Frozen

Yesterday I had about 90 km left to Erzurum. I knew there would be some snow, but I didn’t know it would be so much. Almost immediately after setting off from Tercan the first snowflakes started falling down. The start of the day would be over a mountain, and at first the wind was more of a problem than the snow. As I came closer to the top the snowing intensified and soon both me and the bike was covered in snow. I was careful going down the hill since the snow was blowing right in my eyes and it was hard to see anything. 

Eventually I was down on flat ground but the snow kept on coming and the road was wet and muddy. And all that water splashing up on the wheels, gears and all over was freezing so I had problems with changing gears. And by the time I was in Erzurum I only had one gear.

But I made it and was welcomed by my friendly couchsurfing host and I was really happy to be here and in a warm apartment. But we had to bring the bike inside to thaw since the bags where frozen to the bike. And yesterday evening when we went into the city center it felt like being back home in the north of Sweden with cars covered with snow and walking on ice roads.