Well its been about 3 weeks since I last updated this blog and many adventures have occured since then, both good and bad. So for all of those out there this is the story so far......

As we planned the following morning in Selcuk was spent wandering the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Now at this time of year there aren't that many tourists around, which is great, as neither of us can tolerate them or have any of them in our photos, so we were both quite surprised to see several coach loads here - annoying to say the least. Ed spent most of our time there attempting to get photos minus the japanese! And as most of you will know, they can never take just one photo of themselves - 20 shots later and they're still swapping cameras taking more of the same picture with them in it !!!

Finally, we managed to finish up and head back to the hostel, saddle up and move on to Pammakale! It's not that far away, but enough to fill an afternoon of riding through towns selling masses of fresh fruit by the road side, until finally reaching the cotton fields surrounding Pammakale. After another warm greeting and a well needed cup of tea, we settled down for the evening and began chatting to a fellow traveller called Nicholas, a 19 year old student from Quebec.

The next morning all three of us wandered on up to the famous travertines, these are created when the calcium rich water deposits minerals leaving these incredible white stepped pools of flowing warm water. Alot of people come here to bathe in the heated water as they believe it has health benefits, and for an extra £10, we could try it too! But when you're on a budget, in a country that outprices europe in petrol - we really couldn't justify it - plus we had to move on to Egirdir.

So it was with reluctance we said fairwell to Nicholas and moved on.

Now the roads in turkey aren't too bad, well the main ones are reasonably well maintained anyway, and fuel stations are everywhere - actually I'd go so far as to say too many. But our abidding memory of this country is the hospitality we receive at them, we learnt quickly that they are our best rest stops especially when we discovered they always have a pot of tea on the go. Everytime we stopped, without even asking on many ocassions, a tea would appear in the traditional tulip shaped glass cup and when that was gone, a refill. The lads would admire the bikes along with several customers, conversation would be attempted, directions would be checked, say thank-you and then leave.

Egirdir was the only reasonable stopping point between Pammakale and Goreme. At this particular part of our trip we were going on recommendations and this one seemed like a good one. This amazing town is stituated on a large lake and our hostel was on a small spit of land situated in the lake. It was a traditional house which afforded the most amazing views across the mountains and lake - so much to do here, but so little time. It is also a town that is famous for its only walk through minaret.

Once again, the next morning, we had to make the long trip to Goreme - estimated time 6 hours. Initially, the road took us lake side, winding round the foothills of the mountains, then chucked us out into the large city of Konya (famous for its whirling dirvishes). The road from Konya to Goreme is relatively new so very straight and souless. After what seemed like hours and with the light fading fast we finally saw the signpost that took us down to the town of Goreme - all lit up at night it looked extremely welcoming and the hostel was fantastic (thoroughly recommend Shoestring Cave Pension), and a welcome 2 night stay with added bonus of getting laundry done.

The next day we were advised that with our limited time, the rose and red canyons were the best, so off we hiked. They were deserted, everyone else it seems headed for the Open Air Museum - but our route was free and we got to meet Imen at Hucli Church. Although it cost us 2TL to see this amazing little painted church, we got some tea included at Imen's cave cafe next door and a long chat with him. Turns out he has taken it upon himself to become guardian of this church (to stop vandalism), and makes sure that it and the surrounding area are kept free of litter.

The following day we had to head towards the Syrian border and get as close as possible, which after an amazing ride through the hills on excellent biking roads landed us, with failing light inthe middle of Adana and roadworks barring our way. Not wanting to stay in a major town Ed managed to navigate us to a small run down seaside town south of there - it was here my spares got stolen! Stupid really and nothing that couldn't be replaced but an otherwise disappointing end to a great stay in Turkey.

Next Syria.............