Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Woolly says – we needed to stock up on food and snacks, a trip to Migros (one of the Turkish supermarkets that sell alcohol!) was on the cards. I thought that was it for the day but Jo and Ian had other ideas and took me on a detour to Green Canyon.
Green Canyon is a huge tourist attraction and all the tour operators offer this trip, the pictures looked impressive and with the fifth highest Dam in Turkey there was no stopping us.
Woolly says – we disappeared down the same back roads as a couple of days ago and kept going. We knew we were going in the right direction as we started to meet up with a range of different tours and jeep trips who were happily bouncing all over the roads spraying each other with water. Just as I was shouting encouragement I was bought to s sudden halt as Ian stopped Ollie and Jo jumped out, could it be a food stop?
It was nothing to do with Woolly and his stomach but we had spotted an amazing Roman Aquaduct in a field as we rounded a
bend. The Kirkgoz aquaduct covered 430 metres when constructed in the 2
nd Century with 44 arches reaching high into the sky. The height has gone but it proved to be a very complete aquaduct in many ways and an unexpectedly good surprise.
Woolly says – with Jo back in her seat we drove the last few kilometres to the Dam, it was easy to spot with its rugged rocky surround it looked like a massive piece of concrete had been used to fill the gap. It was a stark contrast to the hills surrounding it but first looks can be deceiving so as Ollie pounded up the twisty road to the top I kept my eyes peeled.
We joined the busy car park and left Ollie to hold his own with the many jeeps and coaches while we took the short steep climb up to the top of the dam. There were loads of people about and once we had actually made it to the rail we were a bit ‘is that it?’. The Dam at its highest point looked like a dam with a tremendous view of the valley on the one side
and the green waters of the canyon on the other side, views great, dam boring!
Woolly says – We drove alongside the canyon expecting to see waterfalls and pretty picnic areas, there were lovely views but nothing else. Reaching the end of the reservoir we pulled up at a restaurant so I suggested lunch. People were queuing for miles to get to the buffet and at 25 TL (approximately £8.10 GBP) with drinks extra, Jo and Ian decided to give it a miss. I would have queued!
With nothing else to see or do we continued on our way to the shopping wondering why people flock there and had we missed something? With our last day and night of camping upon us we had planned to spend the day sunning on the beach and taking it nice and easy.
Woolly says – We woke up to grey clouds which didn’t seem to want to go away, the other campers departed and left us totally alone, lovely we thought. As hour after hour passed the wind got stronger and stronger, buffeting the tent sides, we zipped up and cozied up inside. As
darkness started to fall the wind sounded like a typhoon and very loud claps of thunder started overhead.
It was defiantly building up to a big storm outside but it wasn’t until the rain started that we thought about tucking up for the night. Zipping ourselves into the sleeping unit we were all snug and sat listening to the storm raging around us and looking at the forked lightening.
Woolly says – I wasn’t too keen by now and had decided to head under the covers until it passed over, Jo and Ian played word games. I liked the game of animal, vegetable or mineral and guessed mammoth several times only to find I had it wrong. Still we waited for the storm to subside, it must be midnight at least.
It wasn’t even close to midnight in fact it had only just made it to 7.30pm, Ian muttered about a call of nature and unzipped…..
Woolly says – Ian said a few very naughty words and then Jo had a look and added some more
….we seemed to have gained a river through the
tent. This didn’t look good, to be fair it was a disaster, after several long minutes we made a decision….
Woolly says – ABANDON TENT, ABANDON TENT, MAMMOTHS AND CHILDREN FIRST!
… We grabbed everything we could including the mammoth and stepped into the water that was pounding through the tent…..
Woolly says – it was up to my ears and getting deeper, I feared for my life and looked desperately round for a life jacket. Good job I have a trunk, it’s like a built-in snorkel!
…. With it rising rapidly we scurried out of the tent and into the sheet rain and thunder outside, wading our way to Ollie I went in to my knees, this was not nice. Safe inside our faithful transport and soaking wet we debated what to do, say there for the night or see if we could use one of the site chalets……
Woolly says – I voted for the chalets and for once we were all in agreement. Ian urged Ollie up the river towards the bar area where we jumped out – straight into a lake
before running inside. The whole campsite was one stretch of moving water, taking everything with it in its path. Luckily the owner was inside and he seemed to have his own problems with water pouring through the ceilings and through the open doorway.
The lovely Turkish owner with no English understood our problem and sent us to one of the highest chalets while he continued to dig holes in the barriers to release some of the tide of water that was engulfing the place. Driving through the swamp land we made it to the dry and sat looking out of the window for a few minutes at what we had just come through.
Woolly says – none of us got a lot of sleep as we worried about the tent and listened to the tree branches slamming into the building while the rain continued to pound down. With daylight came a lull and as the rain stopped and the wind became more subdued we ventured back to the tent.
I half expected to see our belongings lying strewn across the beach with no sign of the tent at all. Boy was
I wrong, not only was the tent still standing even having uprooted three tent pegs but our belongings were still there even if they were covered in debris and rubbish.
Woolly says – I spent the morning supervising the clean-up and watching the massive waves hitting the beach. One of the trees near to us had come down and there were branches lying everywhere. It could have been so much worse but I have to say I’m looking forward to an inside bed tonight, just in case!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0204s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Louisa
non-member comment
stormy weather
Your first real storm? A word of advise: when a storm is brewing move to higher ground and try to be in a solid structure! :D Glad you survived it!