at DARA..
The best camp site on the kings road
This is Hubz.... Arabic bread
Another one of the Majalia family... Mum Sumai, Sons Zaid 15, Yahe 13, Salem 10, Hamsi 5, and youngest daughter Haneen 4.....


This should be the second post but what the hell who cares which way round they are.. They all get mixed up in the big picture... So read the next post for the story...news event etc.... Nic is on the e mail at the moment (using her one finger.. I think the others are exhausted from cycling??) But she is getting better.. as some of you who have used internet cafes before will know... most of the keys letters have been warn off with time.. (thats my excuse for all the spelling mistakes!!) and she is getting on quite well.. Still having loads of fun out here.. but cant wait to go back north with the wind behinde us.....I am waiting for this steam powered computer to upload the pictures.. so bear with my whittering... we hope to camp here tonight as the visit to to Petra will be the most expensive thing we have done on the whole trip.. 30 squid each!!!! but for the chance to be Indiana Jones for the day .. Its worth it...
Nic has told me to stop this whittering and wish you all a happy new year!!!
So HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!
Oh saw a nice catapiller today...
Forgot to say about the tractors..... This is where all of the Fordson Majors are.. Hundreds of them.. all still running.. fantastic.. Quite a few MF 165's and not much else...
But the roads are covered with old Mercedes bull nosed trucks...
Oh time to go...

syria and jordan

The Mijali Family.. Saved us from being blown into the desert!!
Had a bit of a hang over this day!!... that non alcoholic beer can get to you after a few weeks on the road!!
Saying good bye after the 2 nights in the monestary.. Mainly french speaking (couldnt understand a word) Typical Syrian desert weather...cold,wet and impoddibly nuddy off road.
The Monestary at dawn..(I was the only one tomanage to get up in time for it)
This is what the Syrian kids do instead of school!!! After scrambling up the really steep sides they slide down on their arses and become human pinballs off the stone bollards in the lower section!


sorry for recentbreak in transmission,but internet rare here in these araby countries. Been having lots of adventures though,;hard to know where to start.Backwards is easier for the aged memory !
InPetra in jordan now...been a bit of a battle against constant headwind to get here.Can only hope it carries on so that going back north will be a doodle. Have not had any easy cyling since leaving turkey !After here hoping to go to wadi rum,then to sea near aqaba for snorkeling......ha ha...then plan to get blown back north by dead sea.!(watch lawrence of arabia for general background!).
shall leave jon to relate adventures...interesting nights spent in strange places. (our guardian angels have been working very hard to make things always turn out for the best !]
We keep on finding interesting places to stay.. sometimes they are found for us!!
First there was the Monestary in the mountains of syria.. we heard that it was free to stay (how could we turn thet offer down?) We arrived with our new cycling freinds Davide and Latica.. two cyclists from Switserland who we met a few days before. The place was fantastic and we were lucky to see rain in the desert!! (flooding etc!!)
The next was when we had been cycling through a military zone all day....whe we asked about camping.. we were sent to the police...Problem!!!!... they didnt really want anything to do with us so off to the Army... Problem!!.. but they didnt really want anything todo with us.. so off tho the Mosque.. No Problem.. and a good night
Got into Jordan ok.. and the weather was better b(thank god) warmer and less windy.. We were enjoying the scenery and making good progress south untill the end of our 2nd full day.. the wind was picking up and we had been warned of rain and the possibility of snow..
In the end we had a desperate camp on the side of the road.. building walls arround the tent.. waiting for it to blow down... Then there was a crash on the road!! a pick up drove into a pile of gravel.... all ok but a bit of a fuss.. we were stuck in the tent holding it up!!
The car was moved and all went quiet (except for the wind) untill 10 mins later when there was a constant beep beep beep from the road... Oh no, we thought,, we have been found!! Go out Jon and see what they want.. Out I go and there is an Arab man in a car with hid wife... come with us.. come with us...etc.. no way out.... so down with the tent and off to the Mijali Family house... food.. warmth..and a safe place to sleep...
They were the most fantastic people.. met most of the family.. They didnt want us to go.. "stay another day!!" so we will see them on the way back north..
We think someone is looking after us...
Any way.... as nic said we are at Petra now.. so I will have to do my best Indiana Jones impression, get my whip out anf find the treasure here.....

towards Syria

Turkey so far.. First of Jan.. 10000km

Jon trying not to look too cold

These are the dogs to watch out for!!! they can rip a panier off just for fun!! Central Anatolia

Caught by wind in the middle of no where!! only possible place to pitch a tent.. couldnt cycle any more.. riding at an angle to the wind!!!

Hobbit holes all the way out of Cappadocia.. better place to spend the night when its windy!!!

Deep depressions in Cappadocia...İ discovered that İ have lost my endura wool sweater!!! ( Alan ıf you find it at the ley ley put it to one side for me?) and also we found that out Gerber tool was missing! we figured out where it was last used (40km away (back)) and hatched a plan to get it..(not my idea!!) Hire a motorbike...We now have out gerber back..found where we had lunch.

İt will not surprise any of you to hear that we have had NO PUNCTURES.. since fitting the new tyres.. And thats just how we like it.. (we do however have two tyres that seem to loose air now and again.. but we have decided that they are not punctures and just a good way of warming up in the morning!!) So there....

We have however been stopped twice by the police... Nothing to do with my wild riding either.. No the first was just a routine stop.. they gave us oranges!! the second we were forced off the road to drink cai.. Quite nice really...

My best morning so far was when we had 3 breakfasts... the first was our normal one coffee bread and chock sauce.. A great way to start any day!! then just as the first was wearing off.. we were invited to have more with two men outside their shops.. bread and cai.. We left them after about 1 hr then 500m up the road a family forced us off the road to eat a local apple dish... what could we say!!!!

Nic. I,ve got a few animal issues that need sorting.....apart from the dogs which do roughly seem to be afeared of the sticks. Firstly the mices have made a bigger hole in my panniers than the dogs.and there wasnt even any food in there.!Then i.ve found 2 very sharp pointed animal quills

whilst camping one night.İs there an Asian porcupine ? We.ve also seen 1 dead (squashed) and 1 live giant rat thing. İts about the size of a small otter or copyu but is.nt eıther....what is it.? İt likes reeds and water channels and is quite furry.

Jon gave me my xmas present last night. İts great.just what i.ve been wanting for ages but he would.nt let me get. He must have finally relented over the weight issue.! So now i;ve got a lovely plastic red heart shaped pencil sharpener....and don,t have to use the opinel knife .How could things get any better.

Off to Syria now.. tomorow if they will have us (visa visa visa) we have heard that the internet is harder to find so......

Cappadocia Special

Camel tunnel.. so they could get in to the rock dwellings ( thats Nic not a camel....)

Fantastic single track (well sort of a foot path)

You need to zoom in on this!! its a bit complicated....Mnt Eriyces in the distance.. 3900m +

Just some fairy chimneys

İts not me thats shrunk!!!! But the bed is enormous.. This is our surprise rock room. Outside it is snowing..Our first night at Goreme. And its a short wave radio İ am playing with (no smart comments please)

Jon loves chocolate spread

Long shadows on the flat lands

These girls thought it was hilarıous the İ put the tent up and Jon did the cooking!

A cloud bow ( stormy weather on its way over the mountains)

Verry frosty morning..water bottles solid.. Nic wont get up... NO GEARS!!!!

İts MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!!

Have you ever looked for advice on the internet about a repaır or maintenance on anything?

Well İ did.... İ checked on the rohloff web site about the type of oil that should be used in the hub!!

İt of course said that you should never ever.. ever.. use any other oil than the rohloff specific oil!!

What do they know ( İ asked myself) İm an engineer... there must be another oil that you can use?..... İ located a replacement.. a gear oıl 80 grade.. that should do the job.. And it did... for a while.... Untill the frosty morning!!... NO GEARS!!!! (luckily it was downhill)

As the day warmed up gears came back. and after draining most of it it has been ok!! touch wood..

Let that be a warning to you all... Still on the road though!

yol yok and the great granny ring

karavansary on the old silk road

Unknown bırds (becky ıdentify) on gorgeous lake

One morning!

The fantastic school kids

Nıc was going so slowly she was attacked by a land crab!!!(shocking)

Heavy rain delayed our start to the second leg of the trip... İt did mean that we got taken out for a lovely meal with Alan and Janet (nic on the racki again).. But in the morning the sun was up and we were off.. A steady start but we soon gained our rythem! heading past Fethiye (nic found a smelly terrapin on the road and saved it from a terrible death.(am stıll wonderıng why i sniffed it...nic)

We headed allong the coast past oludeniz (beautıful coast line) following a road marked on the map.. several hrs later we made it to a village where we found out that... Yol Yok... which means road not!! no more road.. İm not saying that the map was wrong but to say some of the detail was missing would be a bit shy of the truth!! Then the heavens opened Thunder etc . Next day back track to the rıght road and over the tops and onwards..

Of course we got lured back into the mountains.Cycled uphill so steeply we were both privately thinking our legs had gone useless.....hence the need for the great granny ring.

Spent one morning at a great little primary school near Kremma (ancient monument .....i was feeling a bit like one myself by this time...too many long cold nights camping ..) mainly amusing the kids with our shocking turkish.

Our short wave radio has meant that at 2 a.m or whenever we both realise the other is awake tooş jon can fiddle around through all the space static to get us 2 mins of china radio ! (it is awful !)

Have arrived in cappodocia....!Cycled across the flatest of flat plains for 2 days......and finally got well and truly got by a huge snarling metal spiked collared dog ! He came out of nowhere and ripped one of jons panniers right off....then a couple of mins later put a hole in mine.Outrunning them is not an option...and only seems to wind them up more.

Today have had great day exploring rock dwellings in the İlhara valley.Phil would have 'wow'ed himself to exhaustion

Almost on the road again

A wonderful day out on the lake with Moira (thats me.....not Moira!)

Clip from the local paper after a visit to a local primary school.

A real Turkish hair and beard cut... cut throat razor massage.... the lot (the glasses are nic's and are being worn for a joke!!)
(Not true......he said he could,nt see a damn thing ! )

Ali of the famous sun ray bar (we call him Alicik capkin... you have been warned!!!)

Moira trying to fight off Ali Baba

Well the wait is over and we will be off on our travels again....

The package of tyres and bike bits arrived, together with some chocolate money, a Christmas card and the local paper with news of the floods... Thanks to all involved.

So the tyres were fitted last night (after going to a Christmas party) and though are now on how the hell we get all of our stuff back into the panier's!! It looks like it will never fit!!

Nic has been sorting out all of the little bits of rubbish we have been carrying and getting a package together to send back Maps of The Ukraine Serbia etc back too.

The only thing that will stop us is if it is chucking it down again!!

There is proper snow on all the big mountains just behind here,so we will probably (if sense prevails ) stick to the coast,though there's plenty of inland temptations to lead us astray.Even if it is pissing down tomorrow we had better try and go,as we have been led well astray here on an increasing no. of occasions ! Raki and wine in the afternoon.! Moira !

We've had good fun here,meeting some lovely folks (including of course the local postoffice staff ).....but as we,ve got no more news we,d better get back out there .