Malatya to Trabzon

So leaving Malatya and heading north I had a choice to make: How much pain do I want to be in as I ride through the mountains of central Turkey? I guess the answer was: too much. The first day was not too bad as I made it almost all the way to Arapgir. I was however riding through nothing but wheat fields the whole time so it was fairly boring. It's been hot enough to melt the tar on the road, so it sticks to my tires, along with other little pebbles. The back of my shirt after a day in the sun:

After that I spent most of the day remembering that even though a road looks like it follows the contours of the mountains and runs along a river, it doesn't mean that it's flat.

I started the day at 1300 meters, descended to about 900, then back up to 1200, then down to 700, then back up 1000, then up and down and up and down between 800 and 1000, only to descend finally to the level of the river to 700, and then spend the evening walking back up to 1000. yaaay. I made it to Kemaliye that day, which is a bit of an interesting city. If there weren't mosques, you could almost mistake it for being swiss.

I made my way out of town and a bit up the next pass and camped beside the road. The next day I started out by walking the rest of the way up the pass towards Ilich, where I stopped for lunch. I thought that ilich would be the last large town for 60ish km so I'd better stop at a market. I was sitting at a bench under a gazebo type thing, reading a book and passing the time during the hottest part of the day when A turkish guy walked up, said about 2 words in turksh to which I responded that I had no idea what he was saying. After that failed attempt he didn't say much more, so I went back to reading my book. About five minutes later he walked off and returned with pots full of food. Suddenly there was a picnic happening around me, and we enjoyed some spicy noodle dish, and a tastey rice and (what I assume was) lamb. As we were finishing, another couple showed up with their three children and we enjoyed watermellon together. After that, I continued on towards Kemah. I was walking my bike up the third mountain pass of the day when after two people stopping to ask if I wanted help, in a moment of weakness I gave in and accepted. I had my bike put in the back of a pickup and I was driven the last 20ish km to Kemah, where I grabbed some food and was invited to tea by a group of other turkish cyclists who had come from Erzinjan which where I was headed. They invited me to ride with them which meant waking up at 6am. Surprisingly I wasn't the slowest rider in the group. When we arrived in Erzinjan I was treated to lunch and tea. I was also set up in a hotel where one of the cyclists was the manager. I was even driven a bit out of town to visit a local waterfall/picnic area, and also treated to dinner (and more tea). One cup of tea for breakfast, two for lunch, two after lunch, one when just waiting around(which I declined but was served anyway), 2 for dinner, makes 8 cups of tea that day.

Leaving Erzinjan in the morning I made my way north to stay in a small town by the name of Kuse. At the edge of town I was stopping to put on my raincoat briefly when two security guards at the local school basically dragged me into their booth to serve me tea. The second time in two days when I've clearly said I don't want tea and frustratingly I've been served it anyway. Asking around a bit in town landed me more tea, and a hotel room for 10 Lira ($5), which is a new all-time low for paid accommodation. After that it was a long ride to Machka, with a long climb near the end of the day, followed by a 1200m descent. Walking along the street, I heard the dreaded "Turkish tea, coffee, yes please" and I thought "nooooo, out of the desert and into tourist country again"

The following morning I had to climb back up another valley to visit the Sumela Monastery, which is built into the side of a huge cliff face.

It was raining a bit on the way there and I think the park entrance guy took pity on me and let me in for free. After that it was an easy ride into trabzon which is not the most interesting city, but it's the first time I've seen the Black sea.

Since my parents keep bugging me about water, I should mention that I have been able to carry a lot less than usual in Turkey, even though it's very hot out. There are water fountains with clean cold water all along the roads, and in cities. Some are as fancy as this:

Most of the fountains however look like this: