Big lad on a bike: Postcards from Anatolia

Got up early and headed down through the Capadoccian valley. It's an ancient dessert of amazing rock formations. Perfect cycle country

First puncture. The hottest place I'd ever repaired an inner tube

And finally

These lands have been shaped by centuries of erosion

Bumpy

I took a break to fix another puncture in Avanos. Turns out one of my off piste routes across the scrub land had filled my tyres full of thorns. Another lesson learnt

Whilst say fixing my puncture and removing the spines this guy came over for a chat. "Jimmy" - Turkey's number 1 cockney geezer - used to work in Paradise Kebabs on Streatham High Street and Istanbul kebabs in Brockley. Proper legend

Bike fixed it was back out to find a place to camp before nightfall

But not before dicking about with my camera

After spending too long doing this, it turns out I didn't make it that far. I cycled in the dark along a busy carriageway for a couple of hours

I stopped for dinner at a service station and with the wind blowing outside they kindly let me sleep on the floor. I say kindly, it was my worst nights sleep in a long time.

Feeling groggy I left especially early...

The biting wind didn't stop me from enjoying the surroundings.

Towing a ride on the back of a tractor for 30km. I was genuinely delighted despite my pained expression.

I finally arrived in Kayseri, an ancient city of over a million inhabitants. I popped in to the tourism office to pick up a map. The guy behind the desk couldn't believe it I'd come here all the way by bike. So he called some of his friends who turned up. They worked for TV1 and wanted an interview!

I wasn't prepared for this. I had no media briefing before I left. Where's my Alastair Campbell?! I need soundbites!

Once the first lot left, the national news arrived...here's their roving reporter. A fine suit he has on too.

And smile for the camera! A bizarre experience but great PR for my charity.

After 2 hours, 2 interviews, 1 photo shoot and some riding about whilst being filmed, I was done...I only went in there to get a map

A few snaps of Kayseri. Not particularly impressive but had a good bit of history about it. After some lunch I continued onwards

To my next rest stop. My third night at a petrol station. This was getting all too familiar. At least I had my own outhouse and a sofa. I woke the next day at 5.30am to get some good miles in.

Just in time for a swirling flock of starlings

Sadly that morning I had a bit of an accident. Flew over a bump too fast and snapped off my panniers. Lucky I bought those cable ties in Ankara. Like a surgeon, if I do say so myself...

After the town of Pinarbasi, a car pulled up in front of me and out stepped 4 jackbooted Jandarma. A cheery bunch who rather than wishing to deport me preferred to pose for some pictures. They did warn me that the road to Malatya got very hilly from here.

And they weren't wrong. 50km of uphill with ridiculous side winds threatening to blow me off my bike. It was like Snake Pass across the Peak District and I sheltered for some Nutella sandwiches

A pretty rugged and remote landscape. No trees, only plains. This was on a flatter bit.

Finally it was getting dark, I was tired of the now constant headwind so I headed to a nearby village to see if they had anywhere to stay

After 3km I found a farmer herding his cows across the moor. I asked him if I could camp somewhere sheltered and he led me to a nearby mosque.

And I was warmly welcomed by these fellas. Halil (left) was a minaret crier, Mahmud (middle) was the local imam and the guy on the right was the farmer.

They spoke very basic English and me Turkish so we spoke through the mouthpiece of Google Translate. Despite this they were hilarious. Funnily enough they said "oooh you're the English guy from the tele!". i kid you not...anyway here you will find the village's Imam rolling a cigarette from tea leaves. I'm sure he was a nutjob, but they all warmed to me and we ate and then they tried to convert me to Islam.

I wasn't having any of it but still they were amazing hosts. They even gave me a ring as a leaving present.

And after a good night's sleep it was time to leave.

The wind blew fiercely...

So for next 50km I headed higher over the mountain pass where I was chased by more dogs. BIG scary dogs this time wearing spiked collars so wolves cant get them. They chased me along the road and it took several sprays to the face until they relented.