An apple a day...

Sunday 29th September 

After myself and the food triplets were so kindly tucked in last night I had a good night sleep but woke up to a burning caldron of a belly. This is beginning to be the norm you may think but this morning was a far greater pain and I looked like an over inflated lilo. I rushed to the toilet and its fair to say that what occurred had enough explosives and fireworks to easily overshadow the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. I was in a bad way and all three babies were born in around an hour. I laid in in the tent, weak, dehydrated and feeling very sorry for myself. If I was at home, this would've been a day in bed watching tv and probably the Monday off for most people. Unfortunately though, I had to get up and not only get up, I had to get cycling again. 12 o'clock hit (my latest start) and I had a small gathering watch me tentatively pack everything away and see me off. I thanked Kaan and Mustapha and very slowing rolled away. I began to get the shivers and knew that today would take a monstrous effort in determination as it was easily the most ill I've felt. 

Luckily for me the road was flat and mostly well tarmacked. I really found it hard to keep going, with my body and Nigel put together we could probably muster as much strength as a damp Quaver. I put my music on and just kept going song by song. Turkey is surprisingly green and it offered some very nice scenery along the d-100 towards Ankara. I wasn't going to head all the way to Ankara as I needed to go south when I reached Sakarya.

Throughout my ride I was trying to work out what it could've been that had caused not only the feeling that the complete midsection of my body was a piece of downpipe guttering but why i was burping up scrambled egg? Did I have cooked egg last night? And then it dawned on me, the Turkish dessert delicacies.  Now I'm not going to completely blame the little suet thing as I'm sure the quantity of food and the Raki didn't help. This being said, I didn't realise my stomach was essentially acting as a mixing pot for the most bizarre Turkish omelette with the raw ingredients of egg, suet, kofte, pork, rice, salad, bread, melon, grapes, orange, Efes, Raki and countless other little gems kindly offered to me by the locals.

I was slowly gaining strength and as I passed a fruit stall the wise words of my mate Kev rang through my ears. "Try eating fruit instead of bread, bread and bread" Alright then I thought, lets get an apple. I stopped to enjoy the biggest apple of my life. As I did this, a group of cyclists rode past me, all saying hello and waving etc. One very enthusiastic cyclist stopped and we chatted a while and then he moved on. After my apple I caught up with some of the guys at the back. The road we were on had enough space for cyclists to ride side by side so we got talking and he invited me to their final destination at an ice cream parlour. I was unsure, still not feeling 100% and only having cycled 35 miles as well I didn't know if I wanted to. The group had stopped ahead of me and as I arrived they all came to greet me and shake hands. Mr Enthusiastic must have told them what I was doing and before I knew it we were having pictures and my map was getting passed around etc. 

I was asked again if I wanted to follow them. After Istanbul I said to myself that I could experience the locals even more. Yesterday was proof of that and I'm technically in no rush to get to Africa so lets try more detouring I thought, "sure why not, you lead the way" I said. The ice cream parlour was a bit further than I thought and the sun was setting again. I spoke to one of the cyclists on the way to the parlour about the fact I didn't know where to stay and he cycled off to the others to ask around and see what he could do.

We all sat outside the parlour together and the whole cycle club had a very close knit feel. The Sakarya cycle club do a big tour every Sunday and end with ice cream and i just so happened to be eating an apple on their route. I suppose I should not only be very thankful to the club for taking me under their wing and giving me ice cream but to my mate Kev for making me think and stop for an apple. After the ice cream one of the guys said that their friend owns a hotel and I can stay there no charge, not only that but they gave me a high vis jacket and some food to take with me! You can't believe how good a hotel sounded to me with the state I am still in. A very similar situation to Thessaloniki and once again I have been on the receiving end of some unbelievable hospitality. 

There was a room for Nigel and a very nice double bed waiting for me. I said to the guys that I would get showered and meet then in town (100m walk from the hotel) for tea later. I did venture out but didn't see any of them but did see more of the Turkish culture on a Sunday evening in a town that I wouldn't of even stopped at. let alone decided to stay the night in.

A truly amazing turn of events from start to finish. My days need to start coming with a health warning because I don't know how much longer I can start a day in what should be quarantine and end it in a somewhere completely different! 

Gates of hospitality

Saturday 28th September

Today began and continued with a struggle. Having got into a small routine of not having anything to do and enjoying the free time, I was then thrown into the pit of organisation and effort. My body was ready to go but mentally I had to leave another "home" and say my goodbyes to people I had pretty much lived with for 3 days. Marco and Margherita were back early in the morning from their bus tour so another awkward second goodbye ensued and I said goodbye to the Germans that I roomed with as well as the rest of the hostel occupants.

Cycling wise it took me some time to get back into the groove as far as open road is concerned. I still had a lot of town to get out of and there wasn't an ideal coastal road to get onto as I had to go inland to take the one bridge that links European Turkey with Asian Turkey. Getting to the bridge involved a few up and downs that made it very apparent my legs were soon fed up and they decided to give up very early doors. I got within 50m of the bridge and the road turned into a "bad" green road, I knew I couldn't go on it but with the traffic at pretty much a standstill and this being the only way I thought I would go for it.

I got no more than 25m away and I spotted a police car that was dealing with another car. Blinkers on and make no noise and ill be fine I thought, Blinkers on and make no...Crash! Bump! Bang! At the worst possible time my stupid water bottle decided to slip from under the Bungy cords and bounce along the road. I briefly thought about just carrying on, I lost one in Italy, I can lose another! I didnt though, i stopped, and got caught. My second meeting with European police (once at the start and once annoyingly only metres from the end of Europe) involved an officer called Talha wandering over to me and telling me that "crossing the bridge is forbidden by bicycle" I said "really? But how else do I get over to the otherside?" The only way a bike can cross is in a shuttle bus and that would involve going back the wrong way up a highway and waiting at a stop. I told Talha what I was doing and he replied with, "to Africa? But they have guns there!" I wasn't going to deny that, "yes they do, but they also have lots of good people, and I have met lots of good people so far, you're a good person too aren't you Talha?" He knew as much as I did, it would be a right pain to send me back the other way. "Please Talha, the bridge is only 200 metres or so!" "Ok, but stay to the right and don't crash." I was happy that we shared the same intentions for what I was going to do on the bridge. I gave him my blog and rolled very slowly past the almost stationary traffic. Near the end of the bridge I picked up a little pace and the water bottle thought it would be funny to attempt suicide again, this time I left him, I wasn't stopping for him again as he had already caused me too much hassle.

The difference between the two sides of Turkey can be noticed almost immediately. I felt less claustrophobic, I felt I could look around without either getting beeped or having to avoid someone cutting me up or walking in front of me. I eventually got to the cycle path that follows the coast for a few miles. Thanks to my ferry trip a couple of days ago, I knew where I was and I knew my surroundings which was a rare feeling compared to the usual cycling into the unknown.

After a few miles of nice coastline cycling with lots of people keeping fit in parks, sunbathing and fishing etc My ride turned into the most boring, dockyard and construction site infested, undesirable ride of the trip so far. This day's blog would've painfully gone into detail about it as well if it wasn't for what happened at 5:30. So luckily you don't have to drag yourself through the dustiness like i did, you can arrive at the entrance of a nice gated community.

I noticed these gated communities in Greece firstly and I always wondered from then if I could get myself into one. The first one I tried was a no go, the security lady had no English in her whatsoever. The second one I had more luck with and the security guard Mustapha called over a few residents and together we understood and agreed that I could stay, but only for one night. I was well happy, I had a little plot on the grass between the sea saw and the slide in the kids park. Tamasz who was the main spokesman and immediately the most hospitable and friendly said, "here you sleep, and I show you where the toilet is" it's as if he could read my mind!!!!

I found out that the gated communities aren't yearlong housing residencies, they are actually just holiday apartments for 3 months. The same people travel from all over Turkey every year to holiday for 3 months and so the fact that they let me in makes it all the more surprising. There were people of all ages, families or just friends and Tamasz took it upon himself to take me around the site and introduce me to all the residents who were all sat outside enjoying the weather and playing games etc.

I went back to my tent as I didn't really want to encroach on people's holiday even more than I have done and so i cooked up my pasta and relaxed. 5 minutes after tucking into my pasta and Tamasz came by my tent again, "Chris! You want food?" "No no, I have pasta here thankyou" "ahhhhh no good, come with me" I put my pasta down and walked around to where everyone was setting up tables for multiple BBQs. Tamasz introduced me to his family and friends Oktay and Gulsum. The whole resort had such a safe community feel despite everyone coming from all over Turkey and only speaking to each other for 3 months a year.

I sat down at the family table along with two other families and tucked into some kofte, pork chops, rice and salad. A little better than my spaghetti mess tin for sure and on top of that, they had a projector screen outside with the football on. Galatasaray were playing and there was a clear difference between fans and non-fans but all joking together. Word soon seemed to get around to everyone that the stranger was cycling to South Africa and so I felt a little like the flavour of the week. People would come up to me and Tamasz would show me off in a way and tell them what I was doing etc. I would then have a broken conversation with each person as they were all very interested in why I was doing what I was doing!

A lady named Zeynep was also holidaying there and she happened to be an English teacher. She was a great help with all the different conversations and she told me that what I was doing was very hard to fathom for the Turkish man as their life consists of get married, get kids and work hard. I told her that that was the same for England also but I don't fit into that mould, I don't think I fit into any mould really and that's just the way I like it!

Throughout the night different groups of people were coming by and giving me food from their tables, some fruit some traditional etc. Unlike Galatasaray, I finished everything thrown at me, and by the time the game was finished, I was pleasantly full and ready for bed. Tamasz and his family were heading home that night so as they were packing up the car a man named Kaan asked if I had ever had Raki. I said no and so he invited me to meet his family and enjoy some at his apartment. I agreed but said only for a few minutes as I was tired and wanted to say goodbye to Tamasz.

At Kaan's I met Vuslat, Kortay, Sema and Kaan's kids Nehir and Doruk. Kaan was one of those guys that did not take "no" very well and with a few drinks in him, he was very giving. A beer was in the hand before I could sit down and luckily Tamasz came and said goodbye to me because I feared I was going to be at Kaan's a bit longer than 5 minutes!

Here's where I have to say a massive thank you to Tamasz and its a shame I didn't get a quick picture or contact details because it was really all down to him why my day turned from boring/tired bike ride to amazing hospitality. So before I tried the Raki I had to finish my beer, during the time it took to finish my beer, Kaan was getting a bit more drunk and a lot more giving. Next thing I know i have 3 kofte (meat balls) 4 pieces of pork, some bread, roasted peppers and some roasted garlic chucked in front of me. All of which "I haaad to try" as you could imagine. I tried some but I had just had my own rather large meal and finished off about 5 other people's whilst sat outside. I was developing food triplets, let alone just a single food baby.

As time went on, despite the guys being great fun and the kids were absolute cuties, I really needed to sleep. I finished my beer, now for the Raki. I took a sip, absolute rocket fuel!!!! Wow I need some water with that or something to mask the feel of acid burning my insides. Oranges and grapes helped with Raki but this was still food and my belly didn't have much stretch left. I finally had a very nice small dessert made from suet and egg I think and the remainder of my Raki. 

After being very forceful but in a polite way I managed to get out but Kaan insisted he walked me to my tent. I said my good nights and he insisted that I should sleep in his apartment as the tent was wet. (It wasn't wet it was just cold and Kaan was coming to the border if not over the border from annoyingly generous to generously annoying - I had to start getting short with him) When he left I went to go to the toilet and as I was en route he was on his way back with a blanket. For goodness sake, I thought. I didn't want to seem unthankful to a man that can drink 40% rocket fuel like its water but then again all I wanted to do was sleep!

We went back to the "wet" tent to put the blanket down. I was doing it all wrong so Kaan took charge. Here's where I will thank Kaan for a memory that I will keep forever as exactly one day after my 27th birthday I found myself getting tucked into my tent with a big checkered blanket by a very drunk Turkish man. 

Just another day you could say. I was just happy to be alone and safe eventually but must say thank you to everyone I met that night for making it so memorable!

Birthday gifts

Friday 27th September

It's my BIRTHDAY!! And in typical English style I'm feeling pretty rough! My "friend" from home (thanks Jake) recommended I should drink Efes Extra. I don't know what the "Extra" stands for but it's certainly not "Extra good feeling the next day" more like "Extra loud drums in your head, Extra dry mouth and an Extra-ordinarily bad gut!" So as you could imagine, on my actual birthday I wasn't feeling too good. After some very nice birthday wishes from the Germans in my dorm I went on the Internet to find the best present anybody that travels or lives away from home can receive. For my 27th birthday I received a compilation of birthday wishes and words of support from family and people I've met from literally all over the world. An amazing gift that I will treasure forever and a big thanks goes out again to all those involved in making it possible, you know who you are.

I have to be honest, I shed a wee tear and it certainly helped ease the hangover! Still feeling fragile though but determined not to let it stop me from doing the one thing I wanted to do left in Istanbul, I set off walking down the same hill to Galati bridge to Topkapi Palace. I just wanted a few more pics and then I can say goodbye to Istanbul having been more than happy with my experiences here. 

As I walked along the busy high street I found 10euros on the floor (around 30lira) Quality I thought, I had originally planned to leave today but chose to stay an extra night so I can Skype my mum later. An extra night cost 8euros and a kebab 2euros so I've almost got a free day I thought! Happy Birthday to me! I carried on walking about 50 metres and saw a boy (10years old tops) he was sat in the road playing the accordion. Now I'm no accordion expert but it was certainly a lot better than the wailing from the girl during karaoke a few nights ago. A quote from a song that I've quoted in a previous blog rang through my head instantly, "get what you need and give what you're given." I put the 10 euros in the boys box that had around 1.50 lira in it. I will never forget his face, as I walked onwards he stopped playing, brushed it off, put it in his pocket and carried on playing. Happy Birthday to me!! It's true that they say there's no selfless good act but this trip has changed something in me to realise these situations and if I can help, to act upon it instead of ignoring it and leaving it for somebody else. Im not saying I'm Mother Theresa, far from it and this maybe due to the countries I'm in but In saying that I still receive kindness in the poorer countries as well as the richer ones. I'm just saying, now I realise more that you can't keep taking. Sometimes you need to give a little and by doing that, you get a little too.

I stumbled down the hill and had to take a seat, I was feeling pretty light headed. You can't take a seat outside a cafe and get away with it by using the excuse you're feeling lightheaded so the next thing I knew I was tucking into a ham and cheese toastie. I was struggling to say the least but determined to make it to the palace. After 30minutes or so I got to the palace and was pretty disappointed really. I had dragged myself all the way to find out that I had to pay to get into the area, not just the palace but the area as there were lots of museums in the grounds too. I only really wanted to wander around, I don't do museums! I laid down in the park outside and fell asleep. Bit of a poor birthday day really but my party was last night and what do you expect when you are on you own and feeling less than chipper.

I got back to the hostel to chill. Efes extra was staying in the fridge tonight after having been its friend for the last two nights. I did treat myself to a romantic meal for one at an Italian restaurant and had a pizza and THE starter as in true Turkish fashion they only had one! The night finished with it absolutely chucking it down and out of completely nowhere, every dodgy salesman that was either selling roasted chestnuts, glow in the dark boomerang things or "anything I wanted" (was tempted to ask him for checkered paint but the translation would've been a nightmare and its probably wasted on a damp Turk anyway) all of a sudden had umbrellas and were making a small fortune off of them. I wondered if they were that versatile and ready for every weather condition? Maybe the kites and rotating flowers were in the cupboards incase the wind picked up and the sledges and carrots in the loft for when a flash snow storm occurred!

Impressed nevertheless with the speed they worked I wasn't prepared to wait for anymore changes in the weather so I went to bed and hoped I would feel at least a little bit more human in the morning!

A ferry up and down day

Thursday 26th September

A slightly fuzzy head woke me up at the crack of dawn today. Only very slightly fuzzy but it was the first time I'd experienced that in about 50 days. A hangover is definitely something I will be getting less of from now on, not because my body has evolved to cope with alcohol's horrible morning-after side effect, no, I'm still working on that. It is simply because just the odd one has been sufficient enough to enjoy the night or get over a toughie of a day. I hope this continues when I get back and I'm sure being away for so long will have a lasting effect on me in the drinking and consequent hangover department!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday only without the chocolate spread. Just when I fancied a chocolate spread sandwich as well! I spent quite a while writing yesterday's blog at the breakfast table and then a plan of action for the day. I need to get some spokes and then Riza mentioned last night about how good the Princes Islands were and it only cost 5 lira to get there and 5 back. That was me sorted then, spokes, bit of island hopping and a few beers to see in my actual birthday should be a good way to say guly guly (goodbye) to Istanbul.

I said my goodbyes to Marco and Margherita as they were getting a bus to Pamukalle and wouldn't be back for a day or so. We will definitely keep in touch through Facebook and maybe I will bump into them again cycling around the world somewhere! As I returned to my room the 5 German lads that stumbled in after me last night were awake. Three of them were cycle touring as well and they were on a bit of a lads holiday and all aged around 22. We had a good chat and it was one of their birthdays yesterday so we were maybe going to see how the day went with regards to an evening of Istanbul's finest Efes or Tuborg.

I set out toward the cycle street from yesterday but this time going the correct way down the Main Street towards the Galati bridge. I was walking in a bit of a rush because it was already half 11 and i knew the port for the ferry was quite a walk in the complete opposite direction. As i scurried, out of nowhere a rogue cycle shop popped up in the middle of the Guitar street! Talk about stroke of luck! I got 10 extra spokes and a spring in my step and looked to get food before the ferry. I don't want to talk about my food encounter, I turned down multiple places as they were out of my price range and got to the last place at the port, I waited ages for a rubbish kebab and paid nearly 6 times what I could've paid previously because I had extra chips and a drink! Absolute stinker, at least the ferry was cheap!

On the ferry you get to see the enormity of Istanbul (as if cycling through it isn't enough) I took a few good pics while I could and then out of nowhere a load of seagulls came flying alongside the boat and so followed a load of camera wielding people to capture them. What's that all about? Seagulls are everywhere, they're annoying, loud, steal your food and in my friend Craig's case commit mild GBH. The second you travel alongside them at the same speed however, all of a sudden the Jurassic Park theme tune plays and its like they're some glorious species of pterodactyl never seen before. You wouldn't do that if a creature of similar probably more annoyance like a mosquito decided he was going to walk up to you and bite you, you'll still smack him one wouldn't you!

Anyway, whilst all that was going on I made the most of the open side of the boat to take a few more pictures and also noticed a dead ringer for my  friend back home so took a picture of her too. I've noticed a lot of Eastern European versions of family and friends back home but this was the best one yet. A. Because she was a girl but looked exactly like my mate who is a lad and B. she was asleep so didn't have a clue when I zoomed into capture her perfectly. Point C. Came later and was a bit more embarrassing when I realised I was sitting next to her friend as I was doing the whole thing. I only realised this when my subject woke up and started talking to her, I think they were talking about the fact I had just sat there and taken a picture of her but luckily at the same time the boat arrived in port and I chose a premature stop to get off at the second island instead of the fourth which was my original plan.

It turned out the second island was lovely. There's never much to do on an island is there so I sun bathed, had a few beers and before I knew it it was 5:30 and I decided to head back to get a good shot of the sunsetting from the ferry.

Here is where my afternoon took a turn for the frustrating. I had planned it brilliantly, got a good seat on the correct side of the ferry for the return trip and there was no way I was getting mobbed by birdwatchers if a flock of pigeons decided to rock up. I knew there were two island stops then a mainland stop and then my stop. Everything was going fine until the first mainland stop where absolutely everybody got off. I kick myself now for not asking where I was, I just thought I was on a different side of the harbour that I left on. I got off with the crowd, massive error Harding, MASSIVE error!

I soon realised I was not in Kabatas where I left from but thought its ok ill walk along the coast and make the most of a bad situation. I bought a beer and had a nice wander taking pictures of the fisherman with the sunsetting behind them etc and thought to myself well that wouldn't of happened if I had stayed on the ferry! I carried on walking for about half an hour and couldn't recognise any of the town names or buildings. I checked my little timetable for the ferries, the ferry I got on ended where I stopped anyway, the ferry that I got on ended on the ASIAN side of Turkey! I was bloomin miles away!!!

If I get a taxi it will cost me a stinking fortune but I had no choice, it would take me 6 months to walk back! I asked a taxi driver how much back to Taksim and he wouldn't even go there it was that far. I thought I'd make the most of it for a bit and walked along the main high street which was a lot more Americanised with high end shops. I saw the Colonel for the first time since England but resisted KFC as I had a small matter of getting back home to deal with. As I stood by the side of the road praying for some inspiration a van taxi gave me a beep and pulled over, I asked if he went to Taksim and the driver said no, wait 5 minutes. I stood waiting and lots of van taxis stopped for me but all going to other places then sure enough, I saw a Taksim one and called him over. In Turkey they have van taxis that run like shuttles and beep at people waiting on the side of the road and people just jump in, pay the driver how much to a certain town on the way to the vans proposed destination and jump out. I was pretty chuffed when a Turkish girl named Natali jumped in and was going to Taksim also. I asked her how much it was and luckily it was only 7lira, lucky boy I thought. The only trouble was I sat in traffic for 2 hours. Trying to always keep positive I thought, well I'm seeing things I wouldn't on my bike! Saw the Fenerbache stadium, some skyscrapers etc only trouble was the taxi driver was bombing it so I couldn't picture any of it!

We got out in Taksim square and the very helpful girl Natali took me as far as she could to my hostel but i knew my way from the square. I felt like a right idiot and I eventually got back at 9pm having left the island at 5:30pm on a ferry trip that should've taken just over an hour to get home. Annoyed and tired, beers were bought and all was smoothed out. I skyped my family as the night turned into the morning of my birthday and after that i celebrated a bit more. Turning 27 will not be forgotten for a whole multitude of reasons. I would very much like to forget the ferry incident though as quickly as possible!

A mission and a halva!

Wednesday 25th September

I woke up in the morning, this was strange I thought. For the past 6 weeks I've had howling winds, barking dogs and noisier bowels affecting my sleep through the night and despite getting to sleep late/early because the hostel is in the thick of the party section I had an uninterrupted kip! I was quite nervous about sharing an 8 person dorm with Marco and Margherita purely because they are really nice people and I didn't want the in humane pong from my shoes ruining our quite pleasant relationship. The worst thing was that we were the only three in the dorm so I didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to things that go trump in the night also!

I chose the bed near the open window, that's all I could do. That plan was soon foiled when I entered the room last night to find the window closed due to the thumping music. Anyway, things were good and all three of us were up early around 8 for breakfast that started at 9. I stayed in bed till around half past and went down to see what my 8 euro a night hostel could possibly provide for breakfast! Dead on 9am some highly efficient Chinese people came to join us for a buffet of bread, feta cheese, potato salad, olives, tomato and lettuce, fruit salad and chocolate spread.

Pleasantly surprised with the spread, I treated it like a Thessaloniki buffet and naturally made the most of it. After the morning duties were finished with, I prepared myself for what was going to be mission impossible. I even wrote a list of my duties that I had to fulfil because when you have a list, you definitely mean business. Top of my list was to find a cable to fix my solar panel, then find a chemist with some sufficient poo tablets, then find a bike shop for spares and oil for Africa then if all the finding was complete, I could sightsee and maybe just maybe, make sure the beer was still keeping cold.

Simple tasks it seems, and maybe so if you know the area, have a car, speak the language and the country that you're in have actually seen a solar panel battery pack before. As you could probably assume, I did not have any of these luxuries and on top of that, Istanbul is very easy to get lost in due to all its small interlocking streets and I proved this just 5 minutes into my mission. Luckily my aimless ambling took me to a chemist and a very pleasant lady that spoke good English and she gave me good instruction with the tablets. About half an hour later I decided to get a taxi to a region I thought there could be an electrical shop. 

The Turkish organise there shops by grouping them for some reason. I don't know how each shop can survive against the other but in my hunt for an electrical shop I wandered through meat cooking street. In meat cooking street every shop sold kebab spits, or bbq's. After this I experienced tool street, gold ring street, rug street and my favourite, scales and safes street. They've clearly found a neisch in the market there and I guess that one is for when you want to weigh your money before you lock it away or if you share the same assets as Pat Butcher and once you've relieved yourself of your gold, you want to see how much weight you've lost.

As a result of this commercial layout, unless you find the particular street that you're looking for, you could end up walking around the whole town empty handed. The taxi man dropped me into an area riddled with tourists. There were 4 cruise ships in port and hence a lot of Americans asking the locals where the Starbucks was, don't get me started on this. (I've been guilty of the odd McDonald's abroad yes but they really need to wake up and smell the coffee) I wasn't confident i was going to find my "electronics street" in the middle of a tourist attraction but out the corner of my eye i spotted a tiny shop with light bulbs and clocks in the window. 

The shop was something else, no bigger than the "box room" of your standard 3 bedroom semi detached house and somehow it had managed to store absolutely anything and everything to do with electronics. 3 guys squeezed behind the counter pulling adapters, bulbs and cables out of the walls as locals came and went. As I opened up my solar panel they looked at it in a similar way to how the old guys playing dominoes looked at me as i cycled past, like an alien! The cable was a standard cable though, DC one end and USB the other. I had established eventually that both ends were faulty and told them this in my best Turkish, "this bit problem and this bit problem" One of the guys got rummaging and in the end we basically cut off both ends and attached two new ends because they didn't have the exact wire or the exact size DC part. It works though, SUCCESS! My hardest task and I had completed it before 11am! 

Next was cycle world, that was easy. I walked out of the electrical shop proudly displaying my solar panel, turned left twice and there were 4 in a row. I had forgotten my spoke annoyingly but got some oil, asked some questions for the Italians as they need to transport their bikes back to Italy soon and before I knew it, 3 tasks pretty much complete and as far as I was concerned it was mission made-possible. A hour or two of sightseeing around the Grand Bizarre and a few Mosques and my legs were screaming for a seat and my throat for a beer so happy hour was tested to make sure it was exactly an hour. Luckily for me it was about 3 hours and when they had taken all my coins I decided to go back to the hostel. On the way back I experienced hairdresser street and for some reason all of them wanted to have a go at Beirdre. I was shocked at the thought of losing her and it will be a sad day when/if she goes. She's just starting to build her confidence and now likes to get involved with more things that I do like drinking, eating (especially eating soupy things) and she even tries to help when I zip my top up. (That soon gets annoying and painful) I walked quickly through hairdresser street before getting pounced on and got back to the Hostel.

In the Hostel I got talking to a tall, bald Iranian guy named Riza. He lived in Australia and was not allowed back into Iran so was going to rent a house in Turkey and have all his family flown over to share some time together. He spoke very good English but was sat with another Iranian who had just arrived in the Hostel and was learning English. I told him about my story and we got chatting for a while. He invited me to dinner and I accepted (he had been in the area a month already, he knew the best places and I wanted to know why he couldn't go back to Iran) 

If you want to meet interesting people that will completely blow you away then Hostels seem to produce them if you dig deep enough, like little gems in rock. Cue the most unbelievable meal that almost brought me to tears. It's hard not to go into detail but Riza used to be a very successful engineer on a ship for Iran. He could see the way the country was going and knowing things about the government that they didn't want him to know he decided to leave for a better life in Australia and took his brother with him. He got his brother onto his ship and as it left Australia to go back to Iran he decided he was going to jump. He tried at first when they were in port but they caught him and held him on the boat. He worked out that at 4:30am the ship would be the closest to any port so he decided to take his brother and jump then. "It was 50/50, go back to Iran and probably put in jail for trying to leave or jump ship and maybe get eaten by sharks but maybe be saved by Australian immigration" At 4:30 he sis it and ended up being sat in a life raft in some of the worst waters for 12 hours. After helicopters were called the Australians never came, so drained of energy they had to get back on the Iranian ship but were promised the ship would stop in Freemantle and Riza was forced back to work. He was told that things would get sorted in Freemantle. Knowing this was never going to happen he rung an Australian journalist and told her everything. When the ship arrived in Freemantle it was greeted with every tv station and newspaper in Australia and he showed me the front cover of the paper that he was on. I was blown away, I thought to myself, would I be able to do the same if I was in that position. He told me more about saving his brothers life in the water and what he had to do whilst on the ship. A truly inspiring man just doing what he had to do for a better life and if he wasn't so physically and mentally strong, his brother and himself would've definitely died. Now he renovates houses in Australia and has lived there 16 years and can afford to do what he is doing now in Turkey for his family. I compared this with his friend Nikzad who is 33 and has just got a job in Turkey making jeans. He arrived yesterday and he left his son and his wife for what could be two years until they are allowed to visit him here, his son is one week old. I asked him if he had experience in making jeans he said "yes, 16 years" "16 years! You've been doing it all your life pretty much then" I said. He said he started when he was 10. Right there, right then, another blow to my emotions. We continued to talk and i asked him if he had ever sewn his fingers or been injured etc. I could see the slight imperfection on his eye and he said that came from the dust of the factory from sleeping there for 2 years as a child. 

You can watch comic relief or see the adverts for UNICEF non stop for hour and hours but you never ever know how blessed you are until you sit in front of someone and see and hear their stories. Nikzad started to well up, and I was going to so in a bid not to make a scene in the middle of a packed out restaurant I dug into some sponge that I had for dessert. Thinking it was warm in the middle with a warmish honey sauce I soon experienced a cold watery injection like eating wet bread. It took my mind off the two Iranian guys for a second but honestly, nothing will ever let me forget their truly unbelievable stories and how thankful I am of my upbringing and my life today.

On top of all this Riza paid for the food and despite my pleas I couldn't even sneak money is his pocket. (Im not going to argue with a 6ft 4 bald Iranian) I bought him a couple of beers in the shop after which almost made us square and we continued our conversation back at the hostel where the public dining area had turned into a crazy discothek of young Germans. Riza went to bed and I got talking to 3 Germans from Hamburg. Freidel 20 and Theo and Lara both 19. Talk about feeling old and trying not to give them advice on life or use the line "when I was your age" I felt I was holding my own on fitting in with the kids though because Theo especially wanted to know all about what I had done. They were travelling around in a campervan but the oil pump had broke so they had to stay at the hostel whilst it got fixed. A few more beers later and good chat about this and that turned into time for a Kebab. We wandered the streets at around half 1, the place is heaving with blokes but its probably easier to find a well paved road then it is to spot any girls. The kebab shop didn't except their card so now it was my turn to repay the generosity that I have received. I was paying it forward and maybe one day they may remember the old homeless looking English guy that paid for their kebab and chips as I remember all the people that have helped me out on my journey.

We walked back to the hostel and they soon went to bed leaving myself sat alone on the sofa in the hostel listening to the horrendous techno music eating chocolate biscuits. 

Some amazing people and stories to take with me for the rest of my life and hopefully continue to keep me thankful for everyday that I'm alive. As much as I want to have a permanent symbol that helps me to remember the best way to live, I won't ever get a tattoo. (Dad would probably disown me and my mum would give me the look of disappointment that we all know is worst than anger) Instead i just have to take my experiences as tattoos on the heart and mind and as I've said, I've got a lot more heading my way...

Istanbul-inachinashop

Tuesday 24th September

After an absolute pig of a night I woke up still very tired and broken. Sergeant trot pants was on duty last night and something must have really annoyed him. Combining this with the howling wind off the coast meant I got around 2 hours decent sleep. I had to make 3 separate trips to destinations of the beach picked at random depending on urgency. After the third time I became very aware my head torch could have been sending signals to the boats without myself having any idea! There were more dash dash dashes then dot dot dots unfortunately but Istanbul was still on the cards and hopefully I could find something there to make me feel better.

The weather was overcast which I didn't mind, at least the wind had calmed and there was a good road to lay down some early miles. I was going to give the stop for some food after about 2 hours another go as it worked so well yesterday. The thing with cycle touring is that everyday I different and the way I was feeling health wise was obviously very up and down so you can't really schedule anything. I felt surprisingly good so i cycled a bit further until I started to approach some bigger towns and some bigger stores. I need to find an electrical cable for my solar panel as mine has broken and its quite vital that I find one to keep charging my phone, camera and iPod. I stopped at a tiny shopping centre around 20 miles from Istanbul, that I saw had two electrical shops and figured I could also get some food. In both shops I had no luck, it appears that finding this specific cable could be very tough. I popped into a bakery anyway and bought a lovely looking sesame seed bun that seemed to be filled with cheese. Perfect, I love a cheesy bun and even though I didn't see the name of this specific bun I knew was going to enjoy it. First bite, almost took my hand off. After trying the bun I will now name it, I name it..."the olive surprise" I appreciate a lot of people like olives so this may not seem a big a deal at all, I absolutely hate olives (I've tried on more than one occasion to like them) I also hate thinking that something is going to taste like a dream and then it gives you a slap in the face. The saltiness in my mouth forced me to look down in horror at the bun that resembled a scarab beetle infested scene from "The Mummy." All in all an unsuccessful stop but note to self, ask before you bite.

As soon as I got back onto the road, the buildings started to grow bigger, more people started to appear on the roadside and cars were piling up. Only 5 more minutes had passed and I found myself surrounded by huge buildings, more interesting ones as well, more people and amazing smells and sights that I couldn't take in because I was in the middle of a 6 lane manic jam of cars going well over Nigel's comfortable coasting rate. What I was in but I had no idea about was Istanbul traffic. My odometer said I had at least 15 miles to go but this didn't stop me from thinking I had magically arrived early and began to get excited about a quick shower and an early relaxing pint. How wrong I was! When you think you are near to something and have to wait a while, time seems to drag more than ever. When you are meerkatting your way along a 6 lane motorway looking for a sign that says either "Fatih" or Bezoglu" for 15 miles time has stood still. 15 MILES!!! There was traffic leading up to Instanbul for 15 MILES! 10 miles on a bike takes an hour sometimes with no traffic. The last section of my ride may as well I been the whole day, I thought I was soo much closer than I was and the concentration needed to get from A to B without any of the crazy C's running me over left me absolutely exhausted!

I stopped mid traffic and asked a guy who was stopped on the side of the road how to get to Beyoglu. Beyoglu is the area and he didn't know where the intended hostel that i had screen shotted on my phone was but he told me to head for Teksin. Teksin is like the central square and it turned out I was only about 5 minutes from there. This advice turned out to be golden. I arrived in Teksin and went for a wander, lots of wxpensive hotels was a good sign because it meant I was in the main area and a free wifi restaurant or cafe would be nearby. Just as I turned to go into the cafe and search how far from my hostel I was, Marco and Margherita walk around the corner. I met these two about 5 days ago (I showed Margherita the snake picture) and was in a bit of a rush and wanted to camp alone so didn't chat long. They were on the hunt for a hostel also and so we all got a drink in the cafe and found a hostel only 1km from where we were.

The hostel was cheap, 8 euro a night with towels, free wifi and breakfast included. Laundry was cheap too and not really caring along with not having much to gauge the price on I was well happy. We had to carry the bikes up just one set of stairs to the laundry room and then our 8 person dorm was on the top floor. I have no issue with hostels at all, did it on my cycle tour to Scotland and it turned out an absolute treat. Marco and Margherita seemed happy also so after sorting showers and laundry out we hit the town for beers and food. We soon clicked, Marco had an eye for a bargain especially when it came to buying beers. We chose the old faithful trick of going to a pack local pub because a. It's going to be cheaper and b. if you're buying food, its normal the best. We entered and all the tables were taken but the owner soon turfed some local onto another table so we could sit down as a three. We only wanted drinks which I think was our downfall as we ended up paying more than next door! I think the owner was bitter that we didn't order food.

After a couple we looked for cheap food at a stall. I was like a man late on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night... on the hunt for the biggest kebab I could find. I found one smothered in chips, that didn't touch the sides! We walked around for a bit longer and took a bit more of the town in. Our plan was to get some drinks and take them back to the hostel. On the way back I had kebab round two, from a different stall this time and it came with butter milk (note to self, never drink buttermilk again) I bought a few Efes, a family pack of Doritos and chocolate brownie cake. I don't know what's wrong with me! When I say cake I mean a cake you cut for the family, I cut it up and ate the whole thing!

After a few vinos and beers a Turkish man from the hostel came an sat down with us. He had just got a job as a waiter and asked the guys if they could help him on the understanding and pronunciations of the menu. I will not go into detail as you had to be there bit the next 2 hours were some of the funniest I have so far. This guy was a right card and all I will say is that when you try to convince two very passionate (what italians aren't?) and knowledgeable Italians that carbonara sauce comes from a packet and gnocchi is solely pasta then you are fighting a losing battle my friend. He also said humans get special powers sometimes when they drink a lot of alcohol because once he drank 1.5 litres of Bacardi and could see lasers. It was the way he said it with such conviction and belief but like I said, you had to be there!

After that I was more than happy to go to bed. I have a lot of little thing to do and pick up and hopefully buy tomorrow. It's going to be very tough as my first impressions of Istanbul is that its absolutely bonkers and its probably easier to pick up a monkey playing the drums then it is to find some spare spokes!!!

We will see!

P.s Marco has had the same issue with dogs and now he says the best thing to do is stop, throw the bike down and stare them out. He said this worked for him all through South America. I'm going to try it but I know Nigel won't be best pleased about it!

Eating like a dog!

Monday 23rd September 

I had a wee spring in my step as I woke up this morning despite not having an uninterrupted sleep. This was because at around 2am I gave birth to a weetabix, the first of its kind for around 4 days which would put anybody in a good mood, especially if they have to spend all day on a saddle and then spend all the night in a chamber of smells.

Don't worry though, this lasted for about half an hour until after breakfast so the monkey is still hanging on my back as we speak. I decided to go back to bed and have an extra lay in. I'm experimenting with methods of the day still and yesterday had taken a lot out of me.

I could only manage an extra half an hour as the sun was up and I wanted to get the worlds longest roadworks put behind me. I have to be honest, even though the roadworks were a right pain, the road workers were out in fine form and playing up to the novelty of seeing an alien on a bike that made cycling the horrible road actually quite enjoyable. Some may say that if they weren't larking around so much then maybe the roadworks wouldn't be so long in the first place. This point is very true but as I've travelled through a lot of countries now, I can safely say that Turkish road workers, are the same as French road workers, who are the same as English road workers, who are the same as Albanian. It takes 5 European road workers to dig a whole, 1 to sit in the JCB and dig and 4 to watch, at least the Turks were doing it with a smile on their face! The thumbs up, chanting, dancing and all round good vibe that they were giving out made cycling a lot easier that's for sure.

Turkey's landscape is very undulating. The second you have reached a peak you are heading back down into the trough. It's like that for the first 100miles from Greece. I decided to stop at a roadside cafe where again, I was given an option not a menu. This time I had rice with a selection of 4 accompaniments. I chose rice with 3 out of the 4. Soya beans, meatballs and oily potatoes were my fine decisions and I probably would've gone for all four but we struggled with getting what I got in the first place due to the language barrier. Despite the guy sounding like I had just kicked his dog and looking like he was going to stab me for it, the waitress was translating some very complimentary things to me. They offered me a big basket of bread, I went in take a few pieces for my oily sauce and they insisted I took the whole basket.

What do you do when given the whole basket? Am I paying for this all? Will you charge me by the piece? There was around 2 small loafs there, yes this would be plenty for possibly a family of four but i am eating for 6 everyday, I think you're going to be shocked what this skinny bearded runt can put away! Anyway, I ate my two plates of food and the whole basket of bread and it came to 5 euros. Absolute bargain, I'm going to like it here I thought. 

After a chat with the workers and a good catch up with friends from home on the wifi I was very happy getting back on the road. Then it dawned on me or should I say repeated on me. Meatballs? Pretty cold meatballs as well, what am I doing to myself? The orifices of my body are experiencing more arrivals and departures than Heathrow airport!

Despite the gaseous exchanges I was feeling really good on the bike. Whilst enjoying quite a relaxing highway with just the odd car going past i heard the noise that makes Beirdre stand to attention, a deep throaty woof!!! I could see the two guard dogs over the road. If you hadn't seen dogs before and only been subjected to horses then you would be asking why they didn't have saddles on them either as these two were monsters. Thankfully for me they were luckily behind a chickenwire fence so after the initial shock that ran through my body I actually stopped at the relief and pointed at them both. "Ha-ha suckers, fence kept you in hasn't it!" My assurance and cockiness was soon wiped clean off my face when I realised that one of them had made his way along the fence and was now just the otherside of the motorway...the fence was no longer in play. Surely he won't cross over the motorway I thought. He was about 20 metres ahead of me which posed a problem that if I couldn't get alongside or in front, then no matter how fast my little legs pedalled, he could still get me. As a truck drove past the other side of the road, my pedal speed increased to ramming speed. The beast waited for the truck to pass and then as if time stood still (along with my heart), he leapt the central reservation and headed straight for me. I don't know how I didn't mess myself there and then but I managed to keep everything in other than a harrowing scream of "Siiiiiiit!" To anybody else it probably sounded like I was screaming what the majority of people would scream but I thought if I'm going to shout anything I might get lucky and by pure coincidence, sit in turkish could be the same and the dog could be trained to obey. As it happened he didn't have the best eyes and ran just pass me giving me a chance to break free which I grabbed by the handlebars! Nevertheless, another horrible encounter and they seem to get progressively more frightening. I'm going to have to think of some ways to counteract the rogue canines if I want to keep my sculpted calves!!

Cycling towards Mamara Eglisu from Malkara along the coastal section was very enjoyable. There were mainly gated communities between the road I was on and the coast and some of them really nice. Looking through the gates I could see tennis courts, football pitches and each house with their pristine individual garden. I didn't expect this at all from Turkey, I expected what I saw the other side of the road which was a lot of kebab houses and tacky beach shops. I'm equally happy with both but I did make it my aim to find a camping spot in between two of these gated communities so I could overlook the coast as the sun set.

I made a few more friends at a couple more petrol stations on my hunt for a dessert. I think I'm becoming, if not already, addicted to chocolate biscuits. It doesn't matter what type but ever since my hobnobs ran out I've been on a rampage. After the hobnobs ran out in Switzerland it was a "chocolate sandwich" type biscuit made by "Monarc" (available in all good Lidls) and since then its been a variation of choc chip cookies and chocolate sponges. I found a suitable packet of double choc cookies sold by a guy who claimed he "loved the England" "yeah David Beckham, Victoria Beckham" I stopped him before he named the whole family but I think he was actually done after those two.

I pulled off the road towards the beach which was only around 200 metres away. I wheeled Nigel around on some loose gravel as typically the area I decided to get off was more of a building site compared to the many perfect villages I had previously cycled past. I found an area of a beach with a few small upturned fishing boats on a grassy bank just before the sand and decided to pitch up. It wasn't a "stealth" camp by any means. I was in prime dog walking/pooing location and on a patch of grass that probably belonged to a boat that was on his way back from a hard days fishing. Well the tide was out I thought and he's got a good few hours before it comes back so I'm having it. 

On top of the litter picking up rule I have, I also make a massive effort to smile, wave and say hello to the locals that happen to catch me whilst I'm in the tent putting up stage or just sat there cooking etc. This takes away any suspicions that that may have and can also spark up good conversations that you will never get otherwise. After establishing myself on the beach and a few smiles and hellos exchanged, I was happy to settle down for the night.

A great sunset only added to my very productive and pain free day. Tomorrow, the bright lights of Istanbul and a well earned shower and bed! Can't wait!