Dogubayazit

Just after breaking camp it started to rain, not cold but enough that it couldn't be ignored. In spite of this I had a good morning. The road gently dropped & I had a tail wind. It felt nice zooming along at 30kmph.

The road ran beside a river or irrigation channel for much of the time. The water was thick with red sediment, as it has for the last couple of days with all the rivers & streams I'd pasted. It seemed only a week or so ago that the water in the rivers was clearer. I didn't regret the change, it meant snow was melting & that the warm weather I'd been having was Spring.

After passing through the slightly drab town of Igdir the road started to climb. I had to pass up the side of the legendary Mt Ararat where Noah's Ark came to ground after the flood. It was a barren treeless place with little in the way of sign of human life. There was nothing but basalt rock & grass. Occasionally I'd pass a someone minding a flock of sheep or herd of cattle. The road went up to 1650m, though the mountain summit was 5100m somewhere up in the cloud. There was a spreadout village of low stone-walled houses with dirt roofs.

The drop down was nice. There was a great view to the wide flat valley in which Dogubayazit sat with high mountains all around, their tops hidden in cloud.

I was exhausted when I arrived in town & was glad to find a cheap & friendly hotel. As a bonus my room had a bathroom so I felt able to have my first shave in about 3 weeks. I was able to use the space to get some washing done. It would be a good idea to not look too caveman like at the Iranian border which I expected to cross the following day.

While I was settling in the weather had cleared & I noticed that I could see the summit of Mt Ararat from my bedroom window. The bother of lugging my gear up 3 flights of stairs now seemed worthwhile.

I wandered around Dogubayazit, it wasn't anything special but it was a familiar Turkish small town. I wondered what it would be the next day in Iran.

I cycled 89km in 6 hours & 2 minutes