Today we left the island of Lesvos and the comfort of the
Olympia Hotel to head back to mainland Turkey.
The first thing we noticed today was that the temperature
had dropped down to 15 degrees, and together with the wind blowing over the sea,
it felt like 5 degrees. We all rugged up
with our winter cycling gear and rode down to the harbour to catch the 9am
ferry to Aylavik, Turkey.
Getting through customs took about 1 minute and then we
headed for the ship to put the bikes onboard and find a seat out of the
wind. It was freezing down on the
docks. The ship left 5 minutes late and
was packed with men and women heading to Turkey to take part in a weekend of
playing ‘Bridge’. Now that sounds like a
wild weekend.
Once we arrived at Aylavik we had to wait at the back of the
queue to get through customs. We had to
wait in the freezing cold wind for about 1 hour before we could get inside and
get some warmth back into our bodies.
Customs was a simple process and within no time we were on the bikes
heading out of town towards Burhaniye.
Burhaniye is about 35kms north from the harbour, but it’s on
the way to Cannakale a major attraction for us on this tour. Some people would know it as the launching
pad to reach Gallipoli.
Since we had a short ride today, and together with the ocean
crossing and the strong headwinds all morning, we were in no rush to reach
Burhaniye. We stopped at a small town
for a nice morning tea and biscuits, just to break up the ride, and we had
plenty of time to spare.
Like usual, Len directed us straight to the Pension in town,
I quickly had a luke warm shower and put all my warm (not clean) gear on. It’s
amazing how long you can wear clothes before they need a wash.
Dinner was had in a little restaurant which was sheltered
from the wind, but it was still very cold.
I was glad to get back to the pension and warm up. We put the wall heaters on and all the
blankets we could find, and put the TV on. Going to relax tonight.
Tomorrow we’re heading along the coast, and hopefully the
wind will be kinder to us.
Until tomorrow, safe riding.
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