Suşehri

October 8, 2023

A pleasant if uneventful ride heading westwards in good cycling weather on the D100. The weather has been great since arriving in Erzincan. Cold in the mornings but warming up to the early twenties by tge afternoon with light and variable winds.

The D100 is a bit like the famed Ruta Cuarenta in Argentina but instead of running the length of the country from north to south it runs from west to east starting at Kapıkule on the Bulgarian border, passing through Istanbul and ending at Gürbulak on the Iranian border. This is the road we have been on since leaving Erzincan. Despite being a four lane highway, it is a remarkably stress free ride for much of the time. It helps that the views since Erzincan have been very easy on the eye.

Heading out of Refahiye through an attractive mountain pass.

We dropped about seven hundred meters from our start today but we first had to climb a hundred and fifty meters or so before we had a long descent into a broad valley, finishing with another hundred and fifty meter climb up to Suşehri at the end of the ride. The last kilometer was a nasty ten percent hill into the town to the main street where the hotels are located.

From the highest point of the day we had views of valley into which we would descend.

Halfway we met Julian traveling from Germany to Tbilisi in Georgia where his girlfriend will be meeting him. As usual, a long natter ensued.

Approaching Suşehri, this is the view looking back up the valley.

We've got a basic hotel for the night in Suşehri. Our late lunch and supper were exactly the same - chicken döner kebap from the same takeaway restaurant. They were good enough to go back for more.

The hotel is basic but the view out of our room window isn't too bad.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 2,072 km (1,287 miles)

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