At 5:15 a.m. Kelly woke me up and after I had dressed I grabbed my camera gear and headed off up the hill following the path taken by the sheep last night. It was already light but the colours of the forest were still deep shades of green as I walked up the steep track breathing hard and beginning to warm up. After about 10 minutes I came out in a clearing about 100 m wide and the path I was on met a small road running around the hill. I followed the road into the trees on the other side of the clearing and it led upwards but at less of a gradient so the walking was easier. Soon I emerged into a large field running away down the hill. The track carried on around the hill so it turned left onto another steep track and began to climb up to the top, which was rocky and covered with low heavy like bushes.
By the time I got to the top of the hill ( it was actually only a knob on a long spur running down from a higher peak) I was breathing hard again and sweating but the wind blowing across the hill kept me cool, almost cold, as I stood on the top of the knob and breathed in the beautiful clean air and took in the view. Row upon row of pine-clad hills rolled away in blue haze. Far below, the waters of the lake were steel blue, rippling slightly as the breeze skimmed the surface. The sun was harsh and bright and I took some photos looking directly towards it using two grey graduated filters. Sitting on a rock amongst the bushes, alone, sweating, and feeling fit and alive, it was as if I had returned to the high country and was ready on a top to start a day’s mustering1.
After half an hour or so on the top I descended to the top corner of the meadow and sat listening to the sweet sound of the sheep bells tinkling as the shepherds rounded up their flock with hoots and yells. In a worldwide ritual, centuries-old, the sheep came together in a mob at the sound of the shepherd’s voices and were led across the meadow and into the trees to descend to the valley floor for the day’s grazing. The sound of a little bells slowly moved further and further away until the quiet had returned to the meadow. Reluctantly I left the high posture and walked back down through the trees to the camp.
Linda was up so we sat in a patch of sunlight talking and waiting for Kelly, who was in some sort of mood, to get up. When she finally arose, we packed up and went down to the little picnic area, lit a fire and cooked some toast for breakfast. It was a beautiful day and we walked around the lake to a little beach where we sat in the sun for an hour or so then went and had an expensive beer at a bar on the way down to the dolmüs stop.
Back in Bolu at 1:30 p.m, we found a cheap hotel in the centre of town then went and sat in a locanta drinking beer and talking until 4pm when Kelly (finally) left us to go to Izmir. She didn’t even offer to reimburse us for that abortive taxi ride from Tortum so our faith in septic tanks2 is as low as ever. We spent the rest of the day resting up and washing in the sink of our room as we discovered that the hotel had no bathroom then went out for a cheap tea at a locanta. Back at the hotel we talked for a while and were in bed asleep by 8:30 p.m.
1In my days as a shepherd I had often sat on hilltops just like this, sweating and breathing hard after a steep climb, ready to begin a day of mustering (rounding up) the sheep that ran free on the tussocky slopes of the South Island High Country.
2Australian slang for Americans: septic tank = Yank.
CurseOfTheTraveller 