Leaving Erzurum, Charlie and I got 15 km or so outside town before I remembered I'd left my passport at the hotel. I left Charlie by the side of the road with all my gear and made a speedy return to Erzurum, returning an hour or so later with little daylight remaining. We used our magic wild camping powers to find a great spot on top of a rocky hill and settled in. Not long after setting up camp, Charlie began to feel queasy, then nauseous and then worse. Soon he was vomiting and shivering, and so I cooked dinner for one alone before retiring.
The next day Charlie was still recovering so we decided to have a day of rest (our time in Erzurum was pretty hectic) and allow another UK cyclist to catch us up. I enjoyed sitting around on the hilltop where we camped, taking some time to meditate and read.
We noticed there were quite a number of mushrooms around the site, and I was able to identify them as Agaricus Campestris (field mushrooms) using the pointers in the SAS Survival Guide. I picked most of them, removing the stalks and placing them on a rock to dry out in the mild but very dry heat.
Then it was time to go in search of food and water. To my surprise I found a hypermarket nestled by a truck stop in a small wood just 2 km from our supposedly remote camping spot. I returned with lots of goodies, including dried carob and figs.
Around dusk, Leigh turned up after several days of seriously hauling it across Turkey. Leigh had made a marathon distance for the day, he was so eager to catch us up! And by the time Leigh arrived Charlie had mended somewhat so we ate together and, happily, this time Charlie managed to keep his dinner down! And, it being Leigh's birthday we had a modest celebration in spite of having nothing to drink.
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