Turgutlu to Aliaga. 96kms.

Today started off with a nice breakfast and favorable conditions for the 96km ride to Aliaga on the Turkish coast.  Slowly but surely we are making our way to Istanbul.  There's a lot to see and we need to make sure that nothing is missed as one never knows if they will ever be back in this part of the world.

The above photo was taken early today as we left Turgutlu. That's Len on the right and I'm standing on the medium strip.  This has been the first Istanbul sign we've seen since we left the city on the 28th June 2013. 

During the morning ride the road was flat and once again we had a nice tailwind.  At one stage we lost the safety of a shoulder to ride on and had to ride the secondary road that ran parallel with the highway.  This lasted for about 5kms and it was time to get back on the highway and contend with a thousand trucks and buses.  At least they did give us plenty of room.

We were moving along really good and decided to push onto the town of Manisa for morning tea.  This was at the 35km mark. We stopped at a service station and took up the table that the staff were sitting at.  I pulled out yesterdays cake and cut up a couple of slices.  I asked the young attendant about a cup of tea, and then went inside and brought out a cup for all of us.  He wouldn't take any money so we gave him a slice of our cake.

 The photo above is of our kind hearted service station attendant.  He loved the idea of having his photo taken and stood in front of the company logo.

It was back to the road and still the wind was kind to us.  We rolled along on good smooth roads with wide shoulders and then I had to stop and do one good thing for the day.  I saw this turtle in the middle of the road and thought he had about 1 minute to live if I didn't help him across the road.  I picked him up and put him in a nice secluded place in some bushes.  I hope it was the side of the road he was heading too.

Lunch was in the town of Menemen which is basically a dust bowl.  It's a major intersection between north bound and south bound cities and full of trucks and mini vans. Peter went into the local market and came out with some sliced bread, cheese and tomatoes. I do enjoy these lunches on the road, or sitting on the kerb. 

The photo above is ME, gorging myself on a nice sandwich.

After lunch it was back to nice roads but now we were heading north and that meant a headwind.  Still we were pushing along at a good pace, even up the only climb for the day.  Peter was in fine form today and has been improving everyday after his long time off the bike due to a virus.

We were aiming for the town of Aliaga but rode past it and stopped at a hotel down the road. The hotel is nice and the dinner was very tasty. 

Tomorrow we ride to Bergama and a rest day.  There's a lot to see in Bergama and the hotel we're staying at has a swimming pool, so I'm happy.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.