We set an ambitious target and had a long ride ahead of us. The distance of about five hundred and fifty kilometres - this is not highway riding. We agreed to meet Jens in the city of Van on the huge Lake Van. Jens crosses into Iran on Monday the 13th May and we wanted to get together because it is unlikely we will see him again until Kyrgyzstan.
Very early in the ride we came to a ferry crossing at the Ataturk Baraji (Reservoir).
Waiting for the ferry we met two young families. The two men were very much into motorcycles. One had a Honda Trans Alp and the other a Yamaha Super Tenere which are both dual purpose bikes and could easily do the trip back to Australia. We chatted about our plans and I think these two men will be visiting Australia one day on their bikes - we have sown the seed but it may be in a few years time - they both have young families.
These young men come from a city called Hatay near the Syrian border. They say the refugee problem does exist but it isn't as bad as the news reports suggest. So it is unlikely that the large encampment of tents we saw near the border were refugees.
Latter in the day I heard of car bomb explosions in a city called Reyhanli. I looked it up on the map and that city is only short distance from their homes. Hope all is well guys with you and your families.
There was also a couple of older men who showed interest in the bikes and they kindly let me take photographs.
I have a brother in law that looks like the man on the right. G'day Norm if you are reading this.
In Australia the term 'outback' refers to remote areas where few people live. Yesterday it seemed that we had found the Turkish equivalent of the outback only to ride into a big city. Today we are not disappointed. The are vast open plains between Diyarbakir and Lake Van. There was a down side we had to see it through intermittent rain storms.
Very early in the ride we came to a ferry crossing at the Ataturk Baraji (Reservoir).
Waiting for the ferry we met two young families. The two men were very much into motorcycles. One had a Honda Trans Alp and the other a Yamaha Super Tenere which are both dual purpose bikes and could easily do the trip back to Australia. We chatted about our plans and I think these two men will be visiting Australia one day on their bikes - we have sown the seed but it may be in a few years time - they both have young families.
These young men come from a city called Hatay near the Syrian border. They say the refugee problem does exist but it isn't as bad as the news reports suggest. So it is unlikely that the large encampment of tents we saw near the border were refugees.
Latter in the day I heard of car bomb explosions in a city called Reyhanli. I looked it up on the map and that city is only short distance from their homes. Hope all is well guys with you and your families.
There was also a couple of older men who showed interest in the bikes and they kindly let me take photographs.
I have a brother in law that looks like the man on the right. G'day Norm if you are reading this.
In Australia the term 'outback' refers to remote areas where few people live. Yesterday it seemed that we had found the Turkish equivalent of the outback only to ride into a big city. Today we are not disappointed. The are vast open plains between Diyarbakir and Lake Van. There was a down side we had to see it through intermittent rain storms.
Got very wet and then dried out a couple of times. Stopped and took a photograph of the flow of rain water beside the road. Jim stuck one of his motorcycle club stickers on the sign that says 'Batman'. See bottom left hand corner of the sign. Boys will be boys apparently.
Our first welcome sight of Lake Van. It is about 1600 metres above sea level and surrounded by mountains up to 3,500 metres.
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