Beautiful climb up to the 2400m pass. The road was in the process of being widened so about 6km was just gravel. A bit slow and bumpy but more adventurous than smooth asphalt. The construction site security guard near the top of the pass waved us over for morning tea and then also served us some toast with butter and jam. Mmm so good! Later on top of the pass there were three cute puppies to who James fed some bread. As dogs sometimes do, one of them flicked its tongue out when grabbing its share and licked James over the fingers. It just so happened that James had a small open wound on one finger and the prevalence of rabies among dogs in Turkey is no secret. Oops. That was a downer that day. There is no way to know whether that dog was infected or not which meant getting vaccinated as soon as possible. James had had rabies vaccinations on previous trips and they had unpleasant side effects so moral was a bit low at this moment. Not something to look forward to.
On a positive note, it was Bayram today, the last day of ramadan, which is very much like Christmas in Christian countries. We were happy about it because we found many people to not be their normal friendly selves during the fasting month. So tomorrow Turkey should be back to normal. In Bayburt a nice couple from Istanbul in festive garb spontaneously pulled over when they passed us and invited us for kebab lunch in celebration of Bayram. Mmm lamb kebab!
THANK YOU URAL AND NAGIHAN FOR THE DELICIOUS MEAL. IT WAS VERY NICE TO MEET YOU!
The head wind was crazy again as we left Bayburt. I got so mad at it!!! I hate pedaling downhill!!! In a small town we got to camp on a family's hay field next to a hedge that blocked the wind beautifully. No wind, YESS!
The family was very kind to us and the father even came out later with a tray full of Bayram goodies for us.
THANK YOU METIN AND FAMILY FOR THE CAMPING SPOT AND YOUR KINDNESS!!!
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