Is a heavy one. The sun was blazing. The hills were winding and continuous. The scenery was amazing, in places. 100KM from Didim to Bodrum. I requested that I could have breakfast at 8am rather than their starting time of 8.30am. Any contribution to an expided departure when you’ve got a long and hard journey is appreciated. Breakfast I’ve had this discussion on previous blogs. In the morning, you are what you put in your body. Let me suggest this… never put cheese in there. Bad and heavy breakfast makes you want to stop all the time, wonder what you’re doing here. Avoid it. Just had some hone ..read more

Due to inclement weather and the long distances involved, I was going to take the bus to Kusadasi and had bought a ticket. What the agent had omitted to tell me was that the time stated on my ticket was not the time of departure from Pumukkale, but the time of departure from Dinizli, the nearest big town! Obviously, I missed the bus. As I was sitting drinking my Turkish tea outside the hotel, I could see the clouds forming big and dark and asked my host, “is it going to rain?”. “Yes” he said. I took this as my cue to fire the bike up and get going. I was going to have to cycle to Denizli and b ..read more

The last couple of days, one to get here, one to look around the ruins. Yesterday – Endless vinesHotel La’bella Didn’t think much to the hotel I stayed in on Wednesday. The place was advertised as having WiFi throughout. Turns out there was none, anywhere. This obviously causes problems. After a period of trying to sort it out in my room, then trying the public areas, I returned to reception and asked to speak to the manager. Suddenly, and mysteriously the WiFi suddenly came on. I did the more serious stuff and went out for dinner. When I came back, it had gone off again and it stayed off unti ..read more

I could put the names in the title, but they’re fairly meaningless. The hotel in the first Aegean town, Altınoluk, had the most phenomenal breakfast. Here’s a picture. I only had the salad, cheese and meats, olives, chips, hash browns and bread with jam and honey. Apart from that the room and hotel were fairly new. I cycled into the beach front promenade resort type affair, (called Altınoluk), for dinner, which was bland and disappointing. Still, it didn’t cost too much. Had a really late start the following day, (Sunday), as the next stop over was only 60km away. Not far at all. Here’s a pic ..read more

When I was looking at the roads on Google maps, they all looked so level. Nothing spectacular to see on ‘terrain’ view. The reality was it was 4 hours climbing, 1 and a bit hours down hill at the end. As some consolation, the wind was behind me on the climbs. By the time I had reached the coast, it had switched direction. Still. You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I’m holed up in my hotel now which seems pretty new. It’s not a great big chain, but having been here a couple of hours, it seems pretty functional. My hotel in AltınolukBeaches There’s quite a lot of beaches here now, all of a ..read more

Probably the easiest day on my trip so far. Gelibolu bay – Gallipoli bay A meagre 30 miles or so. My muscles will be thanking me for this time off. Boutique hotel Didn’t think much. If I’m honest. Breakfast was good. Room was noisy. TV has less working channels than all the other hotels I stayed in, (all 2), still. No English speaking channels when the others did. There were other things which were lacking the attention to detail which is the essence of the ’boutique’ experience. Breakfast at 8 rooms They tried to charge me for an orange juice. That was with breakfast. Not really happening is ..read more

Very testing. Wind in my face. Lots of hills. Significant hills which were long, steep and on winding roads. After the first 12 minutes of so getting out of Kumbag, spent the entire morning stood on the pedals. This really didn’t go away, or at least the wind didn’t. It was joined by a hailstorm later on! The hills did improve in that the bends went away. When you’ve got bends like that, it’s impossible to sit down and just cycle normally. In terms of the geography, flora and fauna, things were much more interesting. Breakfast Was late at the hotel, service started at 9. It was a nice breakfas ..read more

Yes, there is a place called Kumbag! I thought I should visit… More seriously, it was the only place with a hotel that I wanted to stay at on the peninsula that was a reasonable distance from Istanbul. Tower of Sauron? Day of roads And main roads at that. I left at about 9am. Cycling out of Istanbul was pretty hectic. These capital cities usually are. I covered a total of 92 miles, during which my chain snapped. I suspected from the sounds it had been making on cycling excursions around Oxfordshire, it was going to happen. For this reason a packed my chain link breaker. A simple tool which wil ..read more

Tomorrow I will begin the cycling part of my journey. It was a lucky thing that I decided to visit some of the galleries and musea on the other side of the river. Derailleur trouble It turns out the front derailleur was not functioning too well and it took me around 30 minutes to sort it out. I ended up having to take it off the frame entirely and reset it’s position. It must have taken a knock somewhere, either in the hotel or in transit, meaning that it wouldn’t reach the higher gears 17 – 24. Better to discover it now. Get it out of the way. Cycling around Karakoy After that I cycled down t ..read more

From here. I’ve sorted my boat out, as much as I can. I’ve sorted my teeth out, as much as I can. The flooding rivers, (Thames and Cherwell), are finally abating (a little), although the Thames is still on red boards as I write this. It’s time to move. Here’s an update on some of the things that have been going on over the last 2 weeks. Easter in Gloucester Did a little tour of my relatives for the holiday period. Went to visit sister in Gloucestershire for bank holiday Monday. Due to the wetness of the environment, the usual bank holiday walk in the country wasn’t possible. Instead we took a ..read more