Dust on My Feet: Overland to London

Kızkalesi, the Maiden's Castle, on an islet on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast

Day 75 Fri 8 August DAMASCUS – ADANA

Departure time: 5 am Tach reading: 135,935 Distance run: 583 kms

Another day spent backtracking through Syria to Turkey. We will stop again in Hama by the Great ‘whispering norias’ for lunch then press on, this time by-passing Aleppo to go straight to the Turkish border. Once across that border we’ll be back in civilisation, of sort – reasonable food, reasonable people and reasonably priced beer. Depending how we go crossing the border, and also allowing for the one hour time change, we will maybe head to Silifke, although it seems more likely that we will be stopping tonight in Adana.

Day 76 Sat 9 August ADANA – SILIFKE (KİZKALESI)

Departure time: 8 am Tach reading: 136,518 Distance run: 258 kms

Reasonably short journey today along the Turkish Mediterranean Coast. We will stop an hour or so in the coastal city of Mersin to shop and hopefully change some money then press on to the BP Mocamp at Kızkalesi. Tom wants to have some work done on the coach, mainly to correct the steering noise which, no doubt, you have heard over the last couple of days.

Kızkalesi Castle walls looking towards the Mainland

Kızkalesi is 27 kms from Silife and the name means the ‘Maiden’s Castle’. This site is that of ancient Armenian Corycus and both castles, in the bay and on the mainland are of Armenian origin, although Crusader and Byzantine additions are evident on the mainland castle. The name Kızkalesi has its origins in the legend of the King of Corycus who had a daughter of extreme beauty of whom it was prophesised at her birth that she would die from the bite of a snake.

Ataturk introduces the alphabet,
Tekirdaǧ

To avert the catastrophe, the king had a castle built for her on a little offshore. The prophesy proved to be true when the princess died from the bite of a snake accidentally introduced in a basket of fruit sent over by her father. The same story is also told of Kızkalesi, a 18^th century tower on an islet off Seraglio Point in the Bosporus in Istanbul. The two castles here, part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, held out until 1375, when they were captured by the Karamanoğlu Turks. A point to note is the spelling of Kızkalesi. You will note that the first ‘ı’ is undotted, while the second is. In the Turkish alphabet, introduced by Kemal Atatürk to replace Arabic script, there are two ‘i’s’, representing different sounds. ı – undotted is pronounde as the second vowel sound in ‘partial’; i - dotted is pronounced as in ’bit’ – the capital is always dotted. Also you will see ‘ç’ and ‘ş’. These are pronounced ‘ch’ as in church and ‘sh’ as in ship respectively – consequently the correct Turkish spelling is ‘şiş’ (sheesh) kebab.

Day 77 Sun 10 August KİZKALESI – AYDİNCİK

Deaparture time: 7am Tach reading: 136,776 Distance run: 334kms

TODAY NEVER REALLY HAPPENED (pax comment)

Choosing to ignore the above inane and stupid remark (and it wasn’t even Lindsay who wrote it!), I will continue with today’s commentary. Today was really planned! Tom and I decided that, as London is creeping (the key word) closer, we would show you what Overland travel is really like. Admittedly we may have gone wrong somewhere near Silifke, and upon nearing the town with the charming name of Mut,

Managed to find this photo of Mut on Wikipedia!

we decided that we didn’t really want to go to Konya, so decided to follow our Turkish tourist map.. First by heading to Ermenek in the Taurus Mountains, then by heading south on a marked major road to Anamur. The Mut to Ermenek road may have been steep, but it was reasonable, but as for the other, it was formed on the paper of the Turkish tour map only! After much pushing by the pax, praying & cursing by Tom and myself and having Turks, who didn’t know where we were going, directing us. Gülnar, the place on everyone’s lips all afternoon, was as welcome as an oasis in the Sahara as we approached it at sunset.

Poor old OMJ besides having a liberal coating of fine white dust – both inside and out – had brakes that were not working properly, no telmar, alternator broken and a driver in the first stages of lung cancer having smoked 10 packets of Turkish cigarettes in the course of the day. Even after Gülnar, on the tarseal, the day wasn’t over and one more push was required. Finally we reached the coast road and free camped in a lay-by near the town of Aydıncık.

Quotes on the Day:

Juliette to Long John: “Can I have some of your fly???”

Tom caught on the hill (with dodgy brakes): “Get out of the way, you fucking idiot!!”

Frank at 5.30pm: “When’s lunch?”

Day 78 Mon 11 August AYDİNCİK – SIDE

Departure time: 7.30am Tach reading: 137,110 Distance run: 246kms

After breakfast we will leave our little camping spot and head to Anamur, stopping on the way for a swim at one of the sandy beaches. We will stop in Anamur while Tom has the brakes fixed, before we proceed on, along this rugged stretch of coach to Alanya.

The harbour at Alanya on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast

This area of Turkey, particularly around the town of Gazipaşa, is the centre of the Turkish banana industry and it was at Gazipaşa that banana culture was first introduced, the climate beneath of Taurus Mtns, which blocks the cold winters, being particularly suitable for this fruit. Alanya, in the days of the Greeks & Romans, was a pirate stronghold which was destroyed by the Roman General Pompey in 68 BC. Today it is dominated by a great ruined castle which was built by the Seljuk Turks in the 13^th century.

OMJ & pax getting a well-needed wash just out of Side

We will have a brief stop at Alanya, then press on to the seaside town of Side, also an ancient pirate stronghold cleared out by Pompey. Side has the remains of an ancient Roman city and a well-preserved Roman theatre, all of which are very close to the Neptun Motel where we camp. The Zeppelin Disco is on the seafront not far from the Neptun. It is quite an unreal experience staggering back to the Neptun, through the ruins, with a skin full of Efes beer local wine or perhaps something a wee bit stronger.