Yes
it was snowing - well the occasional flake drifted from the sky. I had
a chat to Megan about manager and then did some photos before rolling
out of bed.
We
crossed our April track at Ispir - well we re-traveled for 4km on the
same road then turned off north towards the coast.
A lot of new roads are being built in most of the areas we have driven. Just to soon for these tunnels
We
noticed a tunnel on the map and thought to go on the old road but it
had snowed last night and we were unsure what it would be like up at 2693m, there was snow on the road at 2240m at the tunnel entrance.
Well
the Ovit tunnel was a high light at 14km long and very straight. The
best thing we did not see another car in front or behind. We drove on
a slight angle up for a while then a long straight run down until a
corner right before popping out at 2050m. The lights had been quiet mesmerizing!
We
drove on a good highway most of the way so made some easy miles.
we passed 5 big herds of goats and the last one was led by a police car. I think the herds were on their ways to lower pastures for the winter.
In
the last 10km or so before arriving at the black sea coast we noticed
tea bushes. They were smaller than the ones in china but grew on very
steep rocky ground and were everywhere.
Along
with the tea cane houses. More and more crowded, before we even got
to the coast we were already planning our trip back to the
mountains. 
We
popped out at the inlet of the Iyidere rever, at a crowded town.
Heading West the houses and traffic did not seem to stop. The one
camp john had picked out fizzled as soon as we realised the road had
a big gate across it.
We
turned south at Yomra just west of Trabzon, a large town. Back on a
nice small yellow with very little traffic, much nicer.
At
Oymaltepe which was not much more than a name on the map we took a
wrong turn but finally found our way again. Our road we were
following turned off as a dirt road, we stayed on the seal thinking
it was the main road. In the end we ended back on our dirt road and
wound our way up the hill to meet a sealed road, remember where I said
we’d made a wrong turn, well that was this sealed road… Lots of
guess work when the map only has half the roads and some that don’t
exist…
We
continued up and perched up a knob above a shed with solar panels.
Something to do with what ever cable or pipe they have laid through
these hills.
A
warmer night tonight, only 1830m.
