cyclingtogether

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to Turkey

What a view, and what an amazing campspot 😍 So lucky we found this place around 25km after the city Silifke, beside an abandoned quarry... There we slept sooo good 😴
We had no reason to hurry, so we enjoyed the whole Morning only with the sound of nature 🥰
Marc took the opportunity to bake glutenfree flatbread for a nice brunch 😋
#turkey #freecamping #glutenfree #glutenfreebaking #cycling #bikepacking #travellifestyle #travelphotography

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to Turkey

The next morning at Mersin heavy rain surprised us. The sky over the sea was super dark black. The first bad weather wave we sat out in the tent, then, around midday, we decided to start cycling... Only some km later we where lucky to wait underneath a roof of a supermarket until the next cloudburst was over. To Erdemli, our destination for this day, we cycled mostly on the promenade directly along the coast or on the big road D400, totally easy 😎
At Erdemly we cooked dinner in the big and very clean city parc. We knew about the rainy night and pitched our tent, cheeky as we got, in front of a park office... 😇🏕️
#turkey #cycling #bikepacking #biketouring #cyclinglife #adventure #traveling #pedalandexplore #cyclingaroundtheworld #adventuretravel #exploringbybicycle #globetrottingonwheels #travelphotography

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to cycling

In Mersin we needed a chill-day. In the parc at the beach we relaxed without being disturbed from anybody. Right when we wanted to start pedaling some km in the afternoon, a man on a bicycle talked to us. A little later his friend, who knew very well german, joined us. We chatted together, met more of their cycling community and got invited to drink çay and eat fresh fish. They showed us an abandoned campground where we spent a calm, relaxing night. ☺️😴
#cycling #bikepacking #biketouring #biketravel #cyclinglife #adventure #globetrottingonwheels #traveling #pedalandexplore #cyclingaroundtheworld #adventuretravel #exploringbybicycle #turkey

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to Turkey

In Hakkari, we camped in the middle of the city park next to the big mosque, where they celebrated something related to Ramadan until late at night. We don't like to go to bed or close the tent zipper if there is still a lot going on outside. That's why we sat in the little picnic hut and waited. We could observe the people. Some couples and groups of 2-3 men walked their rounds along the park fence, some families had a picnic on the meadow, the smaller kids played on the slide and swing, others chased each other with water bottles (it was quite cold up there, surrounded by snowy mountain peaks), and we saw a group of teenagers chase, hit, and kick one of the boys quite rough. This was a really shocking moment. We talked a lot about this happening, trying to understand or at least find a reason to accept how 'kids' can be so aggressive and bad to each other. Some time later, they shook hands and went to the festivities in the mosque...

Our night was not the best, so it was not too difficult to get up super early the next morning. Our bus left at 7:00. The bicycles fit into the quite small bus, but then it was a Tetris game to put all the luggage of the other passengers on top. We crossed our fingers, hoping nothing got damaged on our bikes!

The bus ride was crazy. We first rode down into the narrow valley and then up over the next mountain peak covered in snow. The street was narrow and steep with thousands of switchbacks. Several military checkpoints with armed men controlled the passport of each passenger.
We felt really grateful to be sitting on the bus rather than pedaling on the street!

#turkey #cycling #bikepacking #traveling

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to Turkey

From the perfect emergency bivouac spot in the stone hut, the road led us down many meters in altitude. At one point, the canyon with the 'Nehil' river crossed paths with another canyon and its river 'Great Zab' (Kurdish: Zêy Badînan), an ~400-kilometer long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq.
At this crossing point we reached a military checkpoint with heavy armed men asking us the totally unexpected question: 'why are you here ?!' We thought for ourself: to move on, get out of this surveillanced region as fast as possible, but replied with the classic answer: 'we are cycling the world!' 🚴‍♀️🚴🌍
They let us through and we cycled on, glad the valley widened a bit, happy when we found a playground with beautiful blooming trees. There, we took a long midday break and enjoyed being the only 'guests' on the slide 😅
In the afternoon, we took the opportunity to hitchhike a small bus (we paid for the ride) to the mountain town Hakkari, where we bought bus tickets to Cizre for early the next morning.

#turkey #kurdistan #travel #cycling #bikepacking #biketouring

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to legal

Thanks to Myriam, to @m4lvin and to @BIKE_PEDRO for the donations 🤩 we love that you support our journey 🫶

#support #travellovers #cyclinglife #cycling #bikepacking #biketouring

video/mp4

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to cycling

Our route, the only existing road, led us all the way up into the mountains. Since we hadn't seen snow in a long time, it was kind of exciting. But the most amazing part of being there was smelling the cool, fresh air without air pollution from cars and trucks. Although it looked on the map like it should have been a big road, there was barely any traffic. When we arrived at the mountain pass (2250m), a very nice downhill awaited us. Wow, this was great 🤩
Around midday we reached Yüksekova, where we had lunch and bought a Turkish sim card. In the afternoon we cycled on with the idea of finding a nice campspot and finishing the cycling day early. It turned out to be super difficult to find a spot to pitch our tent. We cycled along the Nehil river. The land around the river was extremely wet and muddy, not a good idea to pitch the tent. Then the landscape changed from wide swampland and farm fields to a narrow valley with steep rocky mountains on both sides, also no possibility to pitch the tent. So we kept pedaling and pedaling. Finally, we saw a flat and grassy place 20m away from the road. We pushed the bikes up there when we suddenly realized we were being watched from the mountain peak. Armed military men shouted down to us 'yallah, yallah,' sounding like 'get your butt off here...' and that's what we did. We almost lost hope. Finally, we found a place where we saw no military posts or guards around and where we could set up a bivouac (no tent).
We cooked a very delicious meal with lots of veggies and fell asleep immediately 😴

#cycling #bikepacking #biketouring #biketravel #travelbybike #bikelife #cyclinglife #adventure #globetrottingonwheels #traveling #pedalandexplore #cyclingaroundtheworld #adventuretravel #exploringbybicycle #travelphotography #naturephotography #mountains #snowymountains

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 1 month ago to iran

Contrary to our fears, the border crossing went very smooth.
Of course we had to -still on the Iranian side - remove the bags from the bicycles and slide them through the x-ray scanner.
At the passport and visa control, the officer tried to convince us that our visa had expired. 'No, that's not the case' we explained and showed him that he should not consider the time period for picking up the visa, but rather calculate 90 days from the date on the entry stamp. He kept the visas (for Iran it is on a separate paper, as some countries would refuse entry when having an iranian entry stamp in the passport) and gave us back our passports.
In the next room, we were greeted in High German and immediately led to the next x-ray scanner. All the locals, with their worn bags, old suitcases, and dozens of plastic bags full of tomatoes, had to wait. We felt totally uncomfortable and so sorry when we saw how the Turkish border guards treated these people.
As quickly as possible, we packed all the bags from the bike into the scanner and were then asked to push the entire bicycle through 🤣 Wow, we had never experienced anything like this before! - too bad we didn't have a photo of that! - then got the entry stamp and off we went...

The first thing Fiona did, on turkish ground, was removing the headscarf 💁‍♀️

The temperature was quite chill up there and the snow was within reach. From the border we pedaled ~15km uphill until almost sunset and until we found a suitable campspot for this night 🏕️ 😴

#iran #turkey #cycling #bikepacking #biketouring #biketravel #adventure #globetrottingonwheels #traveling #pedalandexplore #cyclingaroundtheworld

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

It was the third of April 2024.
We had one last espresso at a coffee shop, with the mandatory photo, and cycled out of the city of Urmia towards the border. At midday, we found the first possible spot to make a break, 20 meters away from the street, between blooming trees and lots of rubbish... We ate two cans of chickpeas, a breakfast we often have since Ayshe in Queshm served it to us.

In the afternoon, the air quality on the road was very bad so we decided to hitchhike one last time. A young man with a typical blue pickup truck gave us a ride and to our surprise, dropped us off right at the border to Turkey. While sitting in the car, we quickly removed the SD cards with all the photos we had taken in Iran and deleted all the private phone numbers and chats with Iranian people, all for the safety of us and the Iranian people we had met, just in case we had to hand over our phones...

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

Urmia is the capital of West Azerbaijan province, in the Azerbaijan region of Iran, near the Turkish and Iraqi borders...

It was the first of April 2024.
After we woke up in the bus terminal park, we pedaled to the city center. The city was completely empty except for a funeral march and a (religious?) procession. All stores, kiosks, pharmacies, markets, food stalls, and restaurants were closed. It looked very strange to us, but then we figured out that they (probably only the very religios people) were celebrating the day of the martyrdom of Imam Ali and on top of this, it was the day of 'Sizdah Be-dar'.

Wikipedia tells:
Sizdah Be-dar is celebrated on the thirteenth day of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. It is celebrated by going outside to be in nature and spend the day outdoors. A custom performed at the end of the picnic is to throw the sprouted greens (Sabze) that were part of the traditional Haft-Seen Nowruz display into moving water.

Eventually, we found a hotel where we could rest, shower off all the dirt from the bus rides and hitchhike days, wash our clothes by hand in the bathroom sink and catch up with some pixelfed posts. The next day we walked through the city not to go sightseeing or capture nice pictures but to find shoes for Fiona. Until now, the one and only pair of Teva sandals were totally enough, but for the next few weeks, closed shoes would be helpful... Look at the photo in the shoe-shop, how terrible the color combination of the shoes is with Fiona's clothes. Back in the hotel room, standing next to her bike, we had to laugh out loud when we realized that her subconscious had done the best job in choosing 🩵💜

image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

The marathon was not finished with our arrival in Kermanshah. From there, we really needed to take a bus. No more hitchhiking, no more waiting to move on. (The expiration date of our visa stressed us out).

The plan was to go to Tabriz to make a last break there before heading to the border. Yes, that was the plan, but it didn't work out at all. Not a single seat on a bus to Tabriz was available for the following three days, thanks to the end of Nowruz.

The only possibility was to go to Urmia. "Okay then, let's go to Urmia," we said to each other. The ticket office couldn't sell us a ticket somehow, but a friendly guy from the bus station helped us. He went with us to the bus, asked for free seats. "No problem" was the answer. The tickets would cost only 1 million Rial (~1.70€). (Public transportation is really cheap in Iran.) But then, how to pay? The bus driver had no POS machine. So the friendly guy went with us to the ATM to transfer money from our card to the bus company's bank account (what we understood), but this was not possible. We still had some cash in our pockets, but he didn't want cash. (Now we know why) In the end we could pay the tickets at the POS of a little shop. Like it's very normal in Iran, we handed over our card and also told them the PIN. On the receipt, the number 10,000,000 was written. We were perplexed. With a friendly smile, the guy convinced us, "yes, its only 1 million."but we spoke about 1 mio. Rial and not 1 mio. Toman = 17€! Then he disappeared. Later we saw on the bank card balance that he really scammed us.

In the middle of the night, we crossed into the province of Kurdistan, and shortly before sunrise, we reached Urmia. We quickly pitched our tent in the park next to the bus terminal to catch a bit of sleep.

image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

In Khorramabad (the capital of the province of Lorestan), we enjoyed one last evening with our friends. We cooked delicious vegetarian food together in the hotel room and said goodbye the next morning.

Since there was no bus from here going in our direction, we tried to hitchhike again...

We will not bore you with a similar story like the one from the day before. Just a few numbers:
On this day (~8h) we pedaled in total 40km, hitchhiked 140km, got rides with 5 cars (pickup trucks), and waited along the street for around 4 hours.

The last driver was our hero! He drove fast but carefully, taking us all the way to our desired destination, the bus terminal of Kermanshah.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

From Doroud, we originally wanted to take a train, but at the train station the man behind the desk told us something about race & run. At first, we didn't understand what he was trying to tell us, but then we remembered observing people running to catch the train in Andimeshk. No, that wasn't an option. We couldn't imagine ourselves running onto a train with our bikes and not getting a seat, which would mean not getting a ticket. So, we decided to take a bus.

After asking several people at a bus stop and at the terminal, we were informed that no bus was going to Khorramabad or further northwest. Phew... So, we had to hitchhike. We waited a while, no one seemed willing to pick us up. Suddenly, we thought maybe we should pedal out of the city and past the police checkpoint (at every city entry). About 15km later, we got a ride - not to our desired destination, but about 20km in the right direction. The kind man invited us to have lunch at his place, but he understood when we politely declined and wanted to move on.

We pedaled a few more kilometers and tried to hitchhike once again. This time, it was challenging. Some older men stood around us, insisting there were no big cars on the road. Eventually, we realized they were trying to sell us a taxi ride in a small personal car. No way to explain them that the bikes won't fit in a small car... A blue pickup truck stopped, and the group of men talked and gesticulated wildly to the driver. It was clear that the topic was money. We loaded our bikes onto the pickup and signaled that we would sit next to them. The loading area was closed, but the men still demanded money from us. Eventually, the driver got into the car and drove off. We felt incredibly lucky! He took us all the way to Khorramabad.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

Finally we reached Doroud and emediately wished us back into the nature... Together with Ben and Sol we camped in the city park, next to a very crowded amusement park and a hotel ruin in a desolate condition (first pic.) (pic. 2-4 are from the 2 day trip through the valley)

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

The next day after having a relaxed breakfast on our fantastic campspot (since weeks we did not sleep so good like this night in the nature) Ben and Sol hitchhiked again and we pedaled on. Our route led us on the one and only narrow mountain road through the valley, up the hill, over a mountain pass and down to cross the river and to climb up again. A lot of iranian had choosen to celebrate nowruz in this region. Therefore the narrow road was full of cars squeezing past us. We tried hard to ignore the many cars, the honking and screaming, as well as the numerous extremely dangerous situations, instead focussing on the beautiful landscape and mountain scenery. ⛰️🌞💚

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

Ben and Sol spotted a wonderful campspot surrounded by green nature and with a fantastic mountain view. The place was too far away from the street and not possible to reach by car, therefore we where alone. We enjoyed it so much, to be in the quiet nature 💚

image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

We exited the train in Bisheh (a story for itself). Next day we visited the famous waterfall and pedaled on through the valley. Due to Noruz there were a lot of cars on the small road.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

With Resa and his family, we had interesting conversations about Iran and its traditions, cycling in Iran, cycle tourism in general, and our plan for the next days. Luckily, we were able to speak english with Resa's son, who then translated everything into farsi. Some of our conversations were recorded on video and some interviews with us were held. Will these videos circulate via WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, and all kinds of other social media?
We are wondering since a while why and what for also random people making videos/ fotos of us and what will happen with them.

Back to Resa and our plan;
Fiona had red about the most beautiful train ride in Iran, from Andimeshk to Doroud. That was the route we wanted to take. Resa called a relative who worked at the train station to find out when the train would depart and how our bicycles could be transported. Resa accompanied us on his bike through the city, making various stops at his brothers' shops, and finally reaching the heavily secured train station. There, we were immediately led onto the platform through a back entrance, past military, police, and the X-ray scanner. Several men in suits, the station master, the train conductor, and other important figures surrounded us and were briefed by Resa on our origin and journey. Together, they found a suitable spot for our bikes on the train. Then Resa's niece came to say goodbye to us, and finally our Danish friends, Ben and Sol, whom we had eagerly awaited and arranged to meet on the train, were able to join us.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

Shushtar was a dead end for us. We didn't want to go further south, but rather spend some time in nature in the Lorestan province. To do so, we had to go back to Andimeshk. We cycled a part of the way and took a typical Iranian blue pickup for another part. In Andimeshk, a cyclist stopped us. We actually wanted to camp in a park and have some peace and quiet, as the whole day was already very exhausting and we had answered the question 'where you from' countless times. Reza didn't speak English, which made communication difficult. He accompanied us to a park where we were supposed to wait for him. He was going for a weekly bike ride with his colleague and would bring us dinner afterwards. It was impossible to turn down the offer. Reza explained that he had cycled to Hormuz and Qeshm two months ago with other Iranian cyclists. What? We were on the islands at the same time. We remembered a group of cyclists we had met on Hormuz. Quickly, the group photo was found. Reza pointed to a cyclist and then to himself. Indeed! We had already met before. What a coincidence. And so, we couldn't refuse his invitation to come to his home.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

The next two days it were predicted to rain. So we decided to look for a hostel. Apparently, all those celebrating Nowruz holidays in Shushtar had the same idea. Shushtar was fully booked. But we were lucky. A hotel offered us to stay in their porch, and we only had to pay for the breakfast. There were already two other cyclists staying there. Nadine and Nicolas, from French Switzerland. We were glad to have a dry place and didn't barely have to move thanks to the rainy weather.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

Ali waited infront of the falafel stall - he made ramadan - until we had eaten 30 falafel pieces without bread 🤣. He convinced us to come to his place, have a rest and a warm shower ☺️.

Sidenote: Since yesterday, everyone has been offering us showers. Are we smelling bad? Or is showering so important here?

We actually appreciated the shower 😅!

In the evening he showed us around Shushtar and its famous hydraulic system in the worlds biggest manmade canyon, by motorbike.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

After checking the weather forecast, we decided to take a bus from Kashan to Andimeshk. Since there were no direct buses to Andimeshk, Dezful, or Shushtar, we first had to catch a bus to Isfahan. After a 3-hour wait at the bus terminal in Isfahan, we finally boarded the night bus to Andimeshk. To transport the bikes we had to bargain and discuss with every busdriver. Until then we payed between 2€ and 5€ (passenger tickets cost also around 2€ per person) The busdriver in Isfahan wanted 12€! We tried to understand if he mean 1,2€ or really 12€. its so difficult to know if they talk in rial or toman. Yea, the iranian money... In the end the busdriver took 10€ from our iranian bankcard 🤯
It was 4 o'clock when we pitched the tent in the very green park next to the bus stop, like several Iranian travelers. After a few hours of sleep, we started cycling towards Shushtar. It was so great to see vibrant green nature again after months in desert areas.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to linuxphones

Marc had a interesting talk with the @postmarketos crew 🤓
Listen here:

https://cast.postmarketos.org/episode/39-Interview-magdesign/

btw. it was quite challenging to get around the iranian #censorshit 🤪

#linuxmobile #linux #digitalfreedom

cyclingtogether, 2 months ago to random

On top of the dissolving castle walls (last pic.) and from the rooftop of our hostel the view was fantastic 🤩
We really enjoyed the three days in Kashan, since we had no idea where to go next...

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg