Biga to Bandirma. The loop is just about to close.

Today is the penultimate day of riding before we finish at the world famous 'Blue Mosque' Istanbul tomorrow. We started from this site in June 2013 and I can think of no other place to end it.

We left the Kosdere Hotel Biga, around 9am for the 73km ride to the harbour town of Bandirma on the Sea of Marmara.  The ride started with no wind and a road that once again had a great shoulder to ride on.  At times the road disintegrated to where we were riding on a rough road with a good drop off to keep us on guard.

We stopped for morning tea at an all male tea house and just hung with the old men of the town taking in the experience. Occasionally one of the men would ask us what we are doing and where we were going, and each time they would praise us for our courage and strength. Usually all my friends think we're anything other than stupid wanting to ride a bicycle through Europe and having to work hard everyday. That's something some of them know nothing about.

We were moving along pretty good today, probably because we knew this was our last real ride of the tour.  Tomorrow's ride will be about 2 kms from the harbour up to the 'Blue Mosque', and then roll down the hill to the Surahan Hotel.

Lunch today was a nice bowl of soup at a service station cafe, and a couple of cups of tea to enjoy whilst chatting about our achievements.

We hit the road again with about 15kms to go to Bandirma to end the day's riding.  We had yet another fantastic day out in the rural areas of Turkey, waving to truck drivers, the locals in the fields and people on the side of the road wanting to show us Turkish kindness.  Perhaps other countries could take a look at Turkey and see what hospitality is all about.

We reached the outskirts of Bandirma nice and early so Peter and I stopped for photographs before riding into the centre of town.

The photo above was taken in Bandirma. We had one deadline to meet on this tour and that was Bandirma 12 October 2013, and we achieved this on time. All we have to do now is catch the ferry to Istanbul tomorrow and then the plane on Tuesday.

I took the above photo from our room looking down on the ferry that we'll be catching tomorrow.

The photo above was taken whilst walking around the fish markets later in the day.

The photo above was taken during our final morning tea on the road for this tour.  We love having a cup of tea and a cookie or 10 to help us with our dietary needs.

Once we got into town and located our hotel, it was a quick shower and down to the harbour to purchase our tickets for tomorrow's ferry. We prefer to get our tickets today instead of having to stuff around in the morning. 

When I left the hotel and went to put on my prescription sunglasses, one leg fell off.  I then had to go and try and find an optometrist to buy a screw for the arm of the glasses.  I found this old chap selling cheap glasses in the centre of the mall and tried to tell him what I wanted to buy. 

The photo above is of the kind man who gave me the broken glasses for free. 

He went through a couple of bags and pulled out a broken pair and handed them to me. I thought I could pull out one of the screws and place it in my glasses. When I went to offer him some money, he refused. Once again the generosity and kindness of the Turkish people is very humbling. 

After walking about 20 metres away from my new friend, I came across an optometrist shop and went inside.  I showed the chap my glasses, he took them out the back to repair and returned cleaning them. He handed me the glasses and once again I offered to pay him for placing the screw in the arm.  He refused to charge me, and said it was free.  Turkish kindness, amazing.

So, the end of the tour is just about here.  Tomorrow we close the loop once we reach the 'Blue Mosque'. Like all tours, they have to come to an end.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.