Cycling!

I arrived at Çanakkale late in the evening and took the first hotel I could fınd and afford. This turned out to be an old, dirty, smelly and noisy place, but it had a bed and that for me is the most important feature of a hotel. The same night I already found a much nicer place on internet, but I could not change anymore, I had already paid. The next morning I switched to the other hotel, which was just around the corner. The rest of the day I searched for a bicycle. Halfway the day I found a suitable second hand one, but tried the rest of the day find a better one. In the evening I returned to my earlier find and negotiated for an hour over the price, meanwhile drinking tea. At the end I could cycle back to my hostel, whıch was cleaner, the company nicer, slightly quieter (the same bar was around the corner) and where I could sleep on dormitory and it was cheaper as well. The next day I tried to find bags for on the bike or when those were not to be found, the proper material to have them made. I failed to find both. In the evening I drank with my Australian roommates gin till 4 in the morning, while I had planned to leave at 7 to start cycling. With only a delay of one and a half hour and a slight headache I left the hostel with my backpack strapped on my package carrier. It did not feel to stable but it did not fall off. I took the ferry to cross to the European side. I had decided to first go east to visit the monuments erected for the 500,000 fallen in WW1. I was cruising nicely, wind in the back, not to bad hills to climb. My destination of the day was Galipoli in exactly the opposite direction I was cycling. So at the end of the day I turned out to be fighting against the wind and totally exhausted I reached Galipoli in a heavy rain. Fortunately I could take shelter in a shed. My first day of cycling had given me a great feeling of freedom, but to be honest I had not expected it to be so straining. After dinner in town I am not able to find back my hotel. I have no clue what direction I should go. Fortunately I took a little card with the name of the hotel with me. The first person I asked for directions walked all the way with me to the hotel and then just left. I still have to get used to the Turkish hospitality. In the hotel I was welcomed by the owner and his help with tea, cherries and nuts. We tried to communicate, but their knowledge of English was very limited and my Turkish was non existent, so we did not exchange much thoughts. They found a booklet “how to say it in English” and with this we could get across slightly more thoughts. Later that evening a school class on school trip arrived accompanied by some teachers among them also the English teacher. He acted as interpreter and we finally could talk about the important stuff. I I ws married and what football club I favored. When we parted he gave me a wooden bracelet used for praying I have no idea why.

Next days I cycled to Istanbul via stops at Sarköy, Tekirdağ and Sevirli. Every day I arrived early in the afternoon or late in the afternoon at my destination of the day so I had plenty of time to checkout the places. I had lunches and breakfasts at deserted beaches at the Sea of Marmara. I saw dolphins also heading for Istanbul, although I later on in Istanbul did not see them again. Once I was cycling steep uphill for more than half an hour when I found out I was on the wrong road. The advantage of climbing on the wrong road is that I was back in the valley in about 5 minutes. It was not entirely my own fault as I had asked four people and all directed me in that direction.I had some gravel roads going up so steep I thought walking would be easier. This was not the case, pushing the bike was even harder work. The legs get tired from walking up, the arms from pushing the bike and me feet kept sliding away on the gravel. So as soon as the road let me I got back on the bike again and cycled as slowly as I could. After five days on June the 6th, I reached Istanbul. Finally time to rest my akeing legs.