Day 5 : Mangavat to Çukurca

A few days ago, a panicked a bit when I took a closer look at the route. That route had been cycled by some bikepacking freak. And obviously I didn't take a closer look at it. On day two I would have been in the middle of nowhere, with possible encounters with bears... I don't want to meet bears, not on day two and probably not on day 40 either! And there were other uncertainties about food, water, how everything works here which made me change the route to a less abandoned variant. 

Well, today was the first day after the touristy part. I can conclude that this less abandoned version is adventure and adrenaline enough for the start!

Let's start with the end of the day. When I'm writing this, it's 8 pm and I'm lying in my tent. It's raining, there's thunder, lightning and gusts of wind. I'm the only person on this campsite, surrounded by cows and goats. There is no internet coverage. I think this is total deconnection... for free ;-)

Suddenly I hear someone outside the tent, talking on the phone. Probably the "owner", checking whether I'm okay. That's what I tell myself. I turn off my Petzl, put in my earplugs and fall asleep....

The campsite was beautifully located.

There was nobody around when I entered the campsite. Until suddenly the owner (was he the owner?) appeared. He was a bit creepy in the beginning. Not being able to communicate didn't help. But in the end I think he was okay. I felt safe. I had had enough food. And the reason therefore are these guys, which I met 2 km before the campsite. 

It started to rain when I cycled into Çukurca. I took shelter at a house when the gendarmerie passed by. One of them approached me and started chatting. The muhtar (the chosen head of a village, in this case his father) joined us. A few minutes later he invited me into a sort public room. The four gendarmes followed. The muhtar served soup, bread, salad, vegetables and ayran. And afterwards çai, of course. 

We chatted about Turkey, soccer, films and series, and even politics were touched. I avoided the latter, after an quite enthusiastic remark from one of the guys about Putin. After an hour of chatting and eating, their three-hour-duty in this village was over and they were to return to their police station. Before leaving they told me the way to the campsite.

I would not know that there was a campsite (Google didn't know), didn't I asked in the village before, where the next restaurant was. I had hoped to find a place to eat in this village, Yeşilbağ, but the only thing was a small grocer... I was a bit disappointed, because I was totally exhausted and empty after 35 km of climbing. I needed a break and food. Instead of a served meal I put up my stove at the next fountain (which can be found very regularly) and made prefab noodles, emergency food. 

That gave me enough energy to reach Çukurca... where I meet the guys from the gendarmerie.

It was a beautiful scenery when climbing into the mountains, barely traffic (meaning 3 cars an hour). 

Though it's a few degrees cooler in the mountains, it was warm. And now in the tent I'm wearing every single layer I have and nestling myself under the sleeping bag. Hoping that the tent will stay dry...