Pamukale, Denizli, 5th - 8th July

On this trip we joined up with about a dozen guys from Yiğit, Serdar, and Yilmaz's school, Uçuş Kulübü, plus a few of their friends from Istanbul - all of us (except Jelal from Istanbul) staying at the Yörük hotel, Pamukale. ( 37°55'0.89"N, 29° 7'12.51"E). We were hoping to do some serious XC from Cokelez over the weekend, but the high pressure inversions and strong winds skuppered that plan. We few a couple of times from the lower 'Dynamite' take-off ( 37°56'34.63"N, 29° 8'7.89"E) and soared in broken thermals. I bombed out on one flight not reading the air well at all. I was lucky that the local 'Adrenaline' club gave me a ride up to launch again. I suspect I hug the ridge too closely while I should be pushing out more - a habit acquired through over a hundred hours coastal soaring and scratching. If there's one thing I do well, it's scratching. Everyone marvels at it.

Yigit's briefing on Cokelez. The lee-side thermals never materialised.

Pamukale is a sleepy little town without much choice by way of restaurants. The neighbouring Karahayıt is much better for choice, both for eating, and shopping (and probably accommodation). But Pamukale is convenient for getting to take-offs, and the Artemis Yörük hotel is good - comfortable, not pricey and run by a nice young couple - Christy (Australian) and Orkan (Turkish). The hotel pool (which you can see clearly in GoogleEarth) was great.

While the spring water in Karahayıt is hot, it is cool in Pamukale. We payed 5 lira to visit Hierapolis and the cool calcium spring pools, and this afternoon excursion was surprisingly enjoyable - well worth the fee. The Roman ruins and archaeological pieces in the museum were really outstanding (more so than I've seen on the south coast), and it was really enjoyable and relaxing playing around in the calcium pools and rock formations.

Annie in 'Downwared Dog' in the Pamukale calcium springs