We wake from a good nights sleep, the land ahead of us opens out into a panorama of craggy peaks, rolling hills, lakes and fields. In the distance, the town of Karta and beyond emerges one of the great dams of the Turkish world. The Ataturk dam.

We select todays route and if all goes well we should be half way to Cappadocia by afternoon. Within half an hour of setting off we realise that maybe our plans were a little ambitious. We relax and go with the flow. Our road is good A road but then it changes to a single track through farmland. Our attention is easily caught at the ever changing dramatic landscape with caves and intriguing rock formations. Little did we know that today we would be in for one of our best drives in Turkey. 

Occasionally we see young men loitering, but mostly the road is empty. We curl round cultivated and craggy outcrops, high enough at one moment to see birds of pray wheeling below, then falling steeply. Down through tobacco plantations and pomegranate orchards to verges of think stone and mud walls.  The roads are narrow, and though there are no cars just the odd tractor.  We are slowed down by a mule or by an overladen donkey on its well trained and trodden route. 

We drive through tiny communities like Durinsu, Kuyucak and Agikan. Graves lay amid the farmland with a feeling of people are placed to rest in random locations. Here the communities live hand to mouth and its their humble hand that tends the land.

Donkeys pull carts through the hills, exhorted with sharp blows from their owners. Old men, lined and haggard, grafting until the day they die. Women in muted dress with turbans gossip together, breaking off every now and then to call to their children. Their confined and isolated world is turned upside down as we pass by. Jaws drop and you get a feeling their head is saying ‘wtf’ is that.

At Ormanici we rejoin the D2 and wind through narrow gorges.  I look at my watch and its only 11.30, the day is still young but already I don’t want it end. A multitude of picturesque tumulus rise from rocky mounds overlooking a wide dry riverbed. At the top of which are the prominent caves and ruins unmarked and sadly unnoticed. Diminishing pillars and columns laid to protect the burial chamber are so eroded by the rain they look like stalagmites. 

By lunchtime we have reached an elevated road and are able to eat beside one of the finest sights in Turkey. The peach and grey coloured walls of a mountain face that surrounds a landscape that can only be described as low level gorges.

With full tums we set off through tobacco fields and tiny villages. Low level houses of stone and mud with temporary thatch of tobacco leaves.  The small plots of land are ploughed by hand and it is harvest time. We pull over in a small community to find the whole family stripping the tobacco leaf in readiness for drying. The youngest son loads up the car with dried and shredded leaves and heads off to market. Sat under the awning we share tea, it is like stepping back in time. The aroma of fresh tobacco is like a sensory overload. 

At the bend of a river a mixed team of cows and goats are making their way up the hillside. We reach Surgu and turn on to the D850, a dual carriage way. Our jaunt through the wonderful countryside is over and I can’t help but feel a wee bit sad. 

At Gordu we take the D300 through arid landscape dotted with apricot orchards. Apparently 75% of the worlds apricots come from here and looks at the expanse, I can believe it. The road is lined with Apricot stalls and tea shacks but its not until we reach the town of Darende do we stop. As well as a bit of a mini market sweep we head in to town for some tobacco. We are directed to a little ticket looking booth besides the bridge.  The rather smart looking chap weighs Craig 1 kilogram of tobacco in exchange for 80tl.  That’s just £10, which would cost over £400 at home. 

This area has some spectacular gorges but this time of year the water levels are too low to appreciate their true beauty. We opt to spend the night by the side of the gentle waterfall of Gunpinar. 

Our Bumble free parking spot at Gunpinar waterfalls GPS position N038.555594, E037.424035