Zakho to Tatvan, crossing one border which I thought would be a breeze as I already had Turkish Bike Insurance and I only came through this place yesterday hahaha. Today was the day when Murphy had his way. Getting through the Kurdish side took about 20 minutes and some of the Kurds actually speak English whereas there was only one guy on the Turkish side that spoke English. Two hours later, my bike getting X-rayed and I had to empty my panniers before they could do it and then repack after they had finished and riding around in circles, everyone in the Customs area including all the truck drivers probably knew who I was by the time I left hahaha.

I actually started this ride dehydrated, discouraged and feeling mentally drained after going through the Turkish wringer. Well Murphy had not finished with me yet, a few road closures and wrong turns kept me on my toes hahaha. Finally onto the scorching highway felt good with a hot wind to keep me company.

My first stop was Hasankeyf another ancient place, did not do too much, too hot, took a few photo’s and had a Doner, a Magnum and a litre of cold water and I was on my way again.

After Hasankeyf I passed through the metropolis of Batman, quite a big city. The best part of the ride was after this through the mountains, some rough and some smooth roads, very little traffic as has been the case throughout Turkey. Then I reached my destination Tatvan and checked into my hotel and Murphy said Chris has been having too much fun, time to let him know who is Boss. When I arrived after 8 hours in the saddle it was 41c and my room was not air-conditioned even though the room description on Hotels.com said it was and no one in the hotel spoke English. I got on the phone to Hotels.com and after 90 minutes and speaking to 4 different people, no result. The hotel does not have any air-conditioned rooms at all and it was too late to organise another one and the best they could do was give me a fan.

Tatvan Walkabout