Tuesday 20 April 2010

Half way across Cyprus -20th April 2010














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.

Sunday 11 April 2010

CYCLING ACCROSS BARRIERS

11th April 2010

Andreas and I arrived in Cyprus a week ago. We have spent most of that time, with our friend Aydin, making arrangements for and going over our cycle route. We will be cyclng 300km over ten days, starting from the Eastern tip and ending at the Western end.The first six days will take us along the coasts and mountain ridges of Northern Cyprus; the final four days skirting the mountains and along the coast of Southern Cyprus.

Until this week I hadn't realised just how unusual a venture this will be. And here begins a very brief history of the current situation for those too young to know about this divided island

Ever since it became colonised by Turkey, as part of the Ottoman Empire, Cyprus has been populated by people of two ethnic origins -greek and turkish. Due to the events of the past, people's pride in their ethnic roots and different religious practices there has been little inter-marriage in the intervening 500 years; and greek and turkish cypriots have remained as two distinct ethnic groups. They have lived and worked side by side, usually amiably. But there have been ethnic tensions and outbreaks of violence -much of which has been blamed on the British, who were the colonial power on the island between 1878 and 1960.

All that changed in 1974 when the Turkish army invaded Cyprus, and a line was drawn from east to west, dividing the island in two. Greek cypriots were pushed into the south side; turkish cypriots into the North and the 'Green line' was uncrossable. For older cypriots the tragedy was lost homes and land, lost communities and livelihoods. For the young, the tragedy is that they never knew their fellow countrymen and women. Andreas' neice Irini met turkish cypriots for the first time when she came to study in London.

About five years ago, after long negotiations, the borders were opened a crack; a crack that has been slowly widening as new border crossings are opened and restrictions on visits are relaxed. But bitterness remains on both sides and many cypriots don't take the opportunity to cross over. Someof Andreas' relatives live within spitting distance of the Green Line but has never crossed over. The hurt is too deep. For some cypriots it would be little short of treachery to go over and enjoy the countryside and hospitality of the other side. Not surprising then that a cycle ride which determinedly sets out to cross borders should be planned by two cypriots who have lived outside Cyprus for most of their lives. And our wildest dreams are that it starts something bigger; an annual ride which becomes a popular event; new connections, new friendships. All you reading the blog, and who can ride a bike, might like to join us next year!

Back to the cycle trip. We have hired bikes and Hadjicostis- a cousin of Andreas- is lending us his diplokambino ( a little truck that seats five people and can carry bikes and luggage in the open back.)Four friends, Ariane, Lindsey, Doreen and Florian, will fly out from the UK to join us this Thursday and we will travel next day to our starting point, Apostolos Andreas. The monastery is right at the end of the long thin Eastern peninsula, on the Northern side. It's pretty much in ruins now, although the church itself is maintained by a few devoted greek cypriots. One of Andreas' earliest memories is the long bus ride fron Nicosia with his parents, carrying a candle as tall as himself, to plead the assistance of Apostolos Andreas for his recovery from whooping cough.

We have already checked out our route through North and South by car, and are putting out the route information through a few journalist contacts, inviting others to join us. We have no idea if any will, as it's all quite last minute. The route takes us thru some fabulous scenery. Although we will only be riding on average 30km a day we feel a little daunted as very little is on the flat. The presence of the little diplokambino is a very comforting thought. Our great adventure starts on 15th April. We may be far from internet conctions for awhile, but will try and keep you posted, and hope that you'll write something back in the blog reply section. We love knowing that you exist!