Dear children, grnadchildren and friends
Here we are, in the lap of luxury in the Bellepais Garden Hotel, overlooking Kyrenia, and with the rocky Kantara mountains behind us. This is the first time in 5 days that we have had access to internet and a warm shower, and its lovely!
But lets start at the beginning....WE picked up out hire bikes in Polis for Ariane, Andreas, Lindsey and Doreen. , Aydin, Florian , and Sabrina have their own . They have all turned out to be brilliant and have travelled the 175km so far with only minor adjustments needed. All those 21 gears have been working hard up and down the hills, and barely had us sweating. But first we had to get them to the other end of Cyprus to our cycling start point. This took a whole day, and we didn't arrive until after dark. It's very early in the season for hotel openings....and after the excitenet of getting ready and off it was a real downer to find the little beach hut encampment in complete darkness.
Oh dear, where to go in this most remote tip of Cyprus? Then across the bay we spotted a little light and set off down a bumpy track to find 'Hassan's turtle beach' - a little makeshift cafe with wooden beach huts in the sand dunes. Hassan himself appeared and made us at home at once. (turned out he lived in Clapton for several years but now enjoys a rather idyllic-looking beach existence). Next morning we see it in all it's glory. A long board walk leading down to the sea; a raised sheltered platform with tables and chairs set out for breakfast, and that's all in a huge bay of sandunes rolling down to the sea. What a fantastic place to start from. We all wanted to stay longer, but we had cycling to do. So...as the sun rose high and hot in the sky we set off.
We posed first for a group photograph at Apostolos Andreas monastery, and set off for short day's cycling, 20 km. All of us, except Aydin,who had cycled this first section of the route before, were pretty nervous about whether we would be able to do the distances planned. We had seen the terrain we plaaned to cycle thru on our first two days on the journey in the truck andit looked long and hilly. However, we felt alot better after day one, having mastered the bikes and the ups and downs in the most beautiful seaside scenery.
At the end of our first day we had reached Dipkarpaz, a little backwater of a town, dominated by the army. It's has an usual claim to fame though. After the turkish invasion in 1974, the greek cypriot villagers refused to leave. There were 6000 then, but this has dwindled down to only a few hundred now. Andreas and Sabrina walked down to their coffee bar/taverna early next morning and had a coffee with a few of the early risers.
Our second day was a longer ride, around 40km, continuing along the narrow pan-handle of the island. Riding was leaisurely and easy, except for one big hill near the end. Doreen has the least cycly expereince of the group, and had t be coaxed onto her bike on the first day. Now she had gained confidence and was thoroughly enjoying the ride. She has howecver remained as our main driver of the truck, as she cant quite manage the longer distances...and that has been very nice for the rest of us
We arrived at the tiny fisher port of Cumiali/Koma tou Yialou expecting to stay or camp at the little training hotel by the sea. Unfortunately our arrangements failed as the caretaker was not there and the hotel was shut! We found refuge by the beach in front of another deserted restaurant and camped there. The swim was glorious after our first long journey. Our quest for a restaurant in the village resulted in the group spltting up but still both having a lovely meal. The night was full of the sounds of fishing boats litterally trying to take off, peacocks singing and when the cockrels started we realised it wss nearly morning. The ealry swim cured everything and restored the body for the 36km to Kaplica/Davlos. The preprepared muesli lovely was a nurishing breakfast as was the lovely coffee at Nitovikla, a restored Inn The owner Kaisir Bey was very interested in our ride offering to sponsor one of the day rides from Dipkarpaz/Rizokarpaso to his little village with drinks by the pool and a full reception and a welcome by the village Mayor.
At the end of our first day we had reached Dipkarpaz, a little backwater of a town, dominated by the army. It's has an usual claim to fame though. After the turkish invasion in 1974, the greek cypriot villagers refused to leave. There were 6000 then, but this has dwindled down to only a few hundred now. Andreas and Sabrina walked down to their coffee bar/taverna early next morning and had a coffee with a few of the early risers.
Our second day was a longer ride, around 40km, continuing along the narrow pan-handle of the island. Riding was leaisurely and easy, except for one big hill near the end. Doreen has the least cycly expereince of the group, and had t be coaxed onto her bike on the first day. Now she had gained confidence and was thoroughly enjoying the ride. She has howecver remained as our main driver of the truck, as she cant quite manage the longer distances...and that has been very nice for the rest of us
We arrived at the tiny fisher port of Cumiali/Koma tou Yialou expecting to stay or camp at the little training hotel by the sea. Unfortunately our arrangements failed as the caretaker was not there and the hotel was shut! We found refuge by the beach in front of another deserted restaurant and camped there. The swim was glorious after our first long journey. Our quest for a restaurant in the village resulted in the group spltting up but still both having a lovely meal. The night was full of the sounds of fishing boats litterally trying to take off, peacocks singing and when the cockrels started we realised it wss nearly morning. The ealry swim cured everything and restored the body for the 36km to Kaplica/Davlos. The preprepared muesli lovely was a nurishing breakfast as was the lovely coffee at Nitovikla, a restored Inn The owner Kaisir Bey was very interested in our ride offering to sponsor one of the day rides from Dipkarpaz/Rizokarpaso to his little village with drinks by the pool and a full reception and a welcome by the village Mayor.