It was cloudy when we woke up so we treated ourselves to an extra half hour of snoozing. Gorgeous ride up to Ziaret Pass (1900m). The landscape reminded me of pictures of Mongolia or the Scottish highlands.
Note for other travelers: Since there are no services along this road between Pinarbashi and Gürün (except for that well by a town whose name started with an "O") I should mention that there is a road maintenance service station that is open year round. It was at 216km from Avanos and I would guess around 30-40km before Gürün. Lots of camping space and the guy let us use the washrooms.
Great descent to Gürün through more barren hills. Beautiful new road! Had lunch in a park in Gürün. It is a decent size town wedged into this narrow valley.
10km out of town the road towards Derende got quite bad. Relatively new chip surface. Grrrr. There was another big hill to climb whose top we reached just at sunset. There was a concrete block fabrication site on the summit and since it was starting to get dark we decided to ask there if we could pitch our tent. The guys were super nice and insisted we sleep in one of the unoccupied rooms in one of the bunk houses. Elbakan, the onsite chef, then took it upon himself to look after any needs we may have. He was truly one of those typical easy going, round bellied chefs who takes on the roll of an Italian grandma when it comes to feeding anyone who displays the slightest signs of hunger. We were invited to join the workers for their delicious evening meal: chick pea stew, yogurt with shredded cucumber and spices, bulgur, more thick plain yogurt, local fruit, fried potato with roasted peppers in olive oil and home made bread, pita style. Sooo good!
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