What a bloody awful night, between the cold, traffic noise, and over zealous cockerels neither of us got much sleep. If we hadn't have been treated so well by our lovely hosts, then I would quite happily of committed roostercide! From 3am onwards they all decided to have a who can cock-a bloody-doodle the loudest contest and we thought they only signalled the arrival of morning.
As I heated up some water for a cup of coffee this morning, I was beckoned over by Mehmet's son Martin. It seemed that we would be expected to have breakfast with them as well. Their generosity has been amazing and it was quite sad to have to say goodbye.
We have lots of photos, which we will have printed and send to them. Our only concern is the address we were given doesn't look right. We really hope they get the pictures, as they have made one of our last few days in Turkey very special.
Soon we were back on the road in lovely sunshine, clearly from the weather's point of view we must have done something right. Once again our route was flat and we soon entered the busy roads of Adana. No matter how many times we cycle through a city, I don't imagine we will ever get used to it. The worst drivers in Turkey all seem to drive dolmuş buses (mini-buses) and it is in the cities that they can be found in their greatest numbers. They drive along picking people up at random and almost never use their mirrors whilst pulling out. The problem is you have no idea how long they are stopping for; if they are picking up a customer they barely stop, but occasionally they seem to just stop for a rest! Overtaking a stopped one is definitely at your own peril!
The centre of Adana is undergoing some new road construction, which was fortunate for us, as instead of following the detours we were able to sneak through along the new traffic free, for now, sections. The centre had quite a lot of nice park land and a very attractive mosque which was made all the more pleasant by the fact that we had the road to ourselves.
The section of the country that we are travelling through at the moment is very developed, which is proving a bit of a problem when it comes to finding somewhere to camp. We can't always expect to be as lucky as we were yesterday. Taking a break in a garage, we had a look at the map and decided to have a shorter day by trying to find the camp-site that was marked. As far as we could tell, it was just off the main road on the outskirts of Adana. After riding through several kilometres of industrial units and eventually coming to the city limit, we had still not encountered a sign advertising camping, let alone the site itself. The staff and customers of a nearby garage were none the wiser, although one customer did let me speak to his wife on the phone, which was nice if ultimately useless.
Once again it looked like we would be carrying on, fortunately though it was only just 12pm so we had plenty of time. As lunchtime approached we bought some bread and found a nice covered bench on a garage forecourt. For a short while we looked at the nice grassy areas around the garage and considered asking if we could camp. I am sure they would have said yes, but with plenty of the day left we decided to press on.
Now that we were out of the city, the traffic had eased and we were soon speeding along the road. Yesterday had been the milestone of 3000miles and today we passed the 5000km mark. After not stopping in time when we crossed the 4000km mark, I had been watching carefully. This time it occurred on a garage forecourt, where Debs had seconds before been playing with, and entertaining the thought of keeping, one of several very sweet puppies.
Having taken the obligatory photo, we carried on towards some ruins that I had seen marked on the map. My theory being that we could probably camp near or amongst them. What I hadn't accounted for was that the would be at the top of a very steep hill! Fortunately for us, there was a small clump of woodland nearby, which although a little brambly, has turned out to be a good camping spot.
We will once again have to contend with the traffic noise, but so far there are no signs of any cockerels!
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