Turkey @ MindSay

This was a 3 day and 2 night 1000km road trip along the coast from Dalaman to Antayla heading towards Iraq then back to Dalaman via the inland route which passes mainly through hills and mountains.

Dave and i, ("i" being Linda) went along with our Turkish friends Teoman, Borişh and met up with Byran for the return journey. Theoman has a Kanuni Gt 250cc and Borişh has a Honda Africa Twin 750cc, Byran has a Kawasaki 650cc and last but not by all means least us on our 650 Transalp.

  

The photos below are Theo,dave and i and underneath is Borişh he's the big guy on the left..Theo in the middle and then Dave. 

Normally we ride our bikes and maybe have a ciggy stop every couple of hours but 50mins down the road...i mean come on boys!!! Gocek was pretty though, there excuse was a white car cut them up and nearly knocked us off the road..ummm this is totally normal in Turkey in fact its become a National sport.

I have to add this photo on the grounds

that i know my hubby will read this and ask why it was not added, Dave MAY have said that i would be better off with my boots on, cant quite remember  anyway i wore my sandals and a big fat wasp came and stung my toe, ok i admit jumping about on the back of a Transalp going 90 is maybe not the best of ideas, but as you can see it gave the boys a good laugh, not dave he wouldn't dare!! ha ha

We headed off towards Kalkan, its a beautiful place i never get enough of the scenery here in Turkey, as we stopped for a cig and a photo shoot of the views a little Japanese fella pulled up on his Africa Twin which i think was held together with bodge tape and super glue. He asked us directions to Pamukale, he was some 200 kilometers heading the wrong way so we pointed him the way and then started chatting to him about his chewed up bike. A long story short, his name was Masa and he was three years into a five year round the World bike trip, his bike was so beaten up because he had come to Turkey via Mongolia and the ''Stans''. For those who don't know about Mongolia, there are just 80 kilometers of road in the whole country, the rest is dirt track, bad dirt track, very bad dirt track, and nothing, vast areas of nothingness with very few petrol stations, doddle!!!!!   How this 5ft fella manage his bike i do not know but hats off to him, i salute you sir! Heres a photo of his bike, thought it was worth taking, Off again to Kas and Finike, Us and the open road   Yes folks Noel Baba translated into English means ''Saint Nicolas '' he was born in Turkey. I'm sure at first glance one could be mistaken in thinking Dave has took a photo of his bike,but he has assured me he has took a photo of me! We turned off the main road and headed for Olympos and looked for a room for the night, the road had just  been resurfaced so we were skating on gravel, going very slowly hence it was well after darkwhen we reached Olympos  and started asking around for a pension.  The one we chose was 50 Lira(20 pounds) a night if you wanted your own room or 15 Lira if you shared with others, Dave complainedabout it costing too much until he found out the buffet was all you could eatand tea and coffee was free, i can assure you he took full advantage of the offer.   Oh! i didn't tell you what bike i was riding. nothing too special just a cheap run around!!    Ok you twisted my arm shall show you  Ok maybe i wasn't entirely honest with you guys, met up with some great Bikers off to celebrate the Turkish Holidays, here's a shot of the real owners!!! We loved the log cabins and tree houses, this place was heaven, singing, smoking (a little suss some of it) and a roaring fire. We found our cabin and all met up at the bar, poor Dave and Theo dont drink a great deal so 3 bottles of Efes and there up for grabs!! David was happy knowing he could eat all he likes till his trouser button popped, whilst i sat at the fire listening and chatting to fellow bikers and students from all different warps of life, totally fab night. No bricks alowed so the place is so rustic, if i had one complant, and i'm a woman so its allowed...was the bloody cock (bird) that insisted in screeching its beak off at 5.30am..heres a few pics of our stay there...   Off again on our bikes the next morning heading for Antalya and the old Ampitheatre of Aspendos, and at this point i might like to add Theo had one bad headache....should only have had 2 beers and not 3.. Aspendos Ampitheatre,now due to my beloved refusing to pay the 10 pounds entrance fee we had to stick our cameras through the railing to try and take photos. However all not lost because we were informed by a fellow biker that there was a much better place and to carry on 35 km East and go to the town of Side. She said the whole town was an open air museum that you could just walk around, this place was brilliant and well worth the visit.    Side was fabulous to ride around, ancient ruins everywhere and GUESS WHAT!!! Need i say more...my very own LINDA BOAT!!!! Temple of Athena and Apollo was our next stop and took the infamous group shot... Group shot done we recieved a phone call from Byran to say that he had a second accident on his way to Alanya, the second one being a crash into a telegraph pole and he had done quite abit of damage to the front and side of his Kawasaki, luckly he was not hurt but i dare say he is now the proud owner of a new pole.   We arrived at Alanya  and waited for our accident prone friend to arrive, couldn' resist taking a photo of the beach with this chap fishing, Byran turned up and we went for some dinner, then parked the bikes up and had a good nights sleep at another Pention. 6.30 am everyone was up and at the bikes ready for the long ride back to dalaman, Dave is having new panniers made for his bike today and hes itching to see what they are going to look like, the roads look very quiet but like i always say never underestimate the recklessness of Turkish roads. Now for some scenery shots, say it once and i shall say it again Turkey is one fab place for beauty... Thought i'd add this shot, anybody see anything wrong?   Daves speedo has stopped working he has know idea what speed hes doing!!! Great trip, hope you liked the pics, cant wait for my next tour, hopefully i shall  have my  new bike by then, show the lads how its really done