Ararat
Tuesday 23rd September 2014
The mountain range before we reached the border is the most remote place I have ever been in my life.
The border is very busy with hundreds of trucks pulled up in lines waiting to get their chance to enjoy all the formalities of leaving Turkey and entering Iran.
We turn back and ride a little way around Ararat. Karl-Heinz leads one expedition up a dirt side road, heavily rutted, to a small and pitifully poor village in the lee of the mountain.
The clouds on the top persist and there is no hope of a good shot, so I will use a Wikipedia photo to demonstrate the full glory of this monstrous mountain. It is over 5100 metres high, a good 300m higher than the Mont Blanc, highest Alp (check).
We have breakfast in the pink dining room of the Cevizlibag Otel and are away by 9am.
Having failed miserably to pay the speeding fines at the Post Office yesterday, our first stop is at the town bank where Charly and Karl-Heinz waste an hour in a second futile attempt to pay the speeding tickets they picked up a few days ago. Being a good boy I have no fine to pay unlike my criminal riding companions.
Next to
the service station for oil. The bike has used half a litre and needs a
top up. It costs 25TL (£6.80) for a litre of semi-synthetic.
Our route takes us along the north shore of Lake Van then north and east to the Iranian border. The landscape is chilling. There was a huge earthquake in this region in 2011 and recovery work is still ongoing.
The road is wide and newly laid. To either side is a moonscape of broken rocks, for all the world like solid rock has been rough-ploughed like a field of potatoes after cropping. It is extraordinary.
Having failed miserably to pay the speeding fines at the Post Office yesterday, our first stop is at the town bank where Charly and Karl-Heinz waste an hour in a second futile attempt to pay the speeding tickets they picked up a few days ago. Being a good boy I have no fine to pay unlike my criminal riding companions.
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| Waiting for the criminals to pay for their crimes |
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| Erik contemplates Lake Van |
Our route takes us along the north shore of Lake Van then north and east to the Iranian border. The landscape is chilling. There was a huge earthquake in this region in 2011 and recovery work is still ongoing.
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| Adventure rider Charly Kaller |
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| Earthquake country |
The road is wide and newly laid. To either side is a moonscape of broken rocks, for all the world like solid rock has been rough-ploughed like a field of potatoes after cropping. It is extraordinary.
The
road has no kerbs or white lining. Huge trucks grind up the steep
slopes or thunder down the inclines as we rise to over 2,500 metres. The
vast plains below disappear in the haze where the high peaks of the
surrounding mountains can just be made out through the dust and haze.
As we drop down into Dogubayazit we get our first sight of Mount Ararat in the distance. The summit is shrouded in cloud though we can just see the snow line.
The border with Iran is 20 or 30 kilometres away. You know you are getting near when the roadside signs are in Arabic as well as Turkish. It's a dead end run for us as we have no visas and I believe that must be organised in advance and cannot be purchased at the border.
But it is the most easterly point of our tour and maybe a practice run for a future tour now that I know the way.
Here are some statistics. I am 3816km from home as the crow flies and have covered 6233km to get here by road, plus another 1000 by sea across the Adriatic. I have been driving for 70 hours in total at an average speed of 89kph. Fastest speed on the tour so far is recorded as 166kph though I'm pretty sure I went somewhat faster on occasion, so maybe Tomtom likes to err on the low side.
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| Getting close to the border |
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| Refugee camp by the new road |
As we drop down into Dogubayazit we get our first sight of Mount Ararat in the distance. The summit is shrouded in cloud though we can just see the snow line.
The border with Iran is 20 or 30 kilometres away. You know you are getting near when the roadside signs are in Arabic as well as Turkish. It's a dead end run for us as we have no visas and I believe that must be organised in advance and cannot be purchased at the border.
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| Trucks queueing to enter Iran |
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| Border gurning |
But it is the most easterly point of our tour and maybe a practice run for a future tour now that I know the way.
Here are some statistics. I am 3816km from home as the crow flies and have covered 6233km to get here by road, plus another 1000 by sea across the Adriatic. I have been driving for 70 hours in total at an average speed of 89kph. Fastest speed on the tour so far is recorded as 166kph though I'm pretty sure I went somewhat faster on occasion, so maybe Tomtom likes to err on the low side.
 |
| Trip stats |
The mountain range before we reached the border is the most remote place I have ever been in my life.
The border is very busy with hundreds of trucks pulled up in lines waiting to get their chance to enjoy all the formalities of leaving Turkey and entering Iran.
We turn back and ride a little way around Ararat. Karl-Heinz leads one expedition up a dirt side road, heavily rutted, to a small and pitifully poor village in the lee of the mountain.
 |
| Ararat shrouded in cloud |
 |
| Hey Charly, we made it! |
The clouds on the top persist and there is no hope of a good shot, so I will use a Wikipedia photo to demonstrate the full glory of this monstrous mountain. It is over 5100 metres high, a good 300m higher than the Mont Blanc, highest Alp (check).
It's getting late now so we backtrack over the
mountain pass and head back to Lake Van. The setting sun makes this last
part of the trip to Van city something of a nightmare.
We arrive in Van at 6pm as the sun goes down. Lonely Planet has come up trumps again and provides the address of the Asur Otel in downtown Van. It is comfortable and lord be praised has a bar where Efes is available.
I down my first alcohol for a week and reflect on the amazing sights of the day.
We go out to check out the town and end up in a tiny kebab cafe where the excellent fare is so cheap it's embarrassing!
We have again found a three bed room. Price here is 140TL including breakfast. Can't complain at that. And so to bed.
We arrive in Van at 6pm as the sun goes down. Lonely Planet has come up trumps again and provides the address of the Asur Otel in downtown Van. It is comfortable and lord be praised has a bar where Efes is available.
I down my first alcohol for a week and reflect on the amazing sights of the day.
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| Kebab, salad, ayran, water & cay - £2 |
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| Wikipedia photo - showing why I don't win photography awards |
We go out to check out the town and end up in a tiny kebab cafe where the excellent fare is so cheap it's embarrassing!
We have again found a three bed room. Price here is 140TL including breakfast. Can't complain at that. And so to bed.
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