As I hoped, I really did manage to restart the route that was unexpectedly cut short above Köprülü Kanyon. I had a short break in Antalya, and then Ahmet arranged a ride for us to Çaltepe so we could start our riding where I had turned around some 10 days earlier.
We spent the night at a pansiyon that Ahmet likes in Çaltepe (Erdinç Pansiyon), and he took me that afternoon (by bicycle) to a fun nearby swimming hole.
We brought some cold beers. What a great way to start the trip!
By coincidence an organized, supported bicycle tour was staying at Erdinç Pansiyon the same night we were. They had started the day before in Eğirdir and were finishing the following day in Köprülü. The ~100 cyclists meant our stay wasn’t as relaxing as it might have been, but it was fun to see the organization and talk with other cyclists.
I had expected this route from Çaltepe to Kuzukulağı Yaylası to be very nice, and indeed it was. In fact, really, I can highly recommend the whole thing from Antalya (previous post), through Kesme (this post) and on to Yalvaç (future posts).
Here’s Dumanlı Dağı which Ahmet had climbed before. I had never been through this area before.
We weren’t in a hurry so we decided to drop a couple hundred meters to camp near the Köprü Çayı and take a look at the canyon there, between Yeşilbağı and Kesme.
The climb up and out the same road in the morning was easier and faster than I expected.
Just before the village of Kesme was the turnoff for the ancient city of Zorzela with more stunning views.
As usual, mostly what we’re seeing is, I believe, Roman,
but I’m guessing this is a Likyan pillar tomb:
We had lunch in Kesme, followed by some unusually flat riding for this region.
The following day was entirely uphill through Yukarı Kırıntı and Dikilitaş to get to Kuzukulağı Yaylası. I can’t figure out where I found this route. It’s not on osm or google maps. I have learned since that there is supposed to be a road connecting Yaylabel with Kuzukulağı Yaylası. If you don’t like pushing your bike, try to find that route. The difficult section we encountered was only about 5km, but I think we took three hours to get through there. It’s a service road for a water line.
Yukarı Kırıntı, full of fruit trees, is from a different century.
A storm had battered Dikilitaş about a week before we were there. The road was still closed to cars, but we could push our bicycles through the flood debris for about 300m.
The flood must have been impressive (and scary!). There were some huge rocks on the road.
This is where the fun started:
and this is the reward at the end:
Kuzukulağı Yaylası!
I had been here last year, but it was Ahmet’s first visit, and he was definitely impressed. We spent a rest day before continuing our tour north…
Looks great!