the wrong road

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This post is about a 15km walk from Akliman to Sarikum. It started out easy, but then I made a mistake and took the wrong road.

I woke up from a sound. At first I thought it was traffic, but it turned out to be the sound of rain. When I went downstairs for breakfast, the electricity was down. The owner told me it was because of the rain, it was too strong. Did I really want to go out there, walking?

I said I didn’t know.

A few hours later the sky had cleared up a bit. The rain had died down to a drizzle. I loaded up the Caboose and started walking.

how I told the Turkish media where I wanted to dance

It was the easiest road. There was almost no traffic, only sometimes a few cows. I saw a few new marshlands where the rain had drowned the land.

At one point my friend from Sinop called me. Did I want to do an interview with a local news program? A while later a car full of journalists showed up. They were very enthusiastic. One of them spoke German.

I told them that I was planning to eat all the lentil soup and all the rice pudding on my way through Turkey. I also told them that walking over the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul was my dream. The bridge wasn’t open to foot traffic, but a man could dream, right? The Caboose and I, on foot from Asia to Europe!

I said if I somehow – magically – got permission to cross the bridge with the Caboose, then I would do one of my little dances on it. They laughed. They didn’t know it was a threat.

which road not to take from Akliman to Sarikum

A bit further on I made a mistake. The main road looked like it was going to take a bit longer to get to Sarikum. So I took a shortcut. You can see it on the map – it led to Sarikum beach directly from the east instead of going south first. But the shortcut turned out to be a bumpy stone road that went so relentlessly up and down that it made me understand that I was dumb.

But we made it, the Caboose and I. Sarikum means “yellow sand”, but when we arrived there, the sand looked more brown than yellow. Probably because of the rain, I thought. Also, it was very windy.

I went to a house where a man was chopping wood and asked for hot water. Was there a good place to camp? I asked him, hoping that he would offer his garden. But he just opened his arms and said everywhere was a good place to camp.

I played with a shepherd dog for a little while. He had a spiky collar that gave him a scary look, but turned out to be an absolute sweetheart. Then I went and pitched my tent under some trees. I would have liked to sleep on the beach of Sarikum, but it was too windy for that.

I washed my feet in the darkness, under the silently nodding tops of the trees.

pictures

Not sure what this is for. Hunting?

Cow near Akliman:

new marshlands:

Media interview:

The wrong way to walk from Akliman to Sarikum:

Atatürk head near Sarikum:

Timber

Shepherd dog in Sarikum:

Curious horse:

Spiked dog collar:

Trees on Sarikum beach:

Camp:

Nightly foot bath: