Deir Ezzor – Al Qamishli 1439km
The Eupharates has been listed in history as a landmark as old as ages. Along with the Tigris it divided Mesopotamia up into different areas for different tribes. The same could be said for today and as well started to travel down the river towards the Iraqi border we began to notice a change in [...]
Damascus – Deir Ezzor 1103km
Up until now we have cycled through some sublime landscapes and communities but now we were entering the desolate desert. It is through the isolated landscapes of the mountains and deserts that it is really easy to go into yourself and go into deep thought. Whilst meeting people and experiencing different cultures is greatly enriching, [...]
Damascus
Its amazing how urban living and location changes peoples perceptions and attitudes towards each other and themselves. Arriving in Damascus I suddenly realized the real difference in people. Even going from town to town I have started to notice how different people are in their response and reaction to three cyclists. In some towns we [...]
Aleppo – Damascus 867km
People talk of global warming and climate change being the lasting legacy of the Oil Age we are currently in. But waste, particularly plastic waste will, I think, will leave as People talk of global warming and climate change being the lasting legacy of the Oil Age we are currently in. But waste, particularly plastic [...]
Aleppo
Damascus and Aleppo have long argued over which is the older of the two cities. Personally I’m not really that fussed, both are supposed to be around 5000 years old and boy you can feel in Aleppo. We arrived as usual through the smog and rubbish of the outer city to fall upon a quite [...]
Iskenderun – Aleppo 556km
The ride to the Syrian border started with a 750m pass from sea level over the space of 20km which means its pretty steep. However, refreshed for a days rest and bouyed by the prospect at what lay on the other side of the mountains it didn’t turned out to be too bad and by [...]
Adana – Iskenderun 402km
Maybe its where I grew up or maybe its just my blindness but Britain really doesn’t have huge areas of industrial production like that that I’m beginning to see here. Whether its growing carrots or melting down scrap metal there is something honest about the production of raw materials for one’s own use – Britain [...]
Goreme – Feke 198km
I don’t think I have ever really appreciated how quiet and slow a bicycle is. Riding in the London rush hour you easily forget this sort of thing but out here in the countryside it becomes blatantly obvious and joyishly so. You begin to catch people and nature unawares and at a pace where you [...]
Cappadocia 24 km
So after a ten hour bus ride out of Istanbul and down into central Turkey we arrived in Nevsehir, a town on the outskirts of the Cappadocia. The bikes appeared from underneath the bus unscathed and primed for the trip. We spent our first day exploring this amazing valley from Goreme where volcanic eruptions created [...]