Sunday 6 February 2011

Day 141 Turkey 6/2/2011, Free-camp outside Akdere – Ayaş. 39.21miles/63.16km, 3hr46minutes, Av 10.4mph.

We had a reminder last night that it is still winter in Turkey, it was probably the coldest night in the tent that we have had for a while. Despite the cold I slept well, Debs unfortunately had a bit of a rough one, wearing all of her clothes just wasn't enough!

Leaving our camp-site behind, the road once again started to climb. Yesterday's good weather hadn't been a one off, if anything today was the warmest day we have had for a while. Buoyed on by the beautiful sunshine and terrific views we made it to the top of the 9km hill and began our descent.

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Racing down the hillside we soon got back down to sea level and rode alongside some beautifully unspoilt coastline. The last few days sections of coast, have been far more attractive than the heavily built up areas further to the west.

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As we headed towards the town of Silifike, we passed the ferry port that takes you to Northern Cyprus. Just past the port, we stopped at a supermarket to stock up on food and then while cycling out of the town we encountered a fruit and vegetable market.

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For once we were inundated with food supplies. Despite the amount grown, finding fresh fruit and vegetables in Turkey has proven to be a little hit and miss. In the larger towns and cities it is reasonably easy to find a supermarket, but in the smaller places along the road supplies are a bit limited.

Loaded up with food we continued along the now flat road. After a lunch stop near a garage in Silifike, we headed out of town towards, hopefully, a camp-site. As we rode along, we were quite surprised to encounter some more cycle tourists. I have to confess to having forgotten their names, but they were a couple of Kiwis just starting off on a 3 month trip. They had taken a train to Mersin and were now heading along the coast towards a ferry port that would take them to Rhodes. We hope the hills ahead don't cause them to much trouble over the next few days, at least at the moment the weather is kind. If they drop us a line I will put their names in later.

Having had a chat we continued on our way along the coast. Apart from a couple of hills, it looks like we may have a fairly flat run for the next few hundred kilometres. Clearly we are back in a holiday area, as once again we started to pass through quite heavily developed resorts. The road is also quite a bit busier than it has been for a while. The first camp-site that we came to, may or may not have been open, it was a job to tell. Either way it didn't look very special, so we carried on in the hope of finding a better one. After passing another closed one and leaving a town behind, it started to look a little doubtful. Spotting a built up area in the distance, we decided to head for it and if the worse came to the worse stay in a guest-house. As we entered the town of Ayaş we spotted a sign for camping and are now pitched in a pleasant spot overlooking the sea. The Davut hotel is nice enough that we will stay here for two nights, especially as we have a private bathroom to use!

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We have been rather bombarded with questions from the family, but they have all been very friendly. The only other person here, is a German/Hungarian who is living in his camper van for the winter.

Avoiding the cold of the tent, we spent rather too long in the bar/restaurant. Although it was worth it to see some of the customers doing a strange dance. We had a good evening, but I fear a headache is likely to be on the cards tomorrow morning.

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