Day Fifty-Eight

09/07/25 - Day Fifty-Eight

Today’s plans went almost immediately out of the window. I rose early planning to crunch out the 70 miles to Edirne in turkey in time to try and get my bike welded, then camp just outside the city. On leaving camp at 7am, I got a puncture from a piece of glass on the track leading to the road. I patched it relatively quickly but then noticed my wheel wasn’t radially trued, and the brakes needed adjusting. I then left proper at almost 8am, momentum killed. I stopped for breakfast and a coffee in a park to boost my morale, by which point Isabel and Sam had caught me up! I then just rode with them the rest of the day to Edirne. 

We crunched through the miles, picking up a new friend just before the Greek border. Henry, from Belgium, on his way to Baku! We ploughed on as a unit into the heat of the day, as it hit 37 degrees we decided to stop. after a tantalisingly close glimpse of the river, its proved inaccessible. We settled to stop in a village, and a kindly lady in a shop showed us the secret hose. We thanked her and the others bought lunch, and we all got water. We took turns to hose ourselves down, delighting in the instant refreshment. Lunch done, we pressed on for the second border of the day, Turkey! The guard checked a bag of ours each and we were through, despite some doubt about my passport picture from when I was 16! 

Turkey breathed some fresh air and wonder into us all, as we rode over the bridge into town, spotting the great mosques in all their glory. Isabels excitement to be returning was both palpable and contagious. The Islamic world! A first for me. We checked out the main mosque from outside, then headed to a cafe for a cay tea. Lots of sugar like the locals would, and it went down a treat. We took it in turns to visit the interior of the mosque - another first for me - and withdrew some lira at the same time. I then had a shocking awakening in the toilet and the lack of toilet paper, or bum gun like in south east asia. Merely a tap and a jug. I washed my hands thoroughly more than twice, making sure to get right under my nails. Moments like these are what it’s all about! I couldn’t help but laugh at my naivety. 

The others wanted food so I reluctantly was seduced by a Lahmacun and Ayran. We pedalled out of the city into a nearly full moon. I was enraptured by the change of pace that turkey had brought. I was sad the leave the brutalist architecture of the balkans, but excited by the lands to come. A feeling that is hard to capture in words: hope, freedom, joy. Something like this. Beauty, and a zest for life? Whatever it was, it was in the air, and I breathed it in, in deep lungfuls - greedy to get my share. 

We bolted down the highway for several kilometres before veering off, finding a field side camp with brutal efficiency. It was a scramble to set up our tents before the mosquitoes devoured us by mere multitude! I got a bizarre thrill out of it, the others maybe less so. I felt slightly unhinged as I exclaimed that moments like these are maybe some that’ll stick with us the most. Type two fun at its sadistic best. It’s blows a firm wind as I write this, so for once I don’t lay sweating in my tent…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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