Subasi to Pinarhisar. Northern Turkey.

Well what a day.  Our accommodation last night at the Cleopatra Hotel was pretty good.  For dinner Peter and I went for a walk up to the centre of town which consists of about 10 shops and a couple of tea houses with men sitting out the front sipping on their tea whilst contemplating what their wives were cooking them for dinner.I can't see a problem with that. Our dinner consisted of a bowl of homemade bake beans with some meat.  When you’re hungry, you don’t care how your meal is dished up.  For 2 bowls of food and a cup of tea, came to the princely sum of about 5 dollars.  I was going to bargain to try and get a reduction but I know what Len would have thought and decided against it.  I did manage to bargain on the price of the hotel and got it down from 90 Turkish Lira to 80 for our room.  That was a saving of about $2.50 each for Peter and I.  Now I know some people are going to say, ‘you tight arse’, but its part of the fun in travelling.  I’m honing my bargaining skills.

We ended up crashing at around 9pm and waking around 7am.  We only had 60kms to ride but we knew it was going to be tough with a blistering headwind and rolling hills all the way.  Breakfast was a nice cheese, tomato and olive salad with a couple of slices of bread.  A cup of tea, and the 4 of us were ready to hit the road.

As soon as we left the hotel the wind hit us straight in the face.  This was going to be a long 60kms. We rolled along with Maurice and Mary from Brisbane Australia. Both lovely people and very caring.  They both do a lot of cycling around the world and put our little adventure to shame. 

The traffic was not a problem and everyone would toot their horn and wave at us.  Usually in Australia when someone toots their horn you here, ‘get out the road you f…wit’.  I love Australian drivers.

After riding along with the occasional drink break, it was time for lunch.  We pulled into this small roadside food stand, which had the family house attached and were treated to a really nice lunch.  We had some meat patties, and some salami and an awesome salad.  Washed down with my favorite drink, Coke.After a ½ hour break it was time to get this day over with.  It was now getting close to 2pm and we still had only reached ½ way.  No sooner had we got back on the bike when Peter spotted a little market going on in the town of Binkilic.  We put our bikes up against the wall and were immediately set upon by all the young teenagers, and asked our names, where we come from and where were we going.  I took some nice photos of the kids and had such a rewarding time interacting with some of the most friendly people I’ve met thus far on tour.

I walked into the area where all the ladies were selling food and clothing.  I managed to buy some nice sweet cakes and rice wrapped in grape leaves.  My next door neighbour Stella is a champion at making that stuff.  I paid the lady 2 Turkish lira as that’s all I had on me at the time and with that she just filled up 2 plastic containers full of food.  At the end I had to tell her to stop piling the food in.  I felt bad I only gave her about $1 Australian for all that food.  But she insisted.    We spent about 30 minutes at the local fair, shaking hands, meeting the men, photographing everyone and being overwhelmed with generosity.

Back on the bikes we rolled along for another 1 & ½ hours over rolling hills until we came to the town of Saray.  60kms might seem little, but today we felt every bit of it.  We went to the service station and worked out that we could pitch our tents down at the local football field. The 4 of us set up our tents, organised what food we needed for dinner, and went up to town to stock up.  Maurice was our cook and he made a fantastic dish of noodles, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. We had a great dinner and free camping to add to our great day on the road in Turkey. 

The sun has now set, the tea is over, and it’s now 10pm and time to hit the sack.

Due to no internet access in the grass paddock last night I finally got wifi in the hotel Onder at Pinarhisar.  We're staying here tonight because Peter has some food poisoning.

Now for today's ride.

My sleep last night was terrible.  No sooner had I put my head on the pillow when a mongrel dog started to bark and bark and bark for the next hour.  I was pissed off.  And the mongrel did it again around 4am.  Then it was call to prayer time.  Talk about a shit sleep.  But our campsite in the paddock was free.

When we got up Peter said he wasn't feeling well in the stomach.  This is not good.  We had a long way to ride to day and with a sick stomach you can't afford to push yourself so early on in the tour.  Today was a slow ride with Peter stopping every now and then to recover.  I went through the same situation in Cambodia earlier this year and it's not good.

Instead of riding all the way today, we decided it would be better to stop in the town of Pinarhisar, which was a 48km ride for the day.  Once again long rolling hills all the way.  At one stage earlier on in the day we had to take shelter in a small hut to avoid a downpour.  

We didn't really have a lunch break today as we were more concerned with getting to the next town and finding a hotel for Peter to have a sleep and recover.  We found the hotel onder which the only hotel in town and it's not that bad.  I have Wifi in the room and air con.  The TV in all turkish which is not very helpful.

Whilst Peter was having a sleep, I went for a walk up town with Maurice and Mary. We called into a nice tea house and once again got the chance to speak to the locals over a cup of tea.  I thing I found interesting in this country is that everyone says hello to the tourists on bicycles and the car drivers wave as they pass.

I think tonight will be an early night tonight.  Tomorrow we're hoping to reach the Bulgarian border, but there's more hills on the horizon.  If not, no problem.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

 

 This photo was taken as we were getting ready to leave the hotel in Subasi.

 Peter climbing one of the many hills.  Absolutely no flat roads in the north of Turkey.

 I took this photo yesterday whilst walking around the local markets.  These are the 2 lovely ladies that wouldn't stop piling sweets into my tray.

 One of the children who had to have her photo taken.

 A Turkish market is not a market without the kebab man.

 I think this is one of the best photos on tour.  Peter gave the kids We love the Gong stickers.  Priceless.

 At the end of yesterday, we stopped for a cool drink.  Like usual they had beer and I had coke. Mary is Maurice's partner.

And this the paddock we set up tent last night.  That's Peter playing with his tent. 

We've had 3 great days on the road, today was tought for Peter, but tomorrow can only get better.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.