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The teacher house has no breakfast included in the 10.000.000 TL we had to pay per person. To get a breakfast would cost an additional 5 million. No thanks! So we walked the street to find a pastane to eat something. A börek place was open en we ordered some pieces. This was probably a börek museum, the products were clearly not of this morning! The tea was fresh. On the way back we tried to find a carton box to put our extra and unnecessary clothes and other items in.
Back in the teacher house we did not find the caretaker, but his old father was there giving water to the plants. He took the box and would store it in a safe places for us.
We walk out of town following the highway towards the junction with the SIVRIHISAR - AFYON road. Our first stop is only a few kilometer outside ÇİFTELER but we can see that the is no other tree in the next kilometers. So shade is here a important element of decision taking! This tree stands next to the source of the Sakarya river. Here are a few restaurants and other buildings are located on one side of the spring, with the result that this natural spot is not very nice anymore. We were yesterday told that this is a place to camp, but we were told by people who never camp themselves and there was not anything to make this place a good campsite.
We continue going south and walking straight in the sun we have a path next to the road just in the fields that save us from trucks and noises. We slowly climb to the Karaçal Tepe of 1102 meter high. We enter at a lower altitude the village of BELPINAR. We walk through the empty village and find the closed teahouse. The teahouse has a large staircase with plants growing over it and that is a cool and comfortable place. We prepare for lunch but we have no bread and there is no bakkal to find. After a while a young man comes to us and we speak with him. There is no bakkal for a few years now since ÇİFTELER is so close - by car- that nobody wants to buy food in the small bakkal.
He also tells that the teahouse is closed because all the people are working in the fields and there is no need to keep it open. In de evening it will open! In the end the man offers us to find what we want from the villagers, but our shopping list is simple. we only want bread. He walk away but after a long period her returns with two breads. After that he returns to work.
We eat our bread with tuna fish and drink tea made on my burner.
The village looks nice old and the houses seem interesting, so I force the çavuş to join me 'voluntary' on my photo expedition. We walk and see immediately a spolia in the wall of a garden. It is a large fragment of a well decorated tomb. There are more reused stones in the same wall. The other houses are old made of mud brick on stone wall footings and with reed and mud plaster roofs. The layers of these roofs can be very thick. Most of these old construction technique houses our now empty of have a new function like a depot of a barn.
Many nice details can be photographed. On several locations are antic column fragments and blocks of stones lying around or reused in newer structures. At the edge of the village are two large wells with water running out of them. According to the man who helped us is one of them good drinking water but the other not. Nearby these well lies a very long and thick dead snake. It is still very fresh!
We see a house with wonderful woodwork in the windows and the doors, nice decorations cut in the frames. A old man is sitting in the courtyard in front of his house. First he did not see us but then he comes to us. He looks like a beggar and has clearly nothing to do, but he does not want us, does not want me to take any photos and tells us that he is very busy and want us to leave. Also he says: "This is a very old and ugly house! Look at the modern ones!" We can not do much more then to leave.
After a while we pass the mosque. Here the man who helped us is painting the fence. We ask him why this man reacted like he did. It seems that he comes from a 'poor mans house' where they did not want him anymore and the placed him back in this village. No way to force him to let us take photos of the house....
We leave the village and take a track through the fields. Here the old road that made a wide lope around the mountain is replaced by a new road that cuts the top off. It is nice to walk not next to the traffic stream, but is only a short pleasure.
What follows is a stretch of circa 5 kilometer straight asphalt road. We can walk parts of it next to the road on a field track.
A village shows on the horizon, according to the map it should be Beyören. As we come closer it seems a totally deserted place, but they all look like that during daytime. The boys see a large petrol station in the distance and are more interested in going there then to go in the village and probably discover that there is no teahouse or it will be closed.
I see some nice details in some houses and walk off the road through the field towards the buildings. To be quick I pull the camera out of its bag and look through the lens how is shows. It does not show because I suddenly fall flat on my face, the camera flying out of my hand. I can not come up easily with my backpack and when I finally pick up the camera the lens has a deep bump in the outer ring. This ring is where you can attach filters and sun covers. Not very important, but not nice too. I myself have no damage.
The others in the group did not even notice that I fell.
The petrol station, Dinç Petrol, is not as close as it seemed but we arrive there. It has a real restaurant. The parking lot is full with trucks. All the backpacks are pilled up at the end of the terrace and we find an empty table.
Our appearance makes them think again that we are soldiers and the truckers from the east are not too enthusiastic about that. As they notice we are not what they think it is better. The owners too are east people from Gaziantep. They have the usual grill dishes like Adana Kebab and grilled chicken etc. We drink ayran from copper bowls. It is the first real food since the lokanta in Gölyaka more then a week ago. The food is delicious but to pay 11.500.000 TL with a credit card is difficult because the restaurant has no machine, so we have to pay in the petrol station and they seem to do it for the first time.
We continue our road in the hope to find a good place for the night.
As we walk we see a village on both sides of the road. It is not shown on our map. When we are there we ask for the muhtar who lives on the right side, a concentration of houses about one kilometer from the road. He is not at home but will come soon. We speak with a few men and tea is being made. A salesman with furniture in a truck, mixes in the process in the hope to sell some of his products.
Finally the muhtar arrives, driven by his wife, and I know this will be no problem! He is helpful and we suggest a place that we had seen on our way in and he agrees. It is next to the old village school. It is a flat area and there is a well nearby.
After finishing our tea and cookies we walk back to the school, under support of a villager and a few kids. We set up the tents between a flock of sheep, as it get dark already and we go to bed immediately. The village we are in is KIRKPINAR GPS 340306 - 4320218.

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statistics
from starting-point = 189 km
to end-point = 280 km
walked this day = 26 km
total km = 222.1 km
groupmembers = 5
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Day 14, June 14th, Monday: Sunny later partly clouded and warm ending with thunder and rain

KIRKPINAR - EMIRDAĞ

My telephone-alarm clock made its sound at 05.00 and after packing we started walking at 06.00. We started walking while Gürkan and Burak were not ready yet but, they were so slow that I had no choice...
There is again not much to tell about the walk until we come to GÖZELİ. First we stop at a petrol station were most of us use the toilet and fill our bottles with water. Except for petrol and oil, there is nothing else to buy. The man in the station who we woke up is not optimistic about our future, there is nothing for kilometers!
Near the village of GÖZELİ is a large höyük. In very recent times a large part of this höyük has been dug away. That is illegal, but who can see it and who will report it? This is the faith of many höyüks.
During a roadside rest I treat a few of the blisters of Anil and of Gürkan. We see the antenna on the Boztepe, the spot where the SİVRİHİSAR - AFYON road will be crossed. To avoid problems about places to stay, I start to phone about a room in the Karayolları.
We come to the bridge where the highway goes over our road and we can see EMİRDAĞ in the far distance. Before getting a reply about a place of not we pass the location of the Karayolları work station. That is then about 10 kilometer before EMİRDAĞ. No need to stay there.
The road is again straight and boring like hell. And warm like hell according to people who seem to know.
At some point a car stops next to me and a man comes out of the car and asks, who are you and what are you doing? He had seen us now a few days in a row and couldn't control is curiosity! After explaining he wishes us good luck and drives on.
We come in the end in town, again the sign with the name of the ton stands long before the center next to the road.
We walk separated over a long distance though the suburbs of EMİRDAĞ. Douwe and I wait in the shadow of a house for the rest of the group. On the other side of the street in the far distance we can see shooting ranges for the Jandarma school that is here located. We can see the soldiers walking up and down.
A man with his grandchild comes along and seems to live in the house we sit in front off. He goes inside and come out again with glasses and a jar with ice-cold ayran. We drink two glasses and are very happy. Slowly the rest comes in and they too get a drink, only there isn't that much left after our two glasses each!
Gürkan walks bad again and wants to stop the walk, I mean here he wanted to give up the whole trip. We walk through the main street and tell our soldier's sons that it is their turn to find a place for the night in an army house. They ask a soldier on guard in the street but there seems too be not such a house. The next building we pass is the Öretmenevi and I phone my wife again. She phones to the house and arranged things, while we are standing in front of the door. A man comes out to call us in and we can sit in the lounge and speak with the caretaker. After showing my card and giving their papers, we pay 5.000.000 TL for me as a member and 8.000.000 TL for the non-members. That is much cheaper then the first house.
While we sit there a lot of noise comes to us, the sound of stamping feet and blowing on whistles. Two groups of Jandarmas in dippers (new soldiers) are marching very badly through the street. Sergeants try to control this mess by using the whistles, but to me without any success. The soldiers look not too enthusiastic in their too large or too small uniforms.
We have a room for 3 persons, Douwe Anil and me and a double for Burak and Gürkan. The other guests in the house look a bit strange to us and they must smell us very well, because as a girl passes me, I recognize the smell of soap and perfume!
In our room we take showers and wash some of our clothes. There is no place to dry them but that doesn't matter much.
We eat in a lokanta, I eat always rice with chicken döner. After this lunch we walk through the town and have of course nothing else to do then to go to a bar and drink a few beers. The only bar we see is in a hotel. This is a terrace bar high on a building on the central square. We look down at the bronze statue of Attatürk and on the more living people. The few beers disappear easily. We comment a bit on the women and girls passing deep below us.
We visit a supermarket but again there is not too much choice and we buy more tuna fish and that kind of food.
We spend most of the afternoon on our beds, doing not much. Douwe repairs his trousers and Anil looks sad at his cracking boots. A heavy rain and thunder make us happier to be in our room! After the rain it doesn't get much cooler. Douwe can't find his bank-card anymore; he thinks it might have slipped into the book what we left in ÇİFTELER. Also his binoculars are gone, the last time he used them was when we approached KIRKPINAR
In the evening at 20.00 we eat in the Öğretmen Evi that has a restaurant and serves beer and rakı.
We pick up our papers from the reception.
We go to bed around 22.30 and sleep soon deeply.

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statistics
from starting point = 228 km
to end point = 241 km
walked today = 20.7 km
total = 264.5 km
group members 5
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Map Day 13

Photos Day 13

The father of the caretaker and Burak early in the morning in front of the teacher-house.

The source of the Sakarya river.

The source of the Sakarya river, this photo carefully does not show the buildings and the commercials next to it.

Belpınar, a stone house with a roof made of reed with a clay plaster. This plaster is now washed away because no yearly maintainance has been carried out.