The Evliya Çelebi Way Project: 2009 Expeditionary Ride, Part 6

The 2009 Ride – The Final Chapter
Contributed by Gerald Maclean

We camped in the open.

We were always happy to wake up in the morning.

And we were always eager and more or less ready to get going.

Some 1300 kilometres later, the horses and core riders fetched up in Kütahya, unfazed by adventures and ready for more.

The end of the Road: Titiz and Elis in Kütahya ready for more.

It was time to go home. The Ride was over. It had been a great success. Not one of the horses went lame. Did nothing go wrong?

~END~

Things that went wrong include:

• matters that simply cannot be related in public
• delays the first day over tack and rains that pour as soon as we set off
• coping with the mud next morning
• excessive hospitality on the part of villagers
• getting lost in the forest
• the problem of leaving waste behind
• the politics of village life: the incident in the night at Ovacik
• accidents to people requiring medical attention
• the police arrest the supply vehicle
• the snows come…

By any standards of comparison, the 2009 group of riders were and remained a happy bunch; there were far fewer of the kinds of personality clashes that I have known on other expeditions of this sort, and will draw a curtain over my memory of them, since they were seldom more than petty. And it is true to say that in general, the Ride that year was successful in all of its objectives. But there were, of course, unexpected problems along the Way. In addition to matters that should not be reported, these include:

• delays the first day over tack and rains that pour as soon as we set off, and coping with the mud next morning
• excessive hospitality on the part of villagers
• getting lost in the forest
• being suspected of being sheep rustlers
• the problem of leaving waste behind
• the politics of village life: the incident in the night at Ovacik
• accidents to people requiring medical attention
• the police arresting the supply vehicle
• the snows arriving…

Note from Editor: Stay tuned for some reporting from the 2014 Ride – live from the saddle 🙂