Clearly out of practice, we took a while to get packed up this morning. Considering how tired we were the previous day, we hadn't slept particularly well either.
Setting off into the cold, grey weather (the warm weather we had hoped for hadn't materialised) we cycled into the town of Sinekçi and were immediately stopped by the police.........for a chat! After a brief discussion about how cold it was and where we were going, we shook hands and cycled on our way.
As the morning wore on the grey skies gave way to lovely warm sunshine and we were soon down to our t-shirts. Our fleeces were quickly put on again though, during some of the lengthy descents.
A pattern for cycling in Turkey seems to have been quickly established. Steep hill, pedal, pedal, pedal, followed by long free-wheel down the other side and then repeat. Clearly when the world came into being, all the flat ground had been used up by the time Turkey came into existence.! The locals are clearly aware of this, because at the end of one steep descent we were offered a lift by a man in a pick-up truck. We politely declined, but who knows, after a few days of this we may be extremely glad of the offer.
Debs once again excelled herself on the hills and I am very proud of her. Even later in the day when the relentless climbing and descending continued she kept plodding along.
Things got a little challenging this afternoon when we struggled to find a store selling food or water. Fortunately we had a certain amount of food with us but getting water was a more serious problem, especially as we were planning on free camping again tonight. Fortunately we found a small local garage that had some bottled water for sale and they let us fill up our water bag from the tap, with the strict instructions not to drink it. Looking at the debris floating in it, that looked like sound advice. The water filter is going to get some use again today.
In typical fashion having passed several places we could camp earlier in the day, the terrain now gave way to open farmland. On one of the climbs Debs spotted a track, so I went to investigate. It didn't look too promising but we had little choice, so we decided to make do. Pushing our bikes further up the track we stumbled on a secluded gulley with a sea view. What started out as a bit of desperation, had turned into a perfect free camp spot.
Hopefully we will have a good night's rest and be fighting fit for the hills tomorrow.
No kebabs again today, we will be suffering from withdrawal symptoms soon!
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