Dark Canyon
And Problems with Revolut Card
24th August - 29th August | 2023
The next morning whilst packing up, we were surrounded by the dogs of a herder. These dogs were equipped with a super spiky collar, meaning wolves and bears are around!! I am glad it was only a wild boar!!
On our way out, we visited the Gürlevik waterfall, a really beautiful waterfall. From there we found a scenic road, through beautiful valleys or mountains with panoramic views. Good 250km full of joy!! The only issue we had was during the afternoon find a camping spot as all in the mountains, so no visible flat spot for our tent!
Coming closer to the Keban Baraji dam we saw a flat spot, so we checked it out and despite the gravel, it was a perfect camping spot. While pitching up the tent, we were a bit thinking, about what that place used to be due to the flat gravelled areas and the concrete platforms in the water… It dawned on us later that it used to be for ferries as there was no bridge in the past.
Once the tent was up, we went down to these platforms to investigate the reason for all the dead fish lying around. And then we saw it in the mud! A fresh footprint of a bear!! We couldn't believe it at first, tried to convince ourselves it must be something else, but then we found more and little ones! One thing is camping with a wild boar around, or maybe even wild bears around but without knowing, BUT knowing there is a wild bear with cups is a totally different story! In a record time of 20mins, all was packed up and we changed sitting back on our bikes :-D We reached Kemaliye in the dark, so finding a camping spot was impossible. So we ended up in the hotel "Bozkurt" (www.etstur.com/bozkurt-otel) which was very biker friendly.
As Steffi had to do a test video call later the day for the Travelers Event in Portugal (https://www.facebook.com/travelerevent), we could leave some of our luggage whilst we drove into the famous Dark Canyon. What an impressive 'artwork'! Unfortunately, you can only do 5km of it as a bridge collapsed some while ago, but road work seems in progress…
Back at the hotel, we waited for the video call - it was so nice for us to see a familiar face! Even though all worked well today, it doesn't mean it will work on the day of the event. I'd rather have done the test that day!
After that, it was time to move on, back to Trabzon where finally the battery arrived. As the bike started fine ever since James asked the shop not to charge it. He will take it to Greece and only use it next year on our next leg of adventure.
In Erzincan, we stocked up and drove into the mountains, where it was already windy and chilly. Thankfully we found a sheltered camping spot next to a village…so there shouldn't be any wild animals visiting us. The only late visitors we had, a dog gang that was surprised by our tent, didn't know what it was and didn't agree to it - judging by the barking at our tent!!!
The next morning we made it all the way to Trabzon, where we picked up the battery. We carried on the boring, not really beautiful coastal road. We checked the rare camping spots we either found on IOverlander or just by passing by, but nothing was really appealing unless you wanted to camp in heaps of rubbish!! Finally, after another good 100km we found a spot in a town on a little clean corner next to the sea. Not the ideal spot as no bush for me "to hide" in daylight …but at least clean and some sort of safe, call it urban camping;-)
As we were so fed up with that boring infamous coastal road, James found an alternative inland. What a great choice! Once we crossed the mountain range going inland, we enjoyed the landscape again!!
Now it was also about cracking on as we needed to be in Athens in 10 days to prepare my bike for the next leg of this trip: shipping it to Israel to start discovering the Arabic Península.
We picked a camping spot in the mountains at Niksar, but after we paid, we figured out there was no flat spot in the shade for us. After riding twice around the site, we went back to the reception and claimed our money back as we wanted to leave. It was a long palaver as he didn't want to give us the cash back, but after another gentleman got involved, he threw the money at us! “Geht doch” as we say in German ;.)
Of course, we still had to find a camping spot for the night. It was a bit of driving around and valuing the spots as we didn't want to have any wild visitors at night. We saw in the distance another track and followed it, to a construction site with some half-finished houses. As it was already late, looking like rain and nobody was around, we picked one building and pitched up our tent. Two cars came into the construction side, but nobody seemed to bother about us camping in one of the houses. Same next morning, when we packed up. Some workers went to one of the houses. They just greeted us friendly and that was it!
The ride today was again simply boring as we needed to make kilometres. In the evening we found luckily again a wild camping spot just tucked away from a main road - hopefully not too close to any wild bears! Once James was sleeping I suddenly heard a shot! Oh no!!! Hunting, at that time?!? My heart started racing again, as we were a bit away from civilization! When I heard it again, waking up James of course, he calmed me down, telling me it was the “scarer” for animals. Not that this really helped, because for what animals?!?
The next day we cracked on another 300km on boring roads. In a small town called Bolu we found a nice cheap hotel and they even got a laundry service.
Now, here is a little story about my Revolut card and my German bank, as in the past weeks I started to get problems! It started when we were in the hotel whilst we were full of the flu. I suddenly had problems transferring money from my German bank account “real-time” to my Revolut card. I felt like I went in circles. It didn't work on the internet of the hotel nor with my tethered internet! Thankfully James was with me, so he used his cash to pay for the hotel. The next day, I started to contact my bank in Germany, via their app. The assistant was in a way helpful checking all my settings and all was fine. As the Push-TAN seemed to be the problem I requested to send me a new one. I told him I am abroad and my mother is close by and could pick it up - NOPE, it has to be requested by me and will be posted to my address. OK, so I told him to please put it in the post that day! He cannot do it! I have to apply via the website for a new one! WHAT?!? Seriously! And on top, he didn't even send a link - knowing that I am abroad travelling with limited internet access!! So far about the customer service of Sparkasse!! I really had to bite my fingers not to be rude in my answer as I still needed his answer!
In the meantime, being in a hotel with the internet, I tried the transfer again and it worked! Hurray!! What a relief! Glad I didn't request the new Push-TAN as it will probably not be easy to re-install again!
Now, being in the above hotel, the next morning I had a message via Revolut that my card had been frozen. What?!? Someone in the US tried to pay nearly $100 at a fuel station!! I am so glad that Revolut picked on that one and froze my card. But I couldn't unfreeze it, only blocking meaning cancelling the card! Great - and now! Not having a physical card in Turkey! So each time I make a payment, I have to tether my phone to pay with my virtual card! Thankfully that worked without problems!!! I also ordered a new one, getting delivered to Christos in Piraeus so that I have one again soon!
After all that Revolut drama in the past few days, I can relax now, even though we have to crack on kilometres. That is also the reason, why you, again, will not find many pictures. Come and join us in the next blog on the crossing into Greece. As it is getting chilly out there in the Northern Hemisphere, have a nice sweet Çaj whilst you wait for the next blog.
Places | Cities:
Kemaliye, Trabzon, Niksar, Bolu.
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 19540 km
Information Border Crossings:
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Maintenance | Breakdown:
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Health issues:
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Special thanks to:
Otel Bozkurt in Kemaliye to be so biker friendly and
the Dark Canyon.