It rained last night and as I’m staying in such a luxury hotel it came through the roof and dripped on me throughout the night!
If I had more time I would have stayed in Fethiye all day as it was still raining when I went for breakfast however, I do want to crack on so I headed the 10km to Kayakoy a ‘Ghost Town’. It was abandoned in 1923 when there was a population exchange between Turkey & Greece at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The sat nav took me straight over the mountain to get there, I quickly climbed to 400 meters riding the switchbacks in the cloud.
At midday I decided to ride the 200KM to Antalya continuing heading East. It had stopped raining but as soon as I left Fethiye it started again. For the next 3 hours I rode in heavy rain and what I didn’t realise was the road took me over mountains all the way to Antalya, I quickly climbed to 1400 meters and it peaked at 1675 meters. I hadn’t put my thermals on as I’m stupid so I got very cold, the rain was heavy and it felt like ‘pins & needles’ on my thighs as the drops were so big. I was cold and my fingers were freezing even though I had heated grips. My waterproofs weren’t very good in this torrential rain. I rode the whole way freezing cold and drenched. The road was like a river at times. Even though, I thought I would rather be here than home.
Soaking wet I rode into the historical centre in Antalya and went to the first ‘Pansiyon’ (B&B) I came across, it was great, for £5.70 I had a room and my bike was secure in the courtyard. It was still heavily raining!
FOR THE BIKERS;
Having ridden so many twisty roads means I’ve found out that my bike has a back brake, I’m not sure I needed to use it back in Essex! Everyone at home talks about ‘squaring off tyres’, I’ve been riding bends for so long mine are getting ‘too rounded’, and as for the ‘pot holes’ which there are many and on occasions deep, in dry conditions they are relatively easy to avoid but when it’s raining it’s another story…
I walked around the old town and found myself in a bar with a band playing and spent the evening talk to a Turkish girl and Chinese girl who I planned to see in Cappadocia in a few days.
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i went to that ghost town, had a lovely meal overlooking it there. what great photos