My favourite climb on the Sufi Trail (bikepacking in Turkey)

My favourite climb on the Sufi Trail (bikepacking in Turkey)

Anyway this is my morning rant now let’s hit the road Merhaba good morning it was an interesting night usually these little villages four houses look, they are very very quiet after the sunset maybe a few old guys chat up a little bit and that’s it and you sleep very well after the this one, no, this one no this one had people passing by I would say all night but I think the main event was that there was a flock of sheeps I don’t know if it’s called a flock but a group of sheeps a flock of sheeps a big one arrived here at 11 30 and then there were people probably going to see the these fucking sheeps in the dead of the night so much so that there was like three or four women, women in a muslim country they went there went up at 2 a.am 2 am some old woman it’s time to sleep guys and chatting already the nights are very short I don’t get a lot of lots of hours to sleep I would need to sleep at least an hour longer but what can I do then the sunrise and now it’s 6 40 I’m already up and you need to pack because when the sun gets to the tent then you need to get out it’s too too warm but for once it was great to start a a little bit descending and flat across the first village I stopped at the market another nice mosque this mine was definitely not here in 2019 i hope these fuckers didn’t block my route but they did fucking hell Ithink they will have to move the Sufi Trail a little bit in a few years because of this mine now we start, we start working we start the climb 10 kilometers in slowly but surely fucking hell who brought all this rubbish here The smell of this shit as well that was some steep wall fucking hell I need a small bottle of oxygen I just hope I can ride it My back cannot take any more pushing I need to be able to slowly pedal my way up Oh man, now it’s complicated Now it’s basically… there is no trail that I can see and my gpx track goes straight up kill me now it will take me like I don’t know half an hour to do like this little bit motherfucker fuck is this barbed wire on the ground why> why? I almost puncture my tires all right given the barbed wire which wouldn’t be a problem but it’s just this bit it will kill my back to go down on a village on the other side that I can go around on the dirt road without doing this so I can easily skip also the guy Sedat that of the sufitrail.com com sent me a message giving me the heads up to go around this hill it’s only like one kilometer I have to say lots of effort for nothing that’s the peak and this is the city 500 meters not even one kilometer on a flat road or suffering an hour dragging my bike up there just to come down here this is the pulsating center of Emirdag let’s find some food here there is A101 that’s it i’m treating myself with some pilau i think it’s called, it’s rice and chickpeas and then some meat with with potatoes so the problem now is from Emirdag 10 kilometers it’s okay the problem is these 10 kilometers climbing that you arrive at 2 000 meters yeah it’s 14 percent average climbing so this there’s lots of climbing the blue line it’s an alternative route you still go up but it’s more gentle 11 % climb over 20 kilometers and you climb up to 1400 lwhen i was here in 2019 i did the blue line and also Sedat that and the guy that runs sufitrail.com suggested me to do the blue line because he said there are some tough tough sections going up the mountain and they’re tough hiking so biking could be a problem it’s always difficult to judge because until you’re there you don’t know if it’s doable or not with my herniated disc and with the loaded bike i think i will go with the path of least resistance today and i’ll do the blue pill I need to climb up to these few houses I think there there is water I filled my bottle at the village down there yeah I was up there then went down came here I got water his is the dam oh well what oh well what a sad situation it’s empty now it makes sense there is another dam I kind of forgot about this now the dam is on my back we are going around this and going back up to the pass I remember some water in a couple of kilometers I think anyway this is a part of the hiking route now we we join the hiking route again and this climb I did it in 2019 as well what a view now a little bit of descent till water i think if there is water i’ll be happy there’s no water we still need to stop that’s the mountain we need to climb i’m not sure you can see but the pass is there in the middle unfortunately oops unfortunately in camera the view is not the same probably need a lens with more compression to translate the the massiveness of this landscape beautiful so beautiful this is definitely one of my favorite section of the Sufi Trail so beautiful around here I’m loving Turkey, there’s water everywhere Now We have to be patient because there’s a tiny water and we need to share it with the wasps unfortunately no shade as I do not want to sit in there that one is not mine but I’ll pick it up when I leave with my trash the borlotti beans are warm quite warm they are probably around 40 45 degrees at least maybe more I have some cookies as well I’ll have some ice tea I’ll take the water from the thermos and I’ll make a mercadona ice tea oh man having the thermos Ice tra in the middle of this what a privilege what a privilege I knew was gonna stop there for a bit of food little break because this is such a beautiful part of the Sufi Trail and it’s very peaceful there is no cell coverage it’s very nice to be able to sit down for a while there and just enjoyed What is this place? what a place what a place Imagine living there It’s been a while nobody lived there not sure if Anyone ever lived there. Maybe it was the summer house for the shepherds But yeah Made it to the pass finally this is the view on the other side the rocks and the cows there Ciao cow All right it’s time to go Today is the fifth day without showering I need to charge my power bank probably so I want to stop somewhere at least for one hour that’s a nice mosque as well charging my power bank in this shop and these lovely ladies they made they made me pasta it was full now I’ve eaten it I ate pasta and I was waiting to charge my power bank but I think they didn’t plug it properly when I charge the power bank I shouldn’t just hand the charger and the power bank to someone but double check but it’s okay it’s okay because tomorrow I’ll have a host in Bolvadin yes I lucked out Bolvadin is not the biggest town but it is a town and so there’s no warmshowers but I had a look on Couchsurfing there are 12 hosts in Couchsurfing they haven’t logged in into their profile for four or five years at least I sent a message to everybody I wrote my my contacts my whatsapp and she contacted me on whatsapp but obviously she’s not in Belvodin as usual but she arranged for me to stay with a friend I was stopped by a family they gave me some cucumbers they offer water cold coffee and they told me I should follow the road because the Sufi Trail here they said is very difficlt I will try, what can I say? if worse come to worse I’ll go back on the road but they told me the guy spoke a little bit of French he was like très difficile tell me something I don’t know I will go up a little bit and I hope I can do it I mean I question why would you say it’s very difficult why do you have to do psychological terrorism? already I have my own fucking problems I mean if it’s all like this it’s a fucking highway what are you talking about? don’t put me in a bad mood before I start already in a little bit I need to find a place to camp last thing I need it’s psychological terrorism for fuck’s sake who killed this thing? El Chupacabra beautiful beautiful area beautiful people the people are so nice very very nice people very welcoming but let’s keep on going I could camp here but I’m a little bit too close to town very difficult, very difficult, the fuck is very difficult? He doesn’t know where I’ve been to Very difficult come on , let’s be real my friend Very easy Very easy I don’t remember what’s the French for The fuck are you talking about? I mean that looks like a bit fucking hell but not difficult might have to push a little bit but it’s still a highway I’m gonna be honest now I’m pushing the bike but it’s very steep here but there’s no stones kind of and I have a good grip even with these fucking shoes I think it’s 400/500 meters then then I will descend on the other side that’s where I was before that stone in the middle reminds me of Sassolungo the Saslong and on the Dolomites, kind of, like a vague reminder look at this fucking beauty and they wanted me to go on the road you’re out of your mind what’s wrong with you I would have never met this tortoise how’s the trail? very difficult? the fuck am I talking about? yeah you’re right. the fuck am I talking about? wow I could camp around here I think we cross over and then go down Now we’re on the other side and we go down it wasn’t too bad of a climb Also the descent is not too bad I can sleep a little early Look at this fucking guy It’s always this fucking guy the green arrow right to the right next go ride to the light i think i’ll get some more water here always better to have more water than no water, i can tell you this much this this kid is scared of me ciao! don’t worry I don’t bite and I’m not a catholic priest so nothing to be worried do you make any sense of this map? look at this road what’s the point of going up down up down yeah okay it does make sense i think there is something wrong this road that is on the map doesn’t exist but this of the Sufi trail is the real road I just wanted to figure out what’s the what’s the road and then maybe i could go back down and camp down there i’ll go up another uh 500 meters if i find a clear flat spot to camp i’ll camp here otherwise i go down there and camp there look at the sunset beautiful the sun has risen this is where i camped guys it was a very good and relaxing night and last night i went up the trail as you saw i was trying to reach the top but two problems this dirt road that goes up is not on the map it’s not on any of the maps it’s not on komoot it’s not on mapout you can see it on on the satellite of google map but even on the satellite of komoot you don’t see it so i missed a kind of a turn point and i continued and i went around and around and i thought maybe there is something going up but there wasn’t and then i lost too much time and i didn’t want to be stuck in the in the forest when it’s dark so i came back down because i saw before that here i could have camped this is the turn off I missed last night a less steep segment but I’m halfway through the climbing I think top of the morning what? the fuck am I talking about? yeah yeah that one was yeah yeah that one was yesterday though today is another day that’s how wild is wildlife in Turkey tortoise everywhere I saw I saw deers I saw foxes that’s about it no bears yet no hyenas I reached the top with this road now I have to turn left there’s no trail nothing I have to cross the hill and then going down on the other side I will be able to pick up the trail again from the other side but here there is no trail i it’s easier than I thought to be honest just need to be careful not to push where there are stones coming up in the forest was pretty easy but I think if they don’t keep it clean in a few years it will be next to impossible to pass without a machete because there are very high plants that they grow with the thorns it will be covered the whole trail so I hope the people of the Sufi trail will get together some volunteers and keep it clean because otherwise it won’t be possible I I think finally I can see the road, the dirt road look at the motherfucking view Easier than I thought much easier than I thought last night but definitely they need to clean up that road next year otherwise it will be difficult to pass without a machete. Here we go back on the highway man what a place, what a place what the fuck’s going on here i need water move move move move yeah there you go you couldn’t do that you need me to drink Don’t drink it all in one go because I recorded a 10 minute clip andl I had to delete it but beautiful beautiful descent and beautiful road very easy ride I’m I’m gonna stop here and have my breakfast what am I gonna eat beans borlotti beans last little push now I’ll go down to another little village and then straight down to Bolvadin you can see it down there if you cannot see it on the camera trust me it’s there I have the escort in Bolvadin Saeed is my host in front I took a shower I washed, Saeed is my host he doesn’t speak english I don’t speak turkish but look at this beautiful food beautiful people Saeed took me around we went to the mosque the imam tried to convert me it was all good thank you very much If you want what visible reality can give, you’re an employee If you want the unseen world, you’re not living your truth. Both wishes are foolish but you’ll be forgiven for forgetting that what you really want is love’s confusing joy

Cycling the world – Asia: 09 episode
After a restless night kept awake by locals celebrating a midnight sheep parade, I continue riding the Sufi Trail under the morning sun. The route starts easily until Emirdag, where I decide to switch from the hiking path to the bike route climbing that mountain with a loaded bike would’ve been madness. The long ascent to the pass turns out to be one of my favourite parts of the whole trail. Later, locals invite me for pasta and let me charge my power bank before I head toward Bolvadin. AAfter a peaceful night camping on the trail I climb, descend, and finally reach the city, where my host Said welcomes me with a hot shower and washing machine for my clothes.

MY GEAR FULL LIST: https://kit.co/davidetravelli

SUPPORT my round the world bike expedition:
Donations: https://www.paypal.me/davidetravelli
Postcards’ Club: http://alaska2patagonia.com/postcards-club

Follow me:
Blog: http://alaska2patagonia.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidetravelli
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidetravelli
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidetravelli

#bikepacking #biketouring #bikelife
#bicycletouring #cycling

*Some links in this description are affiliate links and therefore when clicked, if you buy the service or product I may make a small commission off of that sale. My opinions on products and services remain unbiased.