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Ankara - Persembe
E.Route : Ankara - Persembe : ETD 0600 : ETA 1700 : Dist. 367 m.
A.Route : Ankara - Persembe : ATD 0550* : ATA 1936 : Dist. 380 m.
- Depart Ankara 0550*
- 0651 - 0722 shop stop ( Elmirdag )
- 0730 - 0740 Fuel stop
- 0810 - 0336 Paraffin stop
- 0920 - 0925 Crew change
- 1007 - 1107 Bog and coffee stop
- 1213 - 1215 Crew change
- 1414 - 1415 Crew change
- 155O - 1620 Food stop ( Samsun )
- 1705 - 1711 Crew change
- 1800 - 1805** Bog stop
- Arr Persembe 1936
Est.A.Spd : 33.3 mph : Gross A.Spd. 27.5 mph : Net.A.Spd. 35.5 mph.
Stop time : 3:06 hr : Speedo TD 5870 : Speedo TA 6250.4
Comment : After the deadly stretch of road, certainly more quiet, although the variety of passes and other hills rather taxed Cuddles' resources. An unfortunate end in the rather doubtful campsite at Persembe, on the margin of stone-throwing country. Notable also was the variety of corpses by the roadside, varying from large dogs to full-size cattle. Asterisks by ATD and DEP.Ankara - actual start was 0513, but necessity of disposing of Mr. Balfour delayed dep until 0550.
(**) by bog stop 1800 hr ref to memorable performance with blanket.
Jim Lindsay's diary:
Who would be a navigator? I started us off in the wrong direction because I had slept through the previous night's
arrival, then when we hit the Ankara ring road all the maps had mysteriously disappeared and I had to guess which
direction to take. Luckily I got it right. The navigator's golden rule is to sound confident at all times.
In Britain drivers tend to steer round things lying dead on the road. In the dusty conditions of early morning the
tyre tracks showed that lorry drivers here liked to change course so that they could run over a nice juicy piece of
roadkill. This was disconcerting. So was our first sight of lorries and vans overloaded with people and goods in
almost impossible ways.
By now we had begun to notice that people would gather whenever and wherever we stopped. The more enterprising ones
would try to sell melons or cucumbers but others just stared. Our stop at Samsun was one of the first where we
noticed that the taller of the local menfolk were craning their necks to glimpse naked legs and other treats inside
the coach.
This was a day of entertaining toilet issues. We had a bog stop between an open shore and a field of tall maize.
Only the bolder women risked the rather sinister field and the others arranged cover with a modesty blanket, but
this kept changing position as traffic came from one direction or other, much to the amusement of passing drivers.
When we arrived at the teacher training college at Persembe we found that the toilets had been modernised with wall
urinals. I addressed myself to one and found out too late that it had not yet been connected to the plumbing.
Reactions to Persembe said a lot about expectations. There were rumours that the dormitories were full of fleas so
we did not use them, but on the other hand there was almost no space to pitch tents. The toilets were awful and the
water supply almost non-existent. Some of us planned to sleep under the coach but the arrival of evil-looking dogs
scared us inside it. Yet on the return journey we found the place clean and hospitable, and nice cooks offered us
soup in the kitchens. I think we must have grown up a bit by then.
3,000+ years ago by Liz Y
I didn't think about it at the time, but there are parallels between ours and another youthful expedition via the
Bosphorus and along the coast of the Black Sea in northern Turkey.
I'm thinking of the legendary voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. Like us, they met with a daunting challenge at the
Bosphorus. It was here they struggled to navigate the whirlpools and surging tides at the narrow straits where the
Mediterranean meets the Black Sea. For us our challenge was to negotiate the straddling complexity of the Istanbul
metropolis.
Some people say that the clashing rocks of the Symplegades are a metaphor for the Bosphorus Straits. The Argonauts,
with help from the blind seer Phineus, made it between the rocks with only a little damage to the stern. We too with
some blind good fortune proceeded onwards from Istanbul with only a little bruising.
Like us the Argonauts sought provisions from time to time along the Black Sea coast as they pursued their quest for
the Golden Fleece. They too had to meet new challenges on the way. Near Samsun they encountered the Amazons, the
warrior women who cut off their right breasts so they could better draw their bows and aim their arrows. On the
island of Giresun (then called Aretias) between Perşembe and Trabzon, the Argonaut, Heracles, successfully fought
off the Stymphalian birds with their lethal bronze-tipped wings.
On their voyage, the Argonauts experienced differing reactions from the mythological beings whom they met. Sometimes
they found friendship and helpfulness, sometimes allure, sometimes hostility and danger.
We also faced difficult challenges as we moved further east, such as the stones thrown from on high above the zigzag
bends of the Zigana Pass or the lurking men who waylaid the girls in the basement corridors in Erzurum.
We also found kindness and words of welcome, such as from a family on the hillside in Ankara, who invited Johan and
me into their home, or the young brother and sister, Turkish Swallows and Amazons, who invited us to row out with
them onto the lake near our camp, and the nice lady who stopped to talk to us somewhere around Istanbul on our return
journey.
Jason found his fleece in Georgia (Colchis) on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. We travelled further to find our
fleeces, and we found them in abundance in Afghanistan!
