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You are here: Home / Archives for Justin Leonard

Light at the end of the tunnel…

April 9, 2015 By Justin Leonard

Kırlı, Perşembe
Kırlı, Perşembe

Town of Kırlı

Overlooking entrance to Turkey's longest road tunnel.
Overlooking entrance to Turkey’s longest road tunnel.

The town is of Kırlı is nestled in the mountains of the county of Perşembe.  The town is hidden directly beneath the Nefise Akçelik Tunnel (the longest road tunnel in Turkey) on the Ordu side.  Residents of the town are generally hazelnut farmers and a few of people work for the KGM, Turkey’s highway management department, which has a maintenance facility at the entrance to the tunnel. The town consists of a few markets, stores, elementary school, and a mosque.  Local farmers and residents from the surrounding villages come to the town to get supplies or to catch service buses into the City of Ordu.

Park on the edge of town.
Park on the edge of town.

The town of Kırlı doesn’t offer much for tourists, however the town sits on the banks of Akçaova Creek bringing cool mountain runoff from the surrounding Çanık Mountains.  There is a small park located on the entrance of the town.  Visitors can relax while listening to the soothing sounds of the creek rushing over the rocks below.  Upstream of the town Akçaova Creek has specular white-water and waterfalls.  One of the waterfalls, Karaoluk Şelalesi, is a great place for picnicking and swimming on hot summer days.  Locals say that the deep pools along the creek also provide great trout fishing.

The town of Kırlı is the last opportunity to pick up last minute picnic supplies before heading up into the mountains for the day.

Kırlı's town square.
Kırlı’s town square.

 

Numerous waterfalls are waiting to be explored.
Numerous waterfalls are waiting to be explored.

Filed Under: Destinations, General, Kırlı, Perşembe Tagged With: Kırlı, Perşembe, Tunnel

Sold!

March 5, 2015 By Justin Leonard

My Honda CBF 150 sold in one week.
My Honda CBF 150 sold in one week.

Today I sold my first motorcycle.  Last week I finally put my motorcycle up for sale on Turkey’s popular by-owner sales website “Sahibinden.com”.   I almost immediately started recceiving offers, and today just one week after putting it up for sale I sold it.  I have mixed feelings about the sale, because I was really happy with the motorcycle.  The bike was the reason that I fell in love with motorcycling, and I am sure that if I had not moved to Ordu I would have kept it.

Interestingly I sold the bike for 100 lira more than I bought it.  In 2011, I bought it for 3,500 lira including taxes and registration.  Today I sold it for 3,600.  Cars and motorcycles definitely hold their value.  Before you think this was a good deal, the price of cars and motorcycles do depend on the foreign currency rate.  In 2011, one US dollar was worth 1.3 lira.  Today, the rate is one US dollar equals 2.5 lira.  So while in turkish lira I may have gained some money, I didn’t come out ahead.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Motorcycle, sales

This is rude – Ulubey

March 3, 2015 By Justin Leonard

Ulubey_BikeIt is my goal at advertureordu.com to visit and highlight each of the towns and counties of Ordu.  A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to the nearby town of Ulubey, which translates as Great Ruler.  It’s only about 20 km (or 13 mi) from home so its quite easy to get to on the Ordu Sivas Highway.  While taking my morning walk I noticed a strange looking mountain to the south.  The shape is rather unique like that of an upside-down cone.  I did a little research and the name of the mountain is Şuayip Tepesi, or “This is rude” Mountain.  The mountain is essentially on the border between the county of Ordu and the county of Ulubey.   I decided to go and learn why it’s so rude.

To learn more about Ulubey, please check out our “Ulubey” webpage under “Counties of Ordu” found under “About Ordu” menu heading.  Or click Here.

Unfortunately I did figure out the source of the name, however I was pleased to discover a nice little town in the foothills of the Canik Mountains.  I had an opportunity to walk around the town and take a few pictures. Afterwards I enjoyed a huge “homemade” lunch at a placed called Food World, or Yemek Dünyası.  For only 8 turkish lira, about $3.25, I got more food than I could possible eat including: eggplant meatball casserole, rice with a baked beans, a loaf of bread, and a dessert.  It was crowded, which is usually a good sign, and because of the crowd the seating was family style.  It’s a great way to meet people, but also I could tell people were a little worried I might sit at there table.   But no one wants to be rude.

Filed Under: About Ordu, General, Ulubey

Maybe not the best idea…Day 2

January 20, 2015 By Justin Leonard

Route for my return to Ordu
Route for my return to Ordu

I was so thankful for the a nice warm place and the comfort of a home to recover my from the treacherous adventure yesterday.  I was treated to multiple cups of coffee and a hearty mexican feast which is extremely rare in this part of the world.

I expressed my appreciation to my hosts and let them know that I wanted to get another early start.  My goal was to get home before dark and I was unsure how many times I would have to stop on my last leg.  I retired to bed early and prayed for a better experience the next day.

I woke early in the morning and found that my hosts were already awake and were in the middle of their family devotions.  They offered me a cup of coffee and a freshly baked banana and chocolate chip muffin.  I listened as they finished their time studying scripture, and was deeply touched by their prayers for my journey home and my family.  The outpouring of their hospitality and care for me is a testimonial to the depth of their faith in Jesus’ teachings and their love for others.   You can’t not help but be positively affected by a family like that.

I spent 15 minutes or so weatherproofing myself.  I put on every article of clothing I had brought until I thought I might not be able to bend my arms and legs.  In addition my hosts supplied me with instant hot pads which are suppose to provide heat for at least 6 hours.  I filled my pockets with the heat packets and found myself actually starting to sweat.  It was the last time I sweat the rest of the day.

I went outside and I was disappointed to find that the bitter cold morning air had brought a heavy frost that had descended on my bike.  Of course, I had forgotten about the frost, and I didn’t have anything to scrape the frost from my seat, or mirrors or tachometer and speedometer.  In hindsight I shouldn’t have covered the bike, but honestly it was the last thing I was thinking about when I arrived last night.  I scratched the frost with my gloves, but since the sun was starting to poke through the clouds I figured that I would just let the heat from the engine and the sun finish the job for me.

The day started with blue skies and bright sunshine.  Finally, I would get a comfortable ride and perhaps get to see some scenery that I missed the day before.  As I was leaving Ankara I noticed a thick fog descending once again on my path.  The fog wasn’t the only issue the temperatures were starting to drop and the snow piled on the side of the highway was getting deeper and deeper.  It was obvious that this was going to be another long day.

The fog was much more dense, and the extreme cold temperatures instantly froze to my helmet’s visor.  I could use my gloves at first to scrape the ice from my visor, but soon my gloves were coated with ice, and it became impossible see where I was going.  Fortunately, my helmet has a built-in flip down sun visor.  I opened my normal visor, and used my sun visor to block the wind and cold.  This worked for about 10 minutes until the sun visor also began to freeze and once again I was nearly riding blind.  My last option was to open all my visors and just hope that my eyeballs wouldn’t freeze.  For the next 45 minutes I rode without a visor just the wind in the face.  I desperately waited for a good place to pull off the road to clear my helmet and to warm myself.  The whole time was thinking about the movie “Dumb and Dumber” when they decided to ride a scooter to Colorado in the winter, my face like Jim Carrey’s with road salt and snot frozen to my face. I made it to Kırıkkale and stopped at the first gas station finally able to warm my face and unthaw my helmet.

After leaving the gas station I was pleased that one of the unpleasantries had left.  The fog has finally left, but the bitter cold remained.  I had two decisions, return the way I came through the freezing fog back to Ankara and wait for more favorable conditions, or just keep going.  At this point I only had 480 km left (290 miles).  I decided to push on.  I knew if I could reach Samsun and the Black Sea coast the weather would be much warmer, and I could make it.  I was more determined, and so I tucked behind the windscreen and open up the throttle as much as I could.  I was going to get to the coast as fast as the motorcycle cold take me.  No longer was I concerned about documenting my journey.  I just wanted to get home.

Considering the bone chilling cold, I made very good time.   I only needed to stop one more time to refresh and warm up.  I reached the Black Sea by about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I was thankful to find that the temperature was a warm 17 degrees (62 degrees F).  After riding for days in temperatures well below freezing, the warm air felt like summer.  I even pulled over to remove some of my layers.  Racing home, I finally made it before the sunset.  Walking in door, I collapsed briefly on the floor in exhaustion but I was also filled with the adrenaline of accomplishing something exciting and challenging.  I think next time I will wait for the Spring.

Filed Under: Motorcycling in Ordu Tagged With: cross-country, Motorcycle, winter

Maybe not the best idea…Day 1

January 19, 2015 By Justin Leonard

Route for my return to Ordu
Route for my return to Ordu

When the opportunity to buy the şahin (falcon) arrived my excitement must have clouded my normally good sense of judgement.  My decision to buy the bike was sound, but how I was to transport the bike back home was risky to say the least.

At the time it only made sense to just ride the bike back from Antalya to Ordu.  What better way to get introduced to a new bike, so I thought.  It didn’t matter that I had never even seen the bike, nor have  I ever driven across the country before.  It didn’t matter that in the middle of winter the weather in Turkey, especially central Turkey, can be brutally cold and snowy.  In fact just a week before the trip a winter storm had dropped about a foot of snow in City of Ordu, and about 5 feet in the mountains outside the city.  I suspected that there was at least that much everywhere else along the way.  As long as it wasn’t snowing, I figured it was doable.  I checked the weather forecast, and it looked clear and above freezing.  So it should be no problem.

The distance between Antalya and Ordu is just under 1200 km (730 mi), and about 14 hours if I didn’t stop.  I choose a route using major roadways in the event that there were any problems.  I could easy find someone to help.  I also decided to break up the trip into two days, or 600 km per day.  By the way, the farthest I had ever ridden was 550 km, and I was really sore the next day.  I arranged to stay with a friend in Ankara (interestingly exactly half way).  Everything was set, and I was ready.

I set out early in the morning with the sunrise.  I set out from Antalya along the Mediterrian Sea, and everything was going perfectly.  The weather was a cool but comfortable 15 degrees (60 degrees F).  The new bike was considerably more comfortable than my little bike, and cruising at 110 kph (65 mph), I figured I was have plenty of time to stop and take pictures along the way.  After about an hour, I turned onto the highway towards Konya and Ankara.  It was shortly after this, that my perfect plan started to unravel.

In Antalya, I mentioned to several people that I was planning on riding the motorcycle back to Ordu.  Everyone would say, “vay be, delirdin mi nerden geldi bu düşünce.” (translation: wow, are you crazy…where did you get this idea).  I would just say, “birşey olmaz” (nothing will happen).  I think for most people this might have made them second guess their plan, but I was prepared.  I had warm clothes, a planned route, and the weather would be clear.  My mistake was that I trusted the weather forecast.

After turning off the coastal highway, the road to Konya climbs quickly over the Taurus Mountains.  The road climbs to an elevation of over 1800 m (6,200 feet).  The forecast for the coast was 15 degrees (60 F), and in Konya, the next city, a cool but manageable 8 degrees (46 degrees).  My first warning that in between might be different is the drifts of snow on the side of the road.  Soon I was lucky if I could see the side of the road as a heavy fog set in.  The rest of the way I was lucky if I could see 500 m (or a quarter mile) in front of me.  So much for getting some good pictures.

My hands were getting numb and starting to hurt.  I decided to pull off at a rest stop and warm up a bit and check the forecast again.  I sat in the restaurant eating a bowl of soup, and checked my updated weather app.  I was disappointed to see that the forecasted high was still between 4 and 8 degrees (40 to 50), but the current temperature was 6 below (21 degrees F).  How can there be a forecast with a high of 8 and a low of 4, and the current temperature be -6?  Also I don’t understand how fog can stay in the air when it’s soo cold.

I made it to Ankara in about 8 hours.  However, I had to stop every hour and a half to drink some tea.  I was so cold that I didn’t even think about taking a picture.  I was just focused on not freezing to death and getting to my destination.  Literally 1 mile before my destination, the fog lifted to blue skies.  I couldn’t believe it.

One of the positive points to the trip is that when you are numb your bottom doesn’t hurt.

Filed Under: Motorcycling in Ordu Tagged With: cross-country, winter

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