We moved to this warm, sunny corner of Turkey partly because we were tired of UK winters. You can therefore imagine how thrilled we have been to get a blast of cold weather from Siberia. On the coldest day, the maximum was only two degrees, and at night it got down to minus seven. I know that’s nothing for readers from places like Canada or Scandinavia, but it felt pretty cold to us! Very tough conditions for the local stray dogs and cats, too, so we’ve been trying to help them out as much as possible.
Snow on the peaks.
People in the village are telling us it’s the coldest weather they’ve seen for fifty years. Neighbours have lost crops like spinach and broad beans, which is a shame — these weren’t crops for sale, but to make their winter diet a bit more interesting.
We switched bedrooms to help stay warm: we had been in one of the newer farmhouse rooms as it’s a bit larger, but moved back to the small bedroom in the old house. Compared to the basic breeze-block construction of the newer buildings, the half-a-metre-thick mud-brick walls of the old place make it so much easier to stay warm. Which is probably a good sign for what we can expect from our straw bale walls in winter.
The truck has coped well with winter driving conditions.
I suppose the good news is that this was just a freak weather event, and not something we should expect every year. And the dusting of snow on the hills and mountains did look great.
Not so much snow in this shot, but you can see how green the landscape looks from all that winter rain. That’s the town of Selçuk in the distance, with part of the ruins of Ephesus in the left foreground.
Yesterday things turned warmer so we got some work done, but today there’s been a big downpour of rain: we’re expecting about 30 mm. A great excuse to sit in a warm room with a coffee and write blog posts.
Sam looking fat and happy: the warm-milk ration has been increased because of the cold weather.
Marlowe drinking from a bucket and thereby doing his best Nosferatu impression.
Great picture of Marlowe – love that cat! Keep warm all.
Thanks, Tom. All warm and cosy at the moment.
I am sure Marlowe still remembers you as the guy who had the temerity to deny him fish and chips at the table. :)
Picturesque but chilly! Good to see you’re warm in winter and will also be cool in summer :-)
Yes, the photos all look a bit grey and cold, don’t they? Oh well: this better not be a regular thing or we will demand our money back. ;)
Future winters will be better with a woodburning stove and better insulation I’m sure.
Yes, this is the sort of thing that made climate activists change the name “global warming” to “climate change”, just to be on the safe side. Here in north Germany, we’re now getting the third typhoon in four days. Weird… Hope you guys manage to stay warm. On the bright side, camera sensors produce visibly less noise when it’s cold, so this is your chance to make some high ISO can pictures! :-)
Cheers, JP. I didn’t know that about sensors being less noisy in the cold. I should take advantage. There’s a night shot I really want to get, a few kilometres away in the village of Ortaklar, where there’s a row of about eight late-night kebab restaurants, each competing with the others to see who has the most lighting. Perhaps it’s time to get the tripod out of its box!
So can we book Christmas 2015 yet?
All in good time! :)
Hi Jason & Sirem,
I was waiting to have the moral upper ground before commenting on this post. Now I may have: prediction for low temperatures in Monachil next week: Wed -7º, Thurs -11º, Friday -8º, Sat -12º. That’s getting close to historical lows (in Granada -15º, back in the 80’s). White walkers are coming!
Stay warm.
OK, assuming those predictions are accurate, you win. We definitely didn’t see any lower than minus 8, maybe minus 7. (It’s hard to say, our optimistic digital thermometer doesn’t seem to work below zero; it just says “cold”.)
Good luck and I hope you have plenty of logs for the fireplace. Now your watch begins…
Also, I should have said: things are much more pleasant here now. Today got to 20 degrees and the overnight minimum is supposed to be 12. Winter is no longer coming.