Tatvan to Doğubayazıt

We are now in Doğübayazıt (that's 'dog-biscuit' to us) after a spectacular ride through the far east of Turkey. Luckily for us it has been a very lean snow year here, the snow seemingly went to Scotland instead. We really thought we would not be able to cross this part of the country at this time of year.

We spend three days cycling along the stunning mountainous southern shore of Lake Van....

On the first morning Hassan invites us for breakfast and tea from his lorry-kitchen. We ask if he wants to swap transport!

We camp at around 2000m, it's pretty chilly!
On the second day we are invited for tea by a family who are working in their field. Leila (next to Helen) is a talkative and intelligent 19 year old. Her mother grabs hold of Helen's hand and holds on to it all morning while she loads each of the 5 cups of tea Helen drinks with 3 sugar cubes! We drag ourselves away and then kick ourselves for not being able to ask Leila more questions about herself and her family.

We can't miss the opportunity to take a boat to the impossibly beautiful Ahtamar church on an island in Lake Van. The lake is really stunning and we keep on having to pinch ourselves to check we are really here!

The outside of the Armenian church is covered with beautifully carved biblical scenes. Jonah and the Whale?

It's a Sunday so we meet lots of Turkish tourists. Some students from Erzurum...

.. and a Professor of International Relations from Istanbul

An ancient muslim burial chamber on the way to Van city...

Van city is one of those places we could really imagine living... a vibrant and relatively liberal university town surrounded by 4000m peaks. Nice.

Van Castle

Cuniform inscriptions on Van Castle

Ooh look, it's bicycle repair man! Ed helps a kid fix his broken chain in the park. Yes.... finally we manage to help someone, rather than just being helped by kind people!

A courtesy bike is provided while he waits.

We have met lots of people in this area who take great pride in their bikes.

So when we found a bike shop in Van we decided to 'pimp our rides' with a bit of bling...

...but we still have a long way to go!

Leaving Van for the final Turkish leg. Getting excited now.We are invited to camp in the garden of a lovely huge family. Cesim with his friend and 7 sons. Missing are Cesim's wife and four daughters and one grandaughter.

We spend the evening drinking çai and trying to remember their names! We are sent away with eggs and bread for dinner and are invited for a breakfast of homemade herby cheese the next morning.

The next day's cycle takes us right along the Iranian border. Our first view of Iran!

We have an icy slog over a 2644m pass.

And drop down to the plain below Mt Ararat (no ark spotted).

At this point we would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Kangal Sheepdog. The specimen in the photo is a pathetic, younger, runty version of sheep dogs that are found in this part of the world. Unlike his larger relatives, this one has many of his teeth missing, is chained to a large metal pole and is not bounding towards us with several of his friends all barking and snarling: factors that contributed to our willingness to photograph this one. Good doggy Foofles.

As we descend from the pass we meet many of Foofles' friends. The first is alone and dismounting to throw a few stones is enough to persuade him he is not hungry. The next encounter is with a group of five, sporting barbed metal collars, apparently designed to ward off wolves . They spot us from a long way off and run down the hill towards us. With our lives flashing before our eyes we stop and start shouting (I don't think they spoke English), throwing stones (fetch anybody?) and waving our recently acquired dog-beating sticks, but we aren't fooling anyone. Fortunately, a passing truck driver sees the unfolding drama, slows down and starts blasting his horn while his friend throws things out of the window at the hounds of hell. This seems to get their attention enough that we are able to sneak away while they are, quite literally, blunting their teeth on the juggernaut's metalwork! We like lorry drivers.

We were not dog lovers at the start of this trip. Being chased on numerous occasions over the last few months has confirmed our general disdain for dogs, but now our hatred is unbridled!!! Yes, you think we are overreacting, but there is something about cyclists that sends the average dog in this part of the world nuts. High on adrenaline, we practise our defence strategy ready for the next encounter. This one's for you Kieran (Mr Broom lives on!)

As we cycle through the next village, a pack of 'foolish' creatures prepares to make an attack. Fortunately for them (or more likely us) the driver of a passing army truck sees the blood lust in Ed's eyes as he brandishes his 'mighty weapon'. He parks up between us and the dogs. Our 'disappointment' is tempered only by the unforgettable sight of three soldiers in full combats carrying rifles deployed to scare off dogs. Shoot the b**tards we scream (oops)! We then receive an armed escort through town which makes us feel very special.

We make it to Doğübayazıt physically unharmed but mentally scarred and commiserate with some Portugese cyclists we bump into.

Doğübayazıt's İshak Paşa Palace

It has the oldest squat toilet ever excavated apparently (I bet you wish you had studied archaeology now!)

So here we are, with 9978km on the counter and off to Iran tomorrow! After much much, much consideration we have decided not to cycle in Iran because of FCO advice against UK citizens going off the beaten track. We know we will probably regret this decision when we get there, but we had to make our decision on visa dates for Azerbaijan and Central Asia months ago when things were looking a bit more dicey .... So only sightseeing for the next couple of weeks (poor us!).