After 4 days of cold weather, 3 of them with snow, I was due a change, at least that's what I thought. It had rained during the night & also in the morning. However as I left town it brightened up.
This was nice as it encouraged me on the killer 1000m climb that started just after leaving Malatya. I'm very glad that I didn't know that was what it was going to be in the middle, it would have been very disheartening. I think the first 800m were at around 10%.
As I climbed the peaks around cleared. Needless to say there was a lot of snow. The melt of this snow provided the head waters of the mighty Euphrates river. Plenty of that water flowed under or the road that I climbed. After reaching the col at around 1850m I dropped down into a valley with a substantial river running through it. The rain of the last week had swollen it substantially. It reminded me of the lower reaches one of the big rivers coming out of the Southern Alps in NZ.
Spring was happening in the valley with lots of greenery about. As I started climbing again I arrived back in a land where Winter wasn't quite done, trees were again skeletons.
From one side of the valley to the other water disappeared. It was getting late & I was getting concerned. I'd seen several campsites but couldn't stop without finding water to cook with. In the end the only water I could find was a large puddle just off the road. I was glad I had my water filter. I camped nearby in a plantation of pine trees.
I cycled 68km in 5 hours & 35 minutes
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