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Day 8 - Goreme, Turkey to Beysehir, Turkey.
Scheduled to be a big day with over 300 miles and lots of sight seeing.
Warrior and Hawk are up early due to a time keeping malfunction but they do get to see the hot air Balloons over Goreme. We'd taken an executive decision the night before that 4am start and 150 Euros for a potentially fatal balloon trip wasn't worth it.
Thrre's some very tricky cobbled sections going up hill to start especially when you throw a couple of tourist coaches into the mix. First stop is a church carved out of the rock, quite claustrophobic and we immediately find the flaws in its design from a security perspective. Slash also discovers the flaws in his boot design as the sole tries to depart the boot - gaffa tape to the rescue!
Back down the tricky cobbles and out onto the plains of Anatolia once again. We're on a recommended tourist route which is a bit dull so we do our own thing and head onto smaller local roads which are great fun even when some local women pokes fun at Warrior for stopping to let cows pass.
Next stop is one of the 36 underground cities in the region. Its very impressive if you like that kind of thing but I'm left sceptical on some of the so-called facts. We scuttle around underground for about van hour in full bike gear just to make it more difficult.
Its then time to get some miles under our belts after a swift bit of lunch ( spinach and cheese pancakes ). More good fast routes from the Turkish highways agency and before we know it we're in Konya. Its massive and the driving style of the locals descends once again into bedlam. Quick fuel stop and a complementary headlight clean to remove the thousand or so bugs and we're back on the road.
The next section is a real thrill. Most of the road has a scarified surface so gives you a slight vague feeling under the wheels. The solution is to go faster and we eat up about another 60 miles doing 70mph plus when all the signs say it should be nearer 30.
We get to Beysehir next which is our stop for the night. Its on the shores of a massive lake and a university town. They don't seem to realise just how picturesque it is and how well a tourist industry could do. Our hotel is outside the main town and they look genuinely shocked that people should just turn up asking if there's any room at the inn.
It then transpires that Alcohol is in very short supply. We basically have a choice of a local fisherman's bar or another hotel about 5km outside the town. The latter turns out to be quite good and were well fed.
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