I am delighted to say I was woken up by the annoyance of slobber in and around Beirdre. We all know that slobber means deep and relaxing sleep, so it wasn't a freezing cold noisy night, it wasn't a barking/wind howling filled night, it wasn't even just a standard 8 hours or 9 hours, it was decent trouble free DEEP sleep.
The key to this I firmly believe was down to the ground. I knew laying the tent on a tyre track hardened ground could pose problems. If I couldn't find a nook in which I could position my body comfortably in, then I was in for yet another terrible nights sleep but this time all down to me. However, I took the risk, laid the mat down over the track lines and found an absolute belter of a nook that saw me spend the whole night in the foetal position without having to cushion my boney hips with socks or anything! Result!
Having a start to a day like this was a rare occasion but i have to say that was merely the beginning of a day that will leave me pumped for a good few days yet. My plan was to head to Pamukkalle, a tourist attraction of hot pools and a very large and well kept heritage site. I had worked hard to get within just 10 miles of it over the last 3 days so I was pleased to have an early start so I could see Pamukkalle, have lunch then move down towards the south coast.
It felt strange cycling to a tourist attraction. It was a bus tour type of place, Marco and Margherita took the bus there from Istanbul and my ride hasn't been about doing the touristy things at all. I was interested to see it in the flesh from seeing Marco's pictures briefly before I left the hostel in Istanbul. It cost 20TL about £7 to get into the whole site and I have to say, it was worth every penny for me. If you like the film Gladiator, you will love Pamukkalle. I had the soundtrack playing as I walked around the ruins imagining what time was like and the hot pools were an added little bonus really for me. I'm pretty sure I came close to taking the most pictures out of everyone there despite the large amounts of Asians there, I was very much enjoying myself.
Lunchtime came around very quickly and I felt very satisfied with my morning and was just walking back to the town to get some bread and get back on Nigel. As I got to the exit I was strangely approached by a man with an equally scruffy beard but not quite as thick. "Are you cycling?" He said. I didn't have Nigel but I was still shamelessly wearing my cycling shorts. "Where you cycling to?" He asked. "South Africa" I replied "and you?" "I'm cycling to Spain but have just come from Africa" sorry what now? The chances of meeting a cyclist - slim. The chances of meeting a cyclist when neither of you have your bikes on you - very slim. But the chances of you meeting someone that has just completed almost your exact route - well that has to be a sign doesn't it.
Jorge was from Chile and flew over to Cape Town to cycle up to Spain. He took a year to do Africa and has been in Turkey for a week or so. Unfortunately his bags got lost flying from Cairo to Antayla so he was having some trouble and had to go to Istanbul that night. I bumped into him on his way up to the heritage site but he told me what hostel he was staying at and we decided to have a sit down and a chat about each others trips. I obviously had lots of questions and he wanted to know a few things about my route down.
I say he told me what hostel he was at, he didn't know the name so he said what road and described the outside as having lots of Chinese symbols outside. I then spent the next 30 minutes of my life trying to find this hostel. I kept cycling past the same man outside his hostel who really wanted me to stay but I asked if he had another cyclist staying there and he said no so it clearly wasn't the right place. Opposite this same hostel seemed to be a village communal lunch for the locals that he even got me in, so I had a full blown lunch of soup, stew and doughnuts for free. This was a definite bid to get me to stay but I had to keep looking for the right place otherwise I knew I regret it. Eventually I found the right place, I was going up and down the wrong road from the start but I got a free lunch out of it despite all the dodgy looks so I didn't care much.
I waited at the hostel a bit, not long and then Jorge came back. We must've talked for about 3 hours but it seemed like 5 minutes. The energy Jorge exuded when talking about Africa made me want to get on that plane straight away and start living it. Honestly the best conversation telling me and showing me everything that any cyclist would ever need to know. I didn't have to ask, Jorge said everything in short, clear English and I'm pretty happy with my initial plans if I'm honest. There isn't much I'm going to change, I'm just more excited now than I ever was! I was pleased I could help Jorge with his questions also and it was great again to meet up with another like minded individual who had met one of the guys I had contacted about Africa. Jorge's bus to Istanbul was at 7 so we had dinner and shared a few stories of different places we stayed. Jorge put my bird watching hut place to shame by simply changing the word "bird" to "elephant" you can see why I'm getting excited now just thinking about it!
I helped Jorge with his bags to his bus and wished him well. A few absolutely priceless hours for me and it all come from a quick spot in passing by Jorge. So happy to of met him and really really can't wait for Africa. On top of all that, he took up the route to Pamukkalle that I will be taking down so even in Turkey I have some great stops still to come.
When Jorge left I watched a bit of football downstairs then back to my 8 person dorm all to myself to put 5ive mega mix on and sing my heart out in the shower. What an absolute blinder of a day!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment