Though I was initially ill at ease with their presence, given one of them had the largest machine-gun I had ever seen, their questions showed a sincere interest in our trip and we got the impression they were glad we were there.Įvliya wrote extensively about Sinop, focusing largely on its castle. Our trip began at Sinop airport, where we reconstructed our bikes while fielding questions from the large number of curious soldiers on security duty. We have combined our writing to a single perspective (Piers’) for ease of reading and formatting – we were in agreement about most things, anyway!ġ0 September – Sinop to Samsun (few km cycled) We are immensely grateful to the Roger Short Memorial Fund for enabling this journey, and to the Turkish people for their unfailing generosity and humour, and especially for a never-ending supply of çay in times of need. A cyclist’s companion to this journal – with more images and a heavier emphasis on the quality of cycling – will be posted on in due course. We felt this acutely on this journey, and believe Eastern Turkey has some spectacular hills to sweat up, and great potential for bicycle tourism we hope that sharing the routes we managed to explore online will inspire others to see what the area has to offer. Hemingway said ‘it is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them’. We were always received with enormous warmth and hospitality.Īn historical framework allowed us to engage with places on a deeper level than we are used to, and by the end of our journey we felt familiar with culture and geographies both regional and national.
We still managed to see most of the places we set out to, many of which are of no touristic interest besides Evliya’s mention of them. While initially frustrating, this multimodality added to the breadth of our experience. In the end, we cycled approximately 1,130km and +27,984m. We ultimately linked together some exciting and remote gravel riding with hitchhiking, buses, a train, and even a taxi.
It was wonderfully novel to travel in a region where the amenities and quality of a road are not immediately clear from a quick google search, and we had ample opportunity to contribute to OSM data in the region. We were also a little naïve about what ‘route scouting’ would entail, and the route held its fair share of surprises. Besides almost-major injury and major mechanical failure, we suffered from ongoing illness and were forced to be pragmatic, making forward progress by any means necessary. We thoroughly planned a 1790km route with +35,000m elevation, but knew we’d have to be flexible.Ī good thing too, as our ride ultimately bore little resemblance to this route. We’d travelled by bicycle enough to know that such plans are at once a necessary framework for forward progress, and vulnerable to being derailed by landscape, weather, illness, or mechanical failure. We arrived in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey in early September intending to follow in the footsteps of Evliya Celebi by bicycle – to scout a potential tourist route and to consider his travelogues. Retracing Evliya Celebi’s Travels In The Black Sea Region, 2019 Roger Short Memorial Fund Travel Report – Piers Armitage & Isobel Jobling
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