To Istanbul
Our first town was Erdine, and this remains one of our favourites. The mosques were spectacular and serenely calm, the people friendly and the bazaars bustling with life. Onto Istanbul we fought strong headwinds, hills and crazy traffic. Approaching Istanbul we met a professor of vetenary gynacology, who invited to his house for tea and explained the highlights of his city. In Istanbul we enjoyed (with thousands of other tourists) the magnificent and huge Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia and learnt how carpets are made in the Museum of Culture. Being on bikes we had a good excuse not to buy a carpet, every time a carpet shop owner tried to sell us one.

The Ferry
To escape the traffic, we took a ferry across the Sea of Marmara to Yalova. Returning to the car deck to collect our bikes it seemed that catastrophe had struck - Juliet's bike had been crushed under a hydraulic car ramp. Her handlebars and stem were bent beyond repair, but amazingly frame and wheels survived. To the credit of the ferry company, they sent the tea-boy with us to find a bike shop. This was not recognizable as such at first, but on closer inspection we saw the large pile of greasy, dusty bike parts - mostly the Asian sit-up-and-beg variety. Two hours and some chay later, the bike was all fixed, and a local had offered us a bed for the night.

Into Asia
Thus we cycled into Asia and into the heat, which was near 40 degrees at times. During the next 750km, we rode through beautiful river valleys, across barren hills and endless sunflower fields, many with workers beating the seeds out by hand.

In a small village, we became the centre of attention when we asked if there was somewhere to camp. A group of 20 villagers discussed the options and we were helped by sever children to erect the tent. 10 minutes later we were told to take it all down as we were invited to a local's house. This lovely family gave us food and we slept in luxury on Turkish carpets in their prayer room.

Cappadocia
This region in central Turkey holds some of the country's most bizarre sights. For centuries inhabitants carved houses and churches out of the unique rock formations. Our hotel room was one such cave. These rock houses were cheaper to build - when a family grew, more rooms could be carved out.

Eastern Turkey
East from Cappadocia we took a "short cut" which got us hopelessly lost in beautiful mountains, but led to another night with a family, who again treated us with unbelievable hospitality and generosity. Life in this tiny mountain village seemed a world apart from the modern European feel of the big cities. People live a very self-sufficient lifestyle, keeping cows, sheep etc and growing food to eat.

Throughout Eastern Turkey we provided entertainment for the local breed of sheepdog, an aggressive animal with a special liking for cyclists. But we weren't always the chased - on one occasion Dan went so crazy he chased a dog 200m along a side track, growling and barking at it. As we rode off, we could hear its howls of distress!

Towards Lake Van we entered the previously troubled Kurdish region of Turkish and found a large presence of military police. They obviously didn't see us as a threat to security as we were invited to chay. Again we stayed with a family, this time Kurdish, from a special Muslim sect: no headscarfs, alcohol permitted, and no Mosques (hence no call to prayer at 5AM!). They told us that some members of the sect don't even believe in God!

Once again hospitality was amazing, and they said "don't go to Iran, stay in our village. You can stay with a different family every night here for a month".

In Malatya we left our bikes and took a short tour to Nemrut Dagi, a mountain topped with 2-metre high statues of gods and the king who ruled here centuries ago. The king also had the mountain raised by 50 metres by piling rocks on the top. This is a starkly beautiful place set amid the mountains.

Past Lake Van and onto Dogubayazit, we passed fantastic landscapes of volcanic rock. Dogubayazit lies at the foot of snow-capped Mt Ararat, where Noah's Ark is reputed to have landed. Almost all overlanders pass through this town and we discussed the route with other cyclists. Finally we rode to the border and crossed into Iran.

Turkey will remain in our memory as the friendliest, most remarkable country so far. Despite the tough hills and long distance, it is a cyclist's paradise. Most memorable of all were the hundreds of truly fabulous people who made us so welcome.