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In Atyrau when we filled up with petrol we got some very strange looks from the locals when we said we wanted to make it to Makat for the night. Eventually an English speaker came up and warned us that Makat was not a safe place to be. He said that it was full of drunks, drug addicts and bandits. We decided to take their advice and camped in the Desert about 60km before Makat… We camped near a salt lake and watched the sunset.. At the camp-site the ground was moving… Millions of little bugs all over the ground.. everywhere you looked there would be hundreds of these little bugs.. You couldn’t walk anywhere without stepping on them.. Unfortunately as much as we had tried to find other places to camp they all had these bugs. It had been a long day and we needed to rise early to get some distance behind us…. The next morning we rode into Makat and from what we can tell the advice we got given was 100% correct. The road on both our maps goes straight through the town.. Unfortunately that is not how it is.. There is a turn off that goes back away from the way your going with a yellow sign about 8km before the town.. It bypasses the town.. We didn’t see the sign because it had been bent away.. and 1h:15m later we found someone that gave us accurate directions and got the hell out of the town after being given directions by 4 different people..all of which ended in dead ends in dodgy areas of town..One of them even tried to fleece me of my money. To make matters worse in Makat the roads in town really shouldn’t be called roads.. One of the pot holes was so big that the suspension on heathers bike bottomed out so much that the mud guard hit the Pannier rack and was ripped off being flung off back at James…

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After our stay in Astrakan it was time to head off for Atyrau and the Kazakhstan border… Leaving Astrakan with the maps we had proved to be more difficult than we thought…. how hard can it be to follow some signs right?… well we got lost and ended up riding around for about 45 minutes until we found the right road.. We should really have filled up with more petrol in Astrakan before we left but they all had long lines and we wanted to make it to the border.. We had been told to expect delays of at least 12 hours to cross into Kazakhstan.. It was luckily not the case. We arrived and the line of cars was relatively short (maybe 15 cars).. All up it took about 2 hours which was a huge relief after our 16 hour epic at Sochi. At the border crossing the customs agent who was sorting our customs declaration (the legal paper work required to bring the bikes into Kazakhstan) said it will cost 4000 Russian Roubles for the declaration fee…. that’s about £80.. I did not remember reading about any Kazakhstan customs fee’s so I went to consult the lonely planet book.. I then came back with the book… Luckily the guy didn’t speak or read English.. I pointed out that in the book it said that there was no fee… all of a sudden the guy was a little angry.. although he still wouldn’t give me back my paper work until I paid him a fee.. (more…)

After our day in the hotel outside Sochi it was time to make tracks for the mountains. The Black Sea coast is expensive and we don’t have the funds to waste. After packing up we took all our gear out to the bikes. The lady at the hotel reception thought we are trying to do a runner without paying so came out to get us back there quickly. It was only when we asked for a receipt that she understood that we had paid when we checked in I guess this was not the usual though we must have looked like dodgy tourists :-P…….

The road from Sochi to Tuapse was a traffic nightmare despite leaving relatively early in the morning. The traffic was made worse now that it was August which is the peak season for Russians taking time off at one of the many black sea resorts. The road itself was relatively good quality considering what we had been told to expect although it didn’t stop the Russian drivers from really showing off how great they are at driving. We saw 5 accidents of which several were head on collisions. At one point a truck had lost all its engine oil all over the road.. These things never happen in nice safe places.. On a hair pin bend going down a steep hill.. could never have guessed.. As James came around the corner he lost control on the oil, managed to just hold the bike up while sliding down and almost nailing it into the car in front… such a close call, not so lucky for a car which lost control and had a head on with a car on the other side, no one appeared to be hurt which was good. I got a massive bruise on my leg above my boot from trying to hold the bike up and getting hit with the break lever as the bike slid all over the shop… a true heart starting moment. The road itself winds through mountains with dense forest with huge views over the black sea.

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After a few great days in Gerome it was time to move on. Our plan was to travel through Kayseri, Sivas, Refahiye, Macka. We had an unknown schedule for the ferry from Trabzon to Sochi in Russia because we kept getting different reports on when it actually sailed. Some said there was a daily ferry, Others said that there was only two ferries a week. Unfortunately the internet was only partly useful and we had to actually get to the port to find out when we could buy our ticket (or phone and speak to someone who didn’t speak any english). Our first day back on the road after Cappadocia was an interesting yet trip through more volcanic area’s where the scenery was dry and dusty with beautiful mountains jutted out along the horizon from time to time. (more…)

After a night looking at the stars and enjoying the panoramic views of Goreme from under our mosquito net. We awoke early to see that Heathers eye had swollen to such an extent it looked like she had been punched in the eye… her new name is now puffy.. the entire left side of her face had swollen around the wasp sting of the previous day. I said it was revenge because she broke her evil eye which was meant to ward away evil spirits. Her wasp sting was only the beginning of her bad luck.. now she had a swollen face, then the bungie cord snapped and the hook ripped through the skin between her thumb and pointer finger.. she had to wear sunglasses to try and hide puffy and she had dropped her bike three times in such a short period of time the day before..

When we checked into Panorama camping in Goreme the guy who owned the place gave us a map of a recommended tourist route. The route allowed us to take in as many sites as possible without back tracking on ourselves. Overall the camp site was fantastic and was crawling with other motorcycle groups. One Dutch guy who camped next to us was very friendly and was on route to Syria with a guy he met on the Internet. We shared loads of ideas of where to go and what to see and gave him the map we got given when we no longer had a need for it. I highly recommend Panorama camping in Goreme to anyone looking for a place to stay on a budget we paid 25 TL per night. The view/Location is superb and beats and of the Hostels in town. There is a Bar, Pool nice area to relax etc..

With Cappadocia on our must see list we had to make the most of our new map. There is so much history crammed into such a “small” area that it was going to take us a few days to really get out an explore it. Unfortunately we only had 3 days to really get the most of the area and only two remaining. Our first stop was to see the underground city at Kaymakli. It was built as a hide away to protect the citizens of the town from invading armies. The earliest such cities date back at least 4000 years. Kaymakli is one of the largest going down 8 levels and spread out some several hundred meters in each direction from the entrance. We bought a tour guide to explain all the different rooms etc and how the systems in side the cities worked. It was well worth the 35 TL that we paid for it despite having a very rushed feel. After visiting the city we headed towards the Ihlara valley which is an oasis like canyon that comes out of nowhere. Its very beautiful and has thousands of small

houses/homes built into the cliffs over the years. The area above the canyon is very dry which is a complete contrast to how lush and fertile it is at its base. A very welcome surprise from the dust on the way there. The canyon itself is not that long but what it lacks in size it makes up for in history and beauty. The journey to the valley was filled with yet more cities of a bygone era. It seems in this area of Turkey especially its a dime a dozen. Around every corner or on every mountain there was another city or fortress just waiting to be explored. Many of which are completely free and open to the public. Some of the more spectacular ones require an entry fee.