4 wheels up the Karpaz

I'm still not well enough to ride serious mileage in this heat, I'd rather recover properly than get out there on another 100+  miler and get ill again.

Soooo......much as I hate to admit it today I used a ...

...sssshhhh.....er....erm...a....car.

Feed me and I'll do the donkey dance for you Mr!

The target was Turtle beach at the end of the Karpaz. I've already ridden this route several times on a bicycle but the road surface on the final stretch was always a puncture waiting to happen. The main road is perfect but eventually it becomes rough asphalt for a 15 mile stretch approximatly. It's rideable, not comfortable and you definatly need good puncture resistant tyres such as schwalbe durano plus on a road bike.

However, today i didn't need to worry about any of that. I had the luxury of a four wheeled hi tech tin can complete with fat car type tyres and air con. How embarrassing ! I dislike cars with a vengence, and I would far rather have been on my bike, but hey ho...I'm lucky enough to have the use of a nice one so why not eh!

Driving here is actually ok, the speed limits are much lower than the UK and strictly enforced with almost constant speed traps. Good job the Pod I say. At this point I won't mention the speeding fine I picked up a week or so back, no need to mention it really. It was good value though, as for just 150 TL you get a guided tour of a genuine Turkish police station!

Small twister coming in off the sea

The weather 'up the Karpaz' today was cooler than recently, and the skies darkened as I reached the sea. Here I saw my first Cypriot mini tornado coming in off the sea as several cars stopped right in the middle of the highway to allow their drivers to jump out and take photographs.














The tip of the island is populated by Donkeys. These guys have figured out that cars are actully food vending machines for donkeys.

Got a carrot mate?

They walk right up to your window and stick thier entire head in your face, complete with limitless flies.

Tourist buses from Kyrenia stop in the middle of the road to allow their mancunian cargo to touch up some real ass for once.






















The beaches here are beautiful. Long stretches of golden sand and blue water. Buy th etime I was walking along them the clouds had gathered and a few spots of rain were falling. Heaven.






I will go back here one day with the right person and I won't be riding a donkey!


























On the way back I stopped in at 'Scuba stuff is us innit' in Bogaz and left with a new scuba mask, snorkel and fins.  It's time I went underwater here.

No mad dogs and an Englishman

Ok....well still sufferring from some kind of heat fatigue and the after effects of  the evil bug Cyclops hexed me with at about 1.30 i finally surfaced and decided to ride. No way was I going to et the heat beat me today. 

There is a saying, 'Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun'. I can report to you that this is indeed false. Not even Mad dogs go out in it here.

I settled on a route of some 70 miles and started riding. As soon as I turned the cranks I knew my route choice could have been less optimistic. My legs felt like jelly and the heat was already burning me through my factor 30. 

Onwards I pushed like only an Englishman would in such conditions. All around me the fields were nothing but dust bowls, where Goat herds wander aimlessly seeking water, and puppy dogs die of thirst at the roadside as you pass, while the theme from the good the bad and ugly echos across the endless plain ( as a Man, I reserve the right to exaggerate!)

I was the only human being out there. Not one single car did I pass, not one singe tractor did I see. In the village I did see a young lad and his mountain bike sitting at the bus stop. Clearly everybody else wasn't English.

After about 12 miles I was getting dizzy. I have learned from previous experiences in the heat in Kansas that dizzy spells on the bike are to be taken very seriously. I stopped and hung my head hoping they would go away, but they didnt. It was decision time. Whether 'tis nobler on the bike to press on into oblivion regardless of ones safty, or suffer the sings and arrows or outrgeous misfortune and turn back while I still could.

Although I am not a quiter, I am also not an idiot. The right thing to do was turn back and get out of the Sun. As I headed back the dizzy spells increased and I was pleased I took the right decision for me, regardless of what others may think. After all nobody else was out there with me, they were all exercising their right arms at the bar.

I suspect that had I felt stronger I would have pushed on and completed the ride, but the dizzy spells were a warning sign. Black out at 40mph+ downhill and nobody would be thanking me for havng to dig me out of a hospital.

So, I gave Cyclops a time honoured Victory salute and resolved to ride another day in safer conditions. 

The temperature out there today was 33c in the shade, and there is Zero Shade. It felt a lot hotter.

The Motto of this small tale today is 'Knoweth thy limits, and don't be a plank'. 

Here endeth todays lesson. Amen.

The Anciant Ruins at Salamis

Clearly the weather Gods need to go back to Met college as it's still not raining here. At 6am I was kitted up to ride out to Golden beach and back. By 6.15 am I was fast asleep going nowhere. The prospect of a another dose of heat stroke wasnt appealing, so I elected to do something completely different. Today wasnt going to be about the ride, it would be about the destination. I had decided to bring a little culture into my Cypriot experience and visit the anciant ruins at Salamis.
 

Salamis is right on my doorstep here, no need for an endurance ride or a car to get there either. Knowing the standard of the smaller paths off the main roads here I selected a different weapon of choice for this mornings ride, the Marin Hybrid was duely dusted off and dragged kicking and screaming out from it's cool dark lock up into the blazing sun. Riding in simply shorts and a t shirt to avoid looking a total plank in team lycra on a hybrid bike I pointed Marin towards the south west and hit the road.

  

 Salamis is only about 20 minutes ride along the beach road, and it is all totally flat, so this ride would be perfect for anybody not used to riding a bicycle, looking for an easy flat ride with something interesting to see. Turning off the main road the smaller road is less well surfaced but rideable nevertheless.

 





Access to the ruins is behind the beach bar. The ruins themselves cost 9TL (Turkish Lira) per ticket and it is worth it. These ruins ar amazing. Apparently this was the main city here over a thousand years ago with a population of some 150,000 people. It reminded me a lot of old Roman ruins. There is an ampitheatre and a lot of baths. In the ampitheatre I climbed to the top of the 'cheap seats' and sat down watching a group of German tourists with silly size cameras being preached to by a Cypriot guide. Last night I had been watching Gladiator on TV, I looked around but could see no lions or tigers. As one tourist looked up at me I gave her my best Julius Caesar thumbs down, although the joke was lost on her.

   

 I continued walking through the old city. Clearly public baths were all the rage here. The pools must have been amazing, filled with cool water brought in via aquaduct, and surrounded by marble floors and pillars, and that was just the goat pool.

  

 I could just imagine these streets full of people, the ampitheatre sacrifices before each play, and the baths full of beautiful anciant mermaids! Although fat mercants was probaby more likely if Cyclops had had anything to do with it.

 

 I took a little walk along the beach in front of the ruins, its ne of the nicer sandy beaches around here, quieter than long beach if you walk a little away from the beach bar. Then it was time to get out of the mid day sun. I short ride back and I was lunching next to the pool. No point in over doing it eh!

 

Once around the block

After a week of illness I jumped back on the bike today for a short ride around the block only to get my legs turning again. This short warn up loop isn't particularly picturesque hence no photos today, but it does take in a couple of nice quiet villages, the usual collection of mosques etc.

I left the ride until later in the afternoon to avoid the mid day heat. It was humid out there today, I hope a sign of pending rain soon, well I can hope eh !

I'd recommend this route for anybody staying in Iskele who just wants a simple easy ride, doable on any bike, who doesn't want to climb mountains, or more accomplished riders who just want to warm up or test ride a new set up on thier bikes etc.

Good road surfaces all the way around, with a couple of market stores to get water if needed. There are better views elsewhere but this ride would suit beginner riders based at Caesar resort Iskele

I had to go back up here

Riding had to be postponed for several days following a dose of  Nicossia Knickers.  The heat and dust out on the plain recently meant I was happy to take a few days out of the saddle anyway. It's still summer here so with any luck things will stat to cool a bit soon. The on line weather Gods have different views, several see this week as yet more intense sunshine, with highs in excess of 30c in the shade, others tell of pending rain and heavy storms. I like the Rain Gods story best so I am listening to him.

Rain for me right now means the dust fields will be dampened and make breathing a lot more fun.

Not riding out here makes me restless, there is so much to see and although I can go and see it at my liesure, being grounded like this was never in my plan.

 

 

Today I decided to leave the bike behind and head off on a short road trip to the local Mountain just behind Caesar resort here where I am based near Iskele.

 

Simply soaking up the views today was all I wanted to do, and cruising up the climbs on four wheels in A/C heaven made a nice temporary change. That said I found myself tapping the steering wheel like quick fire shifters, and pushing my Bum back to the rear of my saddle...erm..I mean luxury seat with electronic height adjustments, on the steep descents.

 

I know I have posted loads of pictures of this place in this blog already, but I never tire of these views, and to be honest who wouldn't be happy to be able to claim these were all taken on 'my short local loop'?!
Beats the cr%p out of my short loop in the UK which is more akin to a survival exercise given the murderous standards of most UK drivers in town.

 

So today I was blessed to be able to forget about all that back in the UK and immerse myself in the beauty of this place.

Back in the saddle again soon.