A great start to the day with a rare hearty breakfast in the hostel of fruits, cold meats, cheese, bread and the dreaded olive. Along with free wifi, i had control of the t.v buttons last night as well. Include this with the breakfast and an 8 person dorm to myself all for 20TL about £7, pretty decent deal!
I set off towards Denizli for what Jorge had warned me were going to be two tough days. At some point I would have to cycle through 50km of mountain range and get to around 1300m. The mountains I could see in front of me and I preferred them just there, as a perfect backdrop to the postcard picture that I was cycling into.
After Denizli, I was soon in the thick of the mountains but I was enjoying it, it had been a while since I had to put the climbing legs back on. The first range didn't take too long to cycle over but I could see what Jorge was on about and it looked like I had a lot more hard work to come. As the sun began to heat up I discovered a major wardrobe malfunction. I was wearing a thin top that kept me cool underneath a thick top that kept warmth in. This created a layer of sweat between the two tops that soaked the thin top and made me freeze when the wind blew. A quick swap of the tops and I was back in the game, I guess all that fabric technology really does work!
I stopped at the crest of one of the mountains for lunch. There are handy fresh water taps at the top and along most of the mountain climbs. There were 3 bus drivers parked up and having lunch also. I said hello but I just wanted to tuck into my ham sandwiches so sat a little way away from them by the fountain. One man came over and offered me a tomato, I took him up on that, tomato can only enhance a ham sandwich I thought! After I finished i stood up and one of the drivers called over to me, I didn't understand what he said and I've noticed that when Turkish people want you to join them, they gesticulate by waving their hand up and down the same way we do to tell someone to sit down (you're in the way of the film or your striker's rubbish, he will never score) so I sat back down!
I stood up again to sort Nigel out and he did the same thing but this time another driver gesticulated in an English way so I walked over and joined them with their lunch too. Burek is the food of choice over here. A pancake/naan bread, big and flat that you roll up and eat and can include any flavours you want. I had a plain one and spicy chilli one that burnt my tongue (I'm not a spicy food man but something tells me I maybe when I'm done with this trip) I naturally had some tea as well and thanked them. Two lunches down and I was ready to tackle the mountains again.
Not long after lunch I was clear of the first wave of mountains and I had vast, open land to literally tear up the miles. I was trying to work out what made the open flat land so appealing to the eye compared to the French farmland or German. The trees! The Turkish have masses of open land but they don't cut the trees down so there are lots of random individual trees or bushes spread across the plains which makes the land look more like a scene from a cowboy film instead of a baron wasteland. It must be a right pain for the farmers to drive around the odd tree here and there but I applaud them for putting in the extra effort on the mower to make my cycling view much more enjoyable.
As it got close to 6pm it had occurred to me that today was a very straight forward and routine day. I made a little video stating how I had no problems, no issues with directions, my body or the bike. The second and literally, the second I put the camera away I felt a bump at the back tyre that was a little harder than the others. I looked down and the tyre was pretty flat, not to the road flat but enough to be confused as to how it happened. It didn't affect the day that much as I was only going to carry on another 5 miles so I stopped and took the tyre off. It seemed like a very slow puncture as it didn't deflate instantly. I made the most of the tyre being off and cleaned up Nigel, oiled the chain etc, he likes to have a pamper once in a while.
I found myself in a town called Kumafsari. Nothing there, just farms and farmers. The wind was beginning to pick up so I walked towards some houses where I thought I could find better cover than if I was stuck out in a field somewhere. There was a family raking grass so I approached them with the usual hand gestures and pointed to a nearby field. The mother gave me a look that was almost identical to the look my mum would give me if i was going to approach my dad but he was in a mood and likely to snap. A wide eyed look, slight shake of the head and wave onwards. I was guessing that the field I was pointing to was probably not the best so I walked on about 100m and found a tiny little patch in between two gardens. I had dried tyre tracks again so was eyeing up a good sleeping spot and the long dry grass was so overgrown I knew that I would be safe to pitch up here. I was fully out in the open to the road but I felt safe and a tiny Turkish farming village is not exactly a place for an opportunist gun wielding cyclist mugger I thought.
As I was cooking my chicken pasta, two lads around 20 years old walked past me on the pavement. They stopped for a chat but didn't know much English so I got by in German. Im so happy I chose German not French in Senior School. I've managed to get by in obviously Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, parts of Italy, Croatia, Albania and Turkey with my basic German speech and slightly better listening skills. If I had chosen French all those years ago then the only thing extra I could've got in France may've been colder tap water! Oh no maybe not, i forgot, the country was closed for the month I was there!
The lads stopped for 5 minutes, offered me a cigarette and then left. Well that was pretty pain free I thought, camp up in England and the youngsters show up then you probably won't get much sleep! It was Sunday night though so I should be ok with a quiet night I thought, it was the early morning that I was dreading.
After a good feed I felt pretty tired and dropped off straight away. I was then woken up by some shouting and flashing lights from a moped. Here we go I thought, I knew it was too good to be true. If I just lay here do you think they'll go away? I thought. I didn't know what time it was but the calling continued and one guy kept giggling and flashing the lights on the moped. Here we go, I sat up and stuck my head out the tent and looked into the circular beam, I didn't think it was the same lads as before but all I could see was a circular light, it could've been half a mysteron for all I knew. I had no clue what they were saying but again the German came out and i could understand what they were asking. Firstly they asked, did I want something to eat? and then, did I want something to drink? I thankfully declined and then they wished me goodnight! Haha! I laid back down again in disbelief, even their biker kids were offering me things! After this I didn't hear a noise, I settled down for the night and prepared myself for what was going to be another cold one.
Apart from the mysterious tyre situation that I will check out tomorrow. Another good day, good cycling, good people, good food, just need the warmer nights now!
No comments:
Post a Comment