Morning arrives and the time comes for yet another goodbye, Masood and his family are warm, thoughtful and courteous. I sense the two children are already switching off and excited to return to their onward journey… to their holiday, after all. First the Black Sea then Georgia for a flight to Istanbul. I always feel sad when we have to say goodbye to lovely people. 

After breakfast it isn’t long before we are back on the D010. We leave the lush valley and agricultural terraces and climb slowly and steadily upwards between bare, fractured rock. The road snakes steeply around numerous twists and turns over the Çam Pass 8,661ft (2640m) to until we reach a plateau.   Look at Craig and he is smiling, he snook the heater on to warm his tootsies. First time in a while but I cant blame him and neither can Mac who sneaks in to my footwell for a quick blast of warm air. 

We admire the somewhat hazy view covered in short spongy grass and pools of standing water, where a few sheep graze. This is harsh inhospitable land, watershed country, whose melting snows feed rivers that run across the Northern Anatolia. We can see the road snaking all the way down to the valley and the landscape reminds us of Trollstigen Pass.  Although the bullet holed  road signs are far from the friend troll sign. Once last look and time to say goodbye to the magnificent Kacker Mountains (click to enlarge photo). 

We bumble along until we arrive at Ardahan, one of the Eastern Anatolian border cities. It is famous for the Damal Mountain on the slopes of which a silhouette of Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, appears. However, the silhouette only appear during June and July, no chance of “following Atatürk under his shadow”.  But we can see endless banners and pictures of Ataturk as we drive through the town. 

Road to Ardahan

Stopping in the centre is not only impossible due to chaos but it doesn’t feel right. There are 100’s of military police with rifles, riot gear, tanks and machine guns. This is the first time we have felt uneasy in all of Turkey. As we drive through the welcome waves are no longer and instead we receive glares and stares than make us want to depart sooner rather than later. 

Quick shot of one of the many check points and military vehicles in the town.

Our food cupboard is bordering on empty and our appetite is non existent. The mini markets here are very small and the shelves have limited stock.  Availability of fresh fruit and vegetables can be hit and miss and chicken is hard to find. Pork os obviously out the question and the only meat on offer seems to be broiled beef sausages or unappetising burgers. We need to find a decent sized town and go shopping. We know we need to eat, so we stop at one of the many bakers and purchase a couple of fresh breads. His seems to be all we want to eat but with a dash of jam its really quite comforting and nice. 

Today’s menu…more bread

We park up on the outskirts near one of the many castles. The excavations held around the Ardahan Castle revealed that people lived there in the Bronze Age. The castle is of Ottomans architecture from the XVI century and witnessed rules of several kingdoms.  Its a good place to stretch your legs and look at the views, albeit mainly military bases, look out towers and men waving guns in the air. 

We walk back through a cowpat courtyard with self build tin huts.  A settee frame with a mismatched cushion sits in the middle of the yard and two young boys bash it with a stick. A scrappy cat slope around bales of straw and chickens peck at the ground. Geese swarm the farm in packs looking like they rule the roost. An elderly gentleman in a jeans, oversized suit jacket and woolley hat waves his arms at the boys and they scatter. Two toddlers watch & learn. The place smells, unappealingly, of chickens and rotting food and dung. 

Time to depart from the uneasy town of Ardahan along the D010. It’s a good time to be on the move with bright blue skies and a very hot midday sun. Vin appreciates a freshly tarmacked road and Craig chills to the sound of Chris Rea. Just as we were getting in to the swing of things the main road slims down to a poorly surfaced single carriageway.  Then after a few miles the tarmac ends abruptly. The road reverts to dirt track with swirling dust and rubble choked with trucks and tractors. 

To my relief we turned off at the village of Yildirimtepe. The small farming community is busy with people, all turning their hand to the land. Generally the men tend to the herds whilst the women tend to the land. Most of the children are barefoot or wearing flip flops, whilst the elders were thick woollen socks and shoes. Mothers carry the babies on their backs as they tend to the chickens and geese.  Young boys above the age of say 12 are at work, leading a donkey or keeping an eye on the sheep and goats. The older boys and the men are preoccupied with the cattle, the wealth of these families and virtually their only tradable asset.

Cattle grazing on green pastures

We parked Vin next to a haystack and get Mac n Tosh ready for a walk. We step outside to be met by several vicious farm dogs. Snarls and growls leave Mac n Tosh with their tails between their legs. We leave them inside for their own safety. So where are we and why are we here?  Well, we in the far northeastern corner of Turkey to hopefully find Satans Castle.

One amazing valley…and so the walk begins

There are no signs to the castle but basically we just head towards the Başköy Gorge. The road leads to a paved path which then leads to a dirt track.  We follow the path which clings to the side of the gorge and after half an hour we are facing the castle.

This is of Turkey’s remotest castles, Şeytan Kalesi and right on the border with Georgia. It is a stunning sight in the middle of an even more stunning location. The keep and a tower that is surprisingly intact are perched on rocks in the middle of this craggy and seemingly impenetrable gorge.  You can only wonder why the heck they built a castle here and who would ever even venture down the gorge.

What a setting

The castle is a reminder of the period from the 13th to the 18th centuries when this part of the country was ruled by a Georgian dynasty.  Today, it is abandoned and left to just fade away, which no restoration plans in the pipeline.

Wonder why they called it Satan’s Castle?

Surprisingly you can access the castle via a very narrow stretch of land. Which is not for the faint hearted.  We stumbled around the base looking out to the gorge below. What a setting until we both felt awfully dizzy. More to do with lack of food and nutrition than vertigo (click to enlarge photo). 

Great Views

A slow and tentative walk back to Vin followed by homemade spaghetti bolognese made with some sort of meat product. We had planned on stopping here but Craig didn’t quite like the feel of things, so we drove and drove and drove. We stoped at various points but they never quite felt right. Its the tentative and suspicious looks that you really can’t capture on film. After nearly a month in Turkey we suddenly feel very vulnerable and unsafe. In less than 24 hours we have gone from carefree and happy, to tentative and uneasy. This area of Turkey feels and looks very different from the Turkey we have grown to love. What lies ahead, we really dont know. 

In the end a well lite Shell station became our haven for the night. 

Our Bumble wild camping spot at Kars GPS position N040.627306, E043.131278