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!
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