#2: [31-Dec-06]

Saturday, 28 May 05 -- We set out from Ankara at lunchtime intending to visit the Confluence late on the Saturday afternoon so that we could have plenty of time to relax on the Sunday, or venture further south to capture another Point if we felt energetic enough. Unfortunately, the weather scuppered these plans.

The road to Kayseri via Kırıkkale and Kırşehir has improved significantly since my previous trip a few years ago and we made good progress in getting to Kayseri. From here we headed NE on the Sivas road to Sultanhanı where we drove across country to Karacaören and then onto the village of Yıldırım. As the Point lay close to the Yıldırım to Çiftlik road, we continued on through the village until we reached 39°00.511'N 35°59.995'E where we parked the car for the 1 km stroll across the fields to the Point.

Unfortunately, storm clouds started to appear very quickly, the area south of the Point became very black and frequent lightning flashes soon followed. We didn't mind getting wet in an attempt to reach the Point, but being a target for the lightning in open fields made us somewhat reluctant to leave the safety of the car. As such, we decided to wait a while and see if the storm would pass; however, after a while we realised that it was not moving away but actually getting slowly closer to us. We decided to leave the area for the 60 km drive back to Kayseri and hoped for better weather the following morning. (Yıldırım in Turkish means lightning and the village certainly lived up to its name)

Sunday, 29-May-2005 -- Woke up at 06:30 to be greeted by crisp, clear weather and a glorious view of a snow capped Mount Erciyes, which at 3916 m is the 5^th highest mountain in Turkey and a popular destination for skiers and mountaineers.

We quickly made our way back to 39°00.511'N 35°59.995'E and started our due South walk towards the Point. We were soon surrounded by fields of wheat and managed to keep to the narrow paths that separate the fields but expected the Confluence to be in the middle of one of the fields. This would give us the dilemma of wanting to get exactly to the Point but also mindful of not wishing to damage any crops. Thankfully, luck was on our side and the Point lay right in the middle of one of these pathways (altitude 4651 ft/1418 m).