A local legend explains the name of Sülük Gölü, the leech lake, near the Kerkenes ruins at Şahmuratlı village in Yozgat's Sorgun district. It tells that while Battal Gazi was taking Kerkenes Kalesi, his horse's legs were torn and wounded near the castle. Battal Gazi dismounted and set the animal free; grazing as it wandered, the horse came to a pool full of leeches, and as it drank, the leeches fastened onto its legs, drew off the bad blood and healed the wound. Battal Gazi then cleared the ground around the water, shaped it into a small lake and named it Sülük Gölü.
The culture portal's account adds that people whose illnesses call for leech treatment come here for it, and that leeches caught at the lake are sold in local markets for the same purpose.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Yozgat as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -1.6 °C in January to 19.9 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (75 mm) and lightest in August (11 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
