Turkey - From Safronbolu, onwards past Ankara

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Awake early we packed up everything rapidly as someone felt a drop of rain. There were no more, but it meant that we found the twee village of Safronbolu much earlier than we had planned. Very touristy with half wooden framed buildings and cobbled streets. Hardly any other visitors at this time of year. We had a coffee before leaving and retracing our route south for 30 or so miles before bearing eastwards. We followed deserted minor roads through beautiful scenery as we turned again southwards for Ankara. The motorway swept around the city which looked like a mass of concrete buildings punctuated by minarets thrusting skywards and of course countless blocks of concrete flats. In Turkey, unlike Romania, they are at least painted colourfully. We did not stop but drove on towards Arksaray and then to the Ihlara valley area where we sought out a campsite. Not easy, but we ended up by a remote clump of willows across a vast field of stubble which proved to be ideal. We watched the almost full moon rise as we ate our supper round a camp fire, because it was very cold - we were well over 4000 ft high. Behind us towered the mountain of Hasan Dagi at over 10,000 ft. A beautiful backdrop. It was very, very cold that night but we survived in our little tents, our sleep occasionally disturbed by barking dogs and of course the drummer! (294 miles today)

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Photos

Safranbolu
School girls Safranbolu (day 12)