Turkey or Turkiye as it is now known has not really been on my bike-packing radar, nor been a bike-packing place to go. Mark, my bike-packing accomplice and I were attracted to it after reading a recent route posting on bikepacking.com (which is a mecca of a website for information and inspiration on absolutely all things bike-packing). At the planning stage we had shortlisted three route options – Montana Vacias – Spain; Le Vercors – France; Cappadocia – Turkiye. This is my annual ‘once-a-year abroad trip’ and we had planned as usual to go in Autumn, and in the case of this year – October, so all the places listed are suitable locations for this time of year. On further assessment we thought the Vercor could start getting wetter and colder, and we did not fancy that!

Ideally some warmth and sun shine was needed!

The Spanish option was taken off the table as we had ridden in Spain last year, so Cappadocia it was ..and why not!

Being in central Turkiye, we soon realised that transport logistics would be tricky and there were a few options – fly to Istanbul, then take a train; fly to Kayeseri (the nearest big city); or fly to Antalya on the coast and then rent a car. The latter option was settled upon as both flights and car rentals were easy and relatively cheap.

We had planned on 7 days riding, the route (with of our some add-on’s) was around 450km and about 8000m ascent, not too demanding..! …However day 1 for us included all the intricate canyons of Cappadocia, which was slow going – a) because of the technical and hilly terrain (some Hike-a-Bike) and b) it was amazingly and jaw-droppingly scenic, so this meant frequent stops to take it all in.

Day 1 was definitely sensory overload, it was also quite physical and not to mention rather warm – a bit of a baptism of fire you could say; furthermore I had done very little in the way of bike mileage in the year and thought I’d just ‘wing it’..!

There was some saviour in that as it happened that being in a touristy part there were a number of refreshment stops and it was usual to have fresh orange juice or zingy Pomegranate juice, or better still a 50:50 mix of both.

I’d also had the added specialness to the day as it was my birthday, this meant the need to find a bar for some post ride beer, we had no idea where we would quite end up, we knew that we were out of ‘sync’ with the suggested stops on the route notes, mainly due to starting further along the route and doing a lot of ‘farting around’.

Just on this we decided on the town of Uchisar as our base for start and finish, it seemed a bit prettier and better placed than Urgup, which is in the B-P.com route notes, either way there are plenty of hotels and at reasonably good prices (albeit slightly inflated due to the touristy location of the place – circa 70-80E B&B for two persons, this looked a mid-range price).

The town of Mustaffapasa sort of marks the end of the Cappadocia landscape of canyons, towers, caves and fairy pinnacles; we then transition into a ‘Steppe’ landscape, some of it rough and quite barren, while other sections farmed – here we saw masses of pumpkin fields and potato fields. Another thing we noted here were the many man-made bunker / caverns, we later found out these were used for storing potatoes and other farming machinery, in some areas they where in huge complexes.

By the third day we had started to notice some patterns forming:-
The friendliness of the Turk people
The number of roaming dogs (usually friendly, just wanting food and a stroke!)
The number of old Renault 12s
Good camping spots would generally appear when needed
The quiet roads
Numerous re-supply shops and tea cafes
Where ever you camp the sound of the ‘call to prayer’ is always present
The only real negative was the amount of litter and rubbish about the place…

As you cycle south the mountains of the Aladaglar are ever present on the skyline, these lofty peaks almost reach 4000m, the route would just touch their northern fringe. This ‘transit’ section between the two parks, was in fact very interesting, a lovely mix of Steppe and rough farmland, the villages that we passed through were very, very basic, many families just having an old tractor for transport. Then, all of a sudden the route would ‘plunge’ into another valley, rich in Poplar trees and small meadows. The valleys would often narrow and become canyons, and were there are canyons there are more stone houses and caves. One of the best locations to see these is Soganli – it was like the valley of the churches. A reminder of the past and its Christian inhabitants.

The climb out of Soganli is a brute – on a very steep paved road (not recommended straight after lunch and in the heat of the day!) More Steppe riding again, this time taking us the infamous ‘dry river bed’ – basically soft sand winding its way for around 5km.

I loved this section, the 3″ tyres on my bike were just big enough to not dig in, and I was able to cruise down it, anything less and it was impossible to ride and a long push was the only option. I felt sorry for Mark here – he-he-he!
It felt very wild here and it is in places like this you often and unexpectedly find yourself low on reserves – in this case water!

Eventually another village appears and most have a water point, sometimes associated with the mosque. The villages were usually quite frequent, perhaps at most 20km apart. Most had a small shop and a tea cafe or two. Like the villages, camping spots would also be plentiful, and from our experience, it was good to find these before darkness, which in early October came at about 6:30PM. It was pleasing to find most locations were quite bug free, however at some point we did both pick up a few mozzi bites.

Aladaglar was fringed by orchards, here we would find (meaning snaffle), or more often, just be handed apples, we had so many at one point, along with grapes and walnuts as well! We had enough for days. The eye-catching canyon that you cycle through at the start of the NP is quite impressive, though it does not last long and on exit, it feels like you have gone through a portal to the mountains. Wolfs live here, but they were not a problem for us, it was the shepherds dogs, this was the only time we felt properly threatened – three of them approach and barking wildly, fortunately thats all they did and eventually they lose interest.

After the Aldaglar excursion, you get chance to restock in quite a large town called Camardi, here we found a lovely Baklava Patisserie and we therefore carb and caffeine loaded our little bodies. We noticed the Turks are partial to sweet things and despite all the sugar they must eat are not in such bad shape, as in not so much obesity about the place – I think the folks here work quite hard for their living, especially in these country regions. This town is also the turning point were the route heads back north and is perhaps our halfway point.

However, it felt more than halfway for us as we had to do an unplanned re-route back to the town of Nevsehir, near where we started. This added about 80km and was due to loosing all my tyre sealant and not having spare. The problem was the replacement tubes would last about 5 minutes, before picking up a thorn and prickle – they were everywhere and this basically meant tubeless was the only viable way of keeping tyres inflated while in the bush!

Villages were plentiful, but towns were you could get a meal were a bit more spread out, this meant we were often keen to get a breakfast or lunch somewhere on the route and then cook our evening meal at camp. The food was super, tasty and freshly cooked or made, often cost less than £10 for the two of us.

After negotiating the suburbs of Nigde – quite a large city, which we were not keen to go into and rather keen to get away from, we would then start climbing towards the Ciftlik plateau, going via ‘on’ road and ‘off’ road trails. Along here the route climbs to around 2100m – the high point of our journey, this was on a mixture of old and new road, and whilst a ‘fast’ road for cars the shoulder was wide and made a good sanctuary for the cyclist, we did notice along this bit that a off-road track looked possible, but decided to stick to the easy and enjoy a meal in Ciftlik.

The next ‘highlight’ was soon approaching – The Ilhara Canyon, however we were in not in a particular rush to get there, as the riding across the plateau was very varied and interesting, seeing more of the ‘real Turkiye’ and having those random and entertaining meetings with the locals.

The Ilhara Canyon is another of these places that is quite hard to put into words, or take-in. It starts at the town of the same name and you have ‘actually’ got to pay an entrance fee – and it’s actually quite a lot by Turkish standards of 15E person. However, it is worth the payment and is not at all much really… and it means the historic place is preserved, maintained and kept clean and litter free. Also whilst not entirely suited to bike – due to narrow, steep sections and steps, it is very good fun …and only in Turkiye would they let you proceed on bikes through here! Again trying not to crash while being mesmerised by the sheer beauty would be a challenge…

The Ilhara was just another place beyond words…

The main canyon is probably only 8km, but with stops and detours takers around 2-4hrs. On exiting the main Canyon you are greeted with commercial / tourist overload as it is cafe and restaurant central – having eaten a better meal in the town beforehand, we were very keen to skip through this and get to Ilhara Canyon ‘Pt2’, this is where we would look for our camping spot – and in tradition a good spot came up…

Fallen wood was abundant and there were one or two existing fire pits present, therefore a camp fire* was in order. A camp fire enhances the camp vibe, along with a good feed and a couple of river chilled beers our spirits were high…

– we were loving Central Turkiye!

* Where suitable – as in there was an established fire pit already dug (in fact several – its not just a UK thing!) Typically our approach would follow the bike-packers unwritten code, one of which is to leave no trace (apart from tyre tracks maybe…)

Morning time would yield yet another big surprise… Awoken at around 6:00 to clanking and banging, thinking at first it to be forest work, it was not. Hot air balloon and their crew had arrived. We were soon up and about watch the spectacle of it all!

Little did we know that this would not be the last balloon spectacle! After the excitement of the early start, we decided to have a ‘slow’ start, partly because being camped in the valley and next to the river, everything was very damp – this was the first damp night of the ride. We decided to let the rising sun dry things off a little, while we sipped coffee and savoured the restored peace of the valley.

After setting off down the damp, cool meadows, there was another constriction ahead, as the steep sandstone walls closed in again, this provided some more real estate for cave dwellings, more churches, houses and pigeon holes. We we not tired of this ever-curious and historic landscape always yielding little treats to go and explore and other eye-pleasing surprises. These valleys definitely could not be rushed and many excursions off-bike were had.

This might have been the best section so far – quite wild and peaceful, full of places to stop and linger and kept green and fresh looking with the river.

Several more hours were spent meandering down the Ilhara valley, stopping at the odd cafe, keeping a close eye out for turtles or terrapins that are meant to be found here, until eventually our dictated route exited and then started to head back ‘east’ – with the circle of the ride slowly closing, we had just one camp-night left. First however we had to do some 40-50km of Steppe.

The word “steppe” is derived from the Russian word for “flat grassy plain.”

Another ‘POI’ lay ahead, this time the underground city of Saratli, so here, rather than using a geographic feature like a canyon, this time the Byzantines crated a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms, cleverly connected – to allow ventilation, security, access to water, often spread over many levels. There are between 100-120 of these underground cities in the region, some up to 180ft deep. A very interesting 2 hours was spent at this one, eating lunch, exploring (and getting lost) in the tunnels and then buying some wooly socks from the local stalls – some special hand-made and local gifts to take home.

Our last night was spent on a high plateau, whilst the terrain was varied and interesting, it was intricately farmed, this meant finding a piece of flat, smooth, non-rocky grass was quite tricky – and the day light was disappearing fast! The last night is always a little sad, as you really want the journey and freedom to continue, and to keep on exploring this charming country. However all things must come to an end, so the final day was to be had and enjoyed to the maximum, but first of all a breakfast was needed. The large town/city of Nevsehir would be ridden through, so far riding in the towns had not really been a problem and this ‘big place’ was no different. We soon found a cafe and had a good feed, before the short hop over the Urchisar about 12km off.

As we had time on our side we took an extended route back, via one last valley and it was by far the best – Love Valley. No place else quite like it!

So Why Not Cappadoccia?

It had delivered and surpassed on every level. The mountain bike was the perfect tool for the job again and bar the punctures, both our machines held up well, and even our bodies too! We thought we may have a problem with drinking from the water points, as we did not really know what the water quality was like in rural Turkiye, but it did not give us a problem and nor did the lovely food.

The end of the ride beer and one or two other random pics of Crazy Cappadocia!

And then when we thought we were all done for surprises , on the last morning we awoke early to go and see if we could spot a hot air balloon…

There is always a ‘bit more’ after the end of every ride, our journey here from Antalya was all part of the trip and whilst it may not be photographed or journaled here, it was very much all part of the grand adventure.
Turkiye left us with a strong desire to return, everything was good, I’d not really mentioned the weather, but it treated us well, and was the treat we needed after the UK’s ever-present rain and dampness, nor was it excessively hot, being autumn time.
The trails and riding, whilst maybe not as exciting or technical as those experienced in countries like Spain or Italy, kept us buzzing; all this coupled with an ever unfolding landscape and the history book that we where in was captivating throughout the journey.

So yes – Go to Cappadoccia some day – soon!