December 12-13, 2009
41N 33E
Another fully equipped confluence weekend just began in Ankara. We took the highway D750 up to Cerkes junction. From there, we turned right into Cerkes route. Once we reached Cerkes, we turned right onto the route D100 for only a kilometer. Then we turned left due north towards Ercek village near the DCP. That time on, some complex village roads seen on our map were indirectly reaching the village. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be that way. The farmland roads were rather confusing yet, some wern’t’t even plotted on the map. In the end, we ended up giving up on asking where we were and rather using our senses and knowledge of topography for determining the most logical route onto the DCP. We still don’t quite know how but after a prolonged driving session, having gone past a significant number of roads and junctions, we somehow managed to approach to the intersection as close as 120 meters. We were mentally exhausted though, so it was time for a good night sleep.
In the morning, weather was awful but quite expectantly the landscape was just so fantastic. Bad news, we couldn’t start the engine as the battery was completely flat. Very luckily, we had brought our spare 12V battery for charging our laptop like electronics and the conncetion worked! After the near miss, we were gonna do the usual routines at 41N 33E and hastly keep going to 42N 35E.
42N 35E
En route, we had a look at Kastamonu and found it a superbly historic city. We moved on towards Hanonu and turned north towards Ayancik. This mountain route is a must see for every road traveler. Because, it is lonely yet it is incredibly scenic. You get to see an intact country with wild woodlands and unspoilt alpine villages with lovely civil architecture.
Sinop road along the Black sea shore is another phenomenon. About 15 km before reaching Sinop downtown you spot a village called Abali. Once you see the village turn, just keep going for another kilometer or so. Then, turn right into the paved road. After all the road was very harsh making us hit the bottom of the car quite a few times whereas, it took a mere couple of checks on our GPS to chose the best alternative moving on to the intersection.
It took us a exhilarating 500 meter stride to the point and back the same way. Of course we did visit Sinop and got ready for the long drive awaiting back to Ankara via the deep snowy Ilgaz pass (1875 m).