Çumra to Kisecik – 6th October
Distance: 33.1 km – Elevation +180 m -160 m
Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 22 degrees
It was a beautiful morning as I left my hotel at 7.00 am. The hotel, a comfortable tidy hotel, had cost just 50 TL (£7). I was in neeđ of breakfast but it was Sunday morning and every shop and cafe was closed. My route today was an almost deserted road running parallel to the new railway line. I had the road to myself apart from tractors hauling trailer loads of sugar beet to various locations for onward transportation to the Cumra sugar factory.
After walking 4 kilometres I came to the village of Okçu where I found an open shop which enabled me to buy food for breakfast and the day ahead. I sat in the grounds of the Okçu Eski Cami relaxing with a sandwich bought in the shop for breakfast. On my way out of the village, I stopped at an open tea house for a glass of tea which was paid for by three men sitting at an adjacent table. One of the group was very proficient with Google translate and we had a good conversation about my reasons for being in their village and my pilgrimage.
I am still on the Konya plain but today I had the Karadağ Mountains as a backdrop. Mount Karadağ is an extinct volcano and rises to an elevation of 2,271 m. “The mountain was called Boratinon in late antiquity. Ancient Derbe, which is one of the towns Paul the Apostle had visited, is situated on the east slopes of the mountain. During the early ages of Christianity, the towns on the mountain were religious centers. There are ruins of early Byzantine settlements all around the mountain and the region is called Binbirkilise (English: Thousand and One Churches). Madenşehri ruins are situated to the north of the crater. However, after Christianity was well established in big cities, the settlements on the mountain lost their religious importance.” (text from Wikipedia)
The mountains stayed with me for the remainder of the day, and together with the blue skies, fluttering white clouds, and the golden fields of corn on the cob they all created a landscape so beautiful and spectacular, especially the latter part of the day. I arrived in Kisecik at 5 pm to meet my hosts.
Kisecik is a small village situated midway between Cumra and Karaman, a distance of 30 kilometres from each and an ideal stopping point. It has a population of 300 in the winter which grows to 1000 in the summer months for the farming season. When planning this stage of my journey I noticed the village had a Facebook page. I sent a message via the messenger app on Facebook asking, “Is there anywhere to sĺeep in your village?”, “Yes, we can help” came the reply, I thanked them and said I would let them know later the day of my arrival, and whilst in Çumra I sent a message that I would be arriving the following day and was told “when you arrive come to the village shop” So that is what I did and 4 men were waiting to greet me, Bülent Öztürk who runs the shop and his brother Osman who is a retired policeman and two of their friends who are farmers. After introductions, I was taken to dinner at a restaurant 30 minutes drive away, the nearest to the village, and later we enjoyed a convivial evening together in the home of Bülent. Osman, the retired policeman lives in Mersin and had driven 200 kilometres to meet me. He also has a small one bedroom house in the village and that is where I slept, sharing the accommodation with Osman. They were delightful hosts.
