Of is a name that sounds like an exclamation, and the town has had its fun with it. It is a busy Black Sea town of about thirty thousand people at the mouth of the Solaklı river, in the province of Trabzon, wedged between a steep green coast and the sea. The hills behind it are covered with tea bushes, hazelnut groves and dense forest, and almost everything is wet, because the eastern Black Sea gets some of the highest rainfall in Turkey.
The people here are proud of their local identity, with a strong regional dialect and a reputation for toughness and wit. The coast road is busy, with lorries, minibuses and plenty of roadside fish restaurants, and it can be a slow start. But the interest begins when you turn inland and climb up the Solaklı valley toward Çaykara and the famous Uzungöl, a lake formed by a landslide, surrounded by wooden guesthouses and spruce forest. Beyond that, the road keeps climbing.
The D915 is the route that gives this ride its name. It leaves the humid coast and mounts the Pontic Alps by a series of tight, linked bends, known as the Derebaşı bends, with the tarmac doubling back on itself again and again up a forested hillside. The road then crosses a high pass above the tree line at well over two thousand metres, where the vegetation changes to alpine meadows and the air gets thin and cold. Fog is common, and snow can arrive early and linger late, so the pass can close for long periods in winter.
Before you go, take fuel and food in town, since Of has everything and the road above has little. The tea is strong and served in small tulip glasses, and the local specialities include kuymak, a molten cheese and cornmeal dish, and fresh anchovies from the Black Sea, which are eaten fried, in bread or in a rice pilaf. Early summer, when the meadows are flowering, is wonderful, but expect rain at any time. Waterproofs are a necessity, not an option, and a warm layer is wise for the top of the pass.