DickyB's Turkish Delights

Dear All,

I'm not sure whether it is policy to introduce yourself before posting therefore I will. I'm Dickyb who moved to Turkey from rainy England ( a.k.a USS Great Britain ) four years ago to escape Tony Blair, the English climate and to cash in on our modest property which had crazily quadrupled in value over the space of four years.

I used to be employed by the government and went to work dressed up as a bush (soldier). After ten years I got pruned and changed into civilian clothes. I've been a lurker on this site for a while and I've now joined and am posting. Thanks to you all for a great site,




It was a Saturday, the kids wanted to go to the beach, the wife wanted to go shopping and I just wanted to go. What a stoke of luck then that Carl, who was over from England, wanted to go too. So, we geared up and off we went tootling through the local woods until we came to the reservoir at Gombe,






Kasaba, where I live (near Kas, Antalya) is on the Turqoise Coast of Turkey some thirty miles South of Gombe. The area around Gombe is known as a Yayla or summer retreat. When the devil is stoking the fires on the coast the wise move up to the higher and cooler pastures of the Yaylas. From here we followed a track just to the left of the big hill in the middle of the picture which lead up to a valley,



This was our first decent ride out together on the Yamaha XT660R,s which, though heavy, coped admirably with the terrain. We followed the track upwards where the air cooled down and the views got better,



Though you are allowed more or less unlimited access to the fire roads and forest tracks around here the authorities have the annoying habit of closing and locking barriers occasionally. To save backtracking it is often necessary to improvise!



In all we covered 150km in 6 hours, encountered temperatures from 20 deg C to 40 deg C, and still got back in time to prevent divorce proceedings.

Cheers,

Dickyb

Dickyb, thanks for representing and welcome to the asylum.
Thanks for sharing, great pictures and yes keep away from the fires that have been happening there lately in the southern region.

G'day Dicky,

welcome to the assylum!

What a great little RR. I can't wait to get to Turkey, it's high on the list especially after seeing some of the reports here.

Keep on exploring!

Cheers,

Matt

In the winter months me and a group of Turkish friends usually have a ride out every Sunday if we can get babysitters, wifesitters and have been granted a day pass by the missus. (different country, same responsibilities!). On this particular Sunday we ended up skiing, however more of that later.

When we set off it was cold and damp but the mood was light,



A couple of hundred metres off the valley floor the view changed and things started to warm up,



Mehmet always gets giddy when the sun shines



We headed further up and back into the fog, snow and ice,





Those Yam 660R's aren't too keen on ice, even with Metzeler Saharas fitted. After 5 kilometers of this nonsense it was time for a break,



The look on Arifs face sums up his mood. he likes sunshine, warmth and whizzing up Kas high street standing on his pegs scaring the tourists. Mehmet, on the left, and Ali were in their element,



Different view, same expression! A short while later the track we were following dissappeared as a result of the recent rains. Only one thing to do, manhandle!






We got them all across. The line up consists of me and Arifs XT660R's, Zecky's XR650R and my XL200.





Zecky suggested heading up to higher ground where the ground would be drier and firmer. Zecky is one of those quietly spoken, together guys whose riding ability shouts out "Hey, follow me, you'll be alright". This interpretation of his personality has caught me out more than once before! Anyway, it was onward and upward,



Oh how the big Yams slithered. Mehmet, however was having a hoot,



Onwards and upwards we travelled. The air got cooler, the light got darker (?), and we got split up. Arif on his Yam and Ali on his BMW F650 fitted with road tyres struggled. Mountain goat Mehmet kept whizzing up and down the line uttering reassuring words and generally taking the Mick. Zecky and I eventually arrived at the point of.............return,






Another 500 meters would have seen us in the clear, over a brow and back down below the snowline. However, Arif and Ali were sick of skiing and were 5 clicks behind us so we backtracked and met up,



We decided to end our foolish wanderings and have a snowball fight!

It took us two hours to backtrack the 30 or so kilometres back to the asphalt. We had set off at 9 in the morning, we got home at gone 10 at night with Ali swearing to Allah and anybody who cared to listen that his offroading days, of which this was the first, were well and truly over. Roll on summer.............

Cheers,

Dickyb

Hi Capotourer,

Thanks for the welcome. We, the wife and I, are loving our new life here in Turkey, being continually surprised by what the country, and the people, have to offer. Hope to make it to Istanbul one day. Do you know where I should start looking for a decent second hand Yam XT600?

All the best,

Dickyb

Blog; www.myspace.com/taurustrails

Thanks Matt,

You wont be dissappointed.

All the best,

Dickyb


Blog; www.myspace.com/taurustrails

Very nice! I have a dream to travel through Turkey on a motorcycle some day. The climate and scenery there is very dramatic.

Are you all happy to have cleared off and moved to Turkey? Love to see some of the country......and remember: the snow get deeper as you go uphill....Bruce

Hi David,nice to see you here
I see that you tasted the dust and mud of Taurus Mountains.We'll be happy if you join us in Izmir and go for a though enduro ride.

Nice stuff.

Kas is one of my favorite places in Turkey. I almost went into business with the owner of a bar there... it's been a while and I don't have my journal nearby so I can't be certain. Seems like it was the Green Bar, or something like that. He had a plan to import small glass bottom boats for tourist rentals and excursions. It really wasn't that great of a idea, but I was looking at an excuse to return to Kas on a regular basis.

At the time, Patara was almost empty on most days. I'm sure it is a major tourist spot now. Awfully pretty area.

Hi eoR,

Yep, the coast sure is pretty.




And Patara hasn't changed much. Still 15 or so kilometers of,




fun!

Have so far avoided the temptation of going into business, though I have seen many come and go in my short time here. I'd rather be taking in the air!

All the best,

Dickyb

www.myspace.com/taurustrails

Whenever Burkhard from Bamburg comes over we go for a ride. Esref, who spends some of the year in Switzerland, also happened to be in town too. The day started off with a body fuelling session at a lokanta,



Lokantas serve traditional Turkish food such as lamb, beef, chicken or vegetarian casseroles, mouth-watering salads, beans, rice and other delights all of which can be washed down with bucketfuls of tea, water or whatever you like. Good food at good prices.

We decided to head to Golhisar, a bustling medium sized university town. On the edge of the town were some old ruins we wanted to see. First we had to get there so into the woods we went,



past some strange looking trees,



and stunning views,






After a few hours it was time for more grub. We settled for freshly grilled chicken,



Bellies full we decided to go sightseeing eventually pulling up to an ancient arena,







Oh my, the hairs on my neck adopted the vertical. You could feel the history. Imaginary voices wafted along on the cool evening breeze. We enjoyed a few moments of peace and quiet before Arif turned up on his ironless steed.



Arif was twelve. Whisper, his pony was three. They fit each other like a hand in a glove. We later went up a rocky track to another set of ruins, kicking up rocks and dust as we struggled for grip. Arif galloped by with nary a puff of dust from Whisper's hooves. We left this admirable young man and his adorable pony and searched for somewhere to cool off and stay overnight



Burkhard searching!!





The freedom to just pull over in a forest and pitch camp after a day of chewing dirt is one of the many things I love about this country. We set off again early the next morning.........................

Cheers,

Dickyb

That's a good cuisine report by a gourmet rather than an RR.
Keep more pics and RRs coming from that region.
Good rides to you all and have fun.

Seasons Greetings fellow advriders. I needed a breath of fresh air and a bit of exercise following two days of gluttony and general excess. I am fortunate to live near a place called Kas in Turkey.



Kas is an old fishing village which, despite devlopment, has managed to retain it's character. Favorite attractions for tourists are kayaking, paragliding and sub aqua diving.





The rides along the coast road are sublime, those seeing peace and quiet along with spectacular scenery can find it 40 minutes or so inland








However, on this particular day we wanted a bit of fun playing in the forests so I met up with (from left to right) Mehmet (Mondial 150UT), Rejeb (Yamaha XT 350) and Zeki (Honda XR 650)



and headed for our playground ten minutes away



Where the fun commenced



Naturally I decided to show off the techniques I'd learnt at Thumper Talk and engaged in a display of one handed, one legged sideways uphill riding



Mehmet adopted a more traditional technique and flew up on his little Chinese bike. He has used and abused and flogged that thing to death but it never lets him down. The rest of the afternoon was spent just tootling around. 4 mates, 4 bikes with some bread, boiled eggs, olives and cheese for a picnic. Perfect.







Then it was home to stop the kitty chasing the fish on the telly.




Best wishes for the New Year,

Cheers,


Dickyb

Hi dickyb,

some nice photos there, I was up your way a few weeks ago when a small group of us rode the scenic coast way from Dalaman to Alanya then back over the mountains, think we stopped for lunch in Kas.

Cheers

Dave

Some pics missing.Thx for sharing them with us.
(I didn't like the name of your thread,though.Better go off with Türkiye )

Nope!

6 of your photos are not showing, that white box with the red cross is comming up for some pics, I had to join photobucket yesterday to get my pics to work here.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Dave in Turkey,

Thanks for the tip. I uploaded originally from Photobucket but the site crashed. I then used Picasa 3 which seemed to work on screen but failed to show the images once I posted. Anyway, it was back to Photobucket this am. Whereabouts in Turkey are you? Maybe we can meet?

Cheers,

Dickyb

PS I'm a Dave as well