Ynt: 39°N 32°E Yüzükbaşı - Konya
After the rather easy visit to 39N 33E we turned SW on the dirt roads of central Anatolia (see map). After Yeniceoba, while approaching Kuşca, we discovered a valley (red arrow on the map) with a geological formation much like Ürgüp-Göreme of Cappadocia. There were half natural, half men-made caves of ancient settlements, and lots of "fairy chimneys". One of them was quite spectacular, looking just like a stone mushroom standing on a large rock with perfect balance. Coordinates of this mushroom are: 38°50.087'N 32°42.964'E. The rock it is standing upon is full of fossils, proving that the area was once covered with water.
After travelling on powder-like dirt roads, we reached the Konya-Polatlı highway. Our maps showed two roads to Yüzükbaşı, so we took the first one (again fine powder surface) and arrived in the village in no time. After Yüzükbaşı to the confluence point it was something like 4 km, but planted fields were in front of us. Driving straight was out of question, but soon we discovered the very bumpy tractor passages between the fields, and after 15 minutes of zigzagging and hopping through the fields we arrived at the Confluence. My Mighty Niva, which used to be white, was now brown.
There was incredible GPS reception at the Confluence. It was the first time I saw a 1 meter GPS error margin. I think this was due to the new EGNOS correction system ("D" symbol on signal strength bars?). We took the pictures, celebrated our first "Two confluences in one day" and headed back to Ankara via Polatlı to give our ride a nice car-wash treat.
Bora Yurtoren - Erkan Candemir
20-Oct-2004