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- dome in palace
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- kids also visiting the palace – they insisted on us taking their photo!
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- which way up was this taken?
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- view of dogubayerzit from palace
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- ollie levitating (?)
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- Christine admiring the view!
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- more kids insisting on having their photo taken. it is quite normal in Turkey and Iran for men to hold hands or lean on each other as a show of friendship.
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- this time a whole family who insisted on having their photo taken, and taking photos of us!
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- lovely girl who also wanted her photo taken
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- Mount Ararat at sunset; view from our hotel roof. Apparently this is where Noah’s Ark came to rest.
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- Birthday cake!
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- Christine’s 30th birthday cake – a hedgehog!
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- Mount Ararat
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- Dean showing off his birthday gifts
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- Birthday kebabs!
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- We were cycling as a group of 6 on our way into Dogubayerzit – great fun!
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- Christine and 4 of her 5 bodyguards!
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- Kurdish family that Tom, Ollie and Ian camped with.
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- Very rural way of life in Eastern Turkey/Kurdistan
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- Outside the flat of our kind hosts who accommodated us in Agri
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- Buying provisions in a remote Kurdish village
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- So hot the tar melts on the roads, sticking to our tyres. amazingly we didn’t have any punctures from it.
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- melted road. even sticks to your shoes, messy.
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- I don’t recommend drivng a bus round here!
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- View from the top of another pass. hard to believe there is snow over there!
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- Thistles in Turkey!
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- Burrow of a large animal – we only noticed this after setting up camp nearby – subsequently woken by some large animal nosing round the tents, not much fun!
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- Nice subtle tent that Dean has, great for discreet wild camping…not!
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- Perhaps the council should spend some money on road maintenance?
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- View from top of Kop pass (2400m), fabulous
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- Another Turkey flag!
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- Just after taking this the driver of the ice-cream van in the background opened the van and gave us free ice-creams!
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- sheep seeking out the shade
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- Did someone forget to build the stairs?!
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- Bayburt city
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- our lovely hotel is in the middle of the shot. actually not too bad inside!
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- Bayburt fortress
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- Nice rooftop cafe in Erzurum. They had a buffet breakfast on – we definitely got value for money!
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- Gives new meaning to those signs warning of rocks falling on the road.
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- Downhill from Zigana pass – fantastic
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- Erzurum mosque
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- View from Zigana pass
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- Tired after climbing 1900m in one day.
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- There be hills ahead – lots of them!
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- Having chay (tea) at the Sumela monastery
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- Sumela monastery. Ancient and in an amazing location – well worth a visit.
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- Pete, Tom and Ollie
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- Wild camping outside of Erzurum
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- Trabzon city-scape
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- Shoe shining in Trabzon
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- Tom and his birthday gifts
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- Pete and a tiny bicycle!
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- The boys cooking dinner while Christine relaxes!
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- ‘cheery tomatoes’ – put a smile on our faces anyway!
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- Traditional fishing village on Black Sea coast
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- With Wilson from Scotland and his campervan – we are jealous!
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- Beachside camping in Unye, fab
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- It’s a hard life, but someone has to do it
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- the friendly teachers at the primary school we stopped at
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- rice paddies and mountains
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- making friends in duragan, while waiting for pete to do the shopping
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- we love petrol ofisi! always guaranteed a smile, free cup of tea and most importantly a clean sit-down toilet!
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- lesson from RE teacher in how to tie a headscarf properly
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- kids at the school we stopped at
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- we took care not to cycle too close to this overloaded lorry!
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- sorting garlic
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- view from hotel room in taskopru
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- heavy but localised rain – 500m away the road was dry as a bone!
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- camping in the rain!
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- every petrol station should have its own mosque!
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- overturned car, not surprising considering the state of this road, and the poor signage
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- puncture repair
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- safranbolu, a historic town preserved from the ottoman empire
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- safranbolu mosque
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- watermelons, watermelons everywhere
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- safranbolu
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- wild camping by a lake
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- unlit tunnels – scary on a bike!
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- could they fit any more warning signs in?!
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- admiring the view from great wild camping spot in devrek
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- the established head-under-tap method of cooling down while cycling up to a pass
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- boat building
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- black sea coastal cycling – just before he hit a bollard and fell off!
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- akcakoca seafront
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- hilly!
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- river meeting the sea
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- sinking ship
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- friendly kid overtaking us!
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- view from campsite near agva
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- we cycled quickly past this one!
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- pete sleeping outside as too hot inside tent
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- ahhh, isn’t he sweet?!
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- we love Turk-i-ye!!
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- leaving istanbul
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- about to leave istanbul
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- mini-early birthday celebration for Christine in istanbul
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- the fun you can have with cocktail sticks…
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- ‘the girls’!
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- F1 – zoom zoom!
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- smoking a water pipe
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- cocktails!
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- watching the grand prix – hot hot hot!
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- novel method of getting shade!
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- nice hats ladies!
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- blue mosque minaret
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- yes, don’t we look good
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- blue mosque at dinner
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- inside aya sofya
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- inside topkapi palace
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- drinking raki with our new turkish friends in akcakoca
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- at topkapi palace
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- cool birthday present – christine is now officially a glamorous cycle tourist, if such things exist!
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- topkapi palace
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- overlooking the bosphorus
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- ollie and tom looking very beardy
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- in aya sofya
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- beers in istanbul with the girls
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- impressive artwork in aya sofya
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- outside blue mosque
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- men washing their feet before going to prayer
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- steering a tall ship!
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- the tall ships happened to be in istanbul while we were there
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- the indonesian crew were quite randomly dressed like pirates!
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- pete trying to throw christine in the bosphorus!
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- istanbul skyline
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- celebrating successfully getting our iranian visas
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- christine’s iranian visa – check out the photo!
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- trying on a rabbit hat in the grand bazaar
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- novel approach to keeping the sun off while cycling?!
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- Dean’s departure from istanbul
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- dean!
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- visiting the princes’ islands near istanbul
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- pete about to go swimming in the marmara!
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- ollie and tom about to go swimming
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- hmmm, why don’t you go first?
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- princes’ islands
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- water pipes
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- whirling dervish
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- wailing mosque at nighttime
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- the cycling crew enjoying kebabs in istanbul
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- outside topkapi palace
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- cute little kitten used to draw customers into a rug shop – novel approach to marketing!
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- istanbul tram
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- fishing on galata bridge
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- view from rooftop terrace of hostel
Christine and Pete's Big Cycling Trip 
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