To the Sea with Erkin

This morning, it was once again difficult to get going. I got up well and was soon ready to leave, but it was raining. At the same time, I was chatting again with Gabriel and Samuel. Stay and chat comfortably or ride into the rain? Not an easy choice. But at a quarter to twelve, I finally had to leave, rain or not.

Following Gabriel’s recommendation, I adjusted my route a bit so that it was no longer entirely on small roads. This reduced the distance from about 124 km to roughly 103 km, and I had some confidence that the roads would be good, since Gabriel had already ridden the route. He himself, however, would now just take the most direct road, which would be about 90 km. But I didn’t want to spend the whole day riding on a big road with heavy traffic. I’ll probably get plenty of that tomorrow on the way to Istanbul.

The first few kilometers were even tougher than yesterday. After an hour of riding, my odometer had only just passed 15 km. It was still constantly up and down—not quite as much as yesterday, but never really flat. At the beginning, it was also difficult to get out of the city due to many traffic lights and even more traffic. And it was raining. The forecast said it would stop around 2 p.m., but that didn’t really happen.

Then I had another flat tire. My mood hit its lowest point of the day. Luckily, there was a bus stop shelter nearby, so I could at least fix my bike in the dry. Strangely, I couldn’t find the hole in the tube, not even when checking it in a puddle next to the stop. Maybe it was just an issue with the valve. The repair still took me about 30 minutes, and time was scarce today.

But after that, things suddenly got much better. The rain finally stopped, and I could ride more easily again. While I was riding through a larger village, two young guys in a car spoke to me. They asked if I was hungry. I said no, because I wanted to keep going. They also asked if I had a place to stay. I said yes, and then they asked if everything was really okay. After I confirmed again, they said, “Okay, if everything’s fine with you, then we’ll go…” This was exactly the kind of hospitality I had heard so much about. Samuel and Gabriel had experienced it frequently as well. If I had said I was hungry, they would probably have invited me to eat, and afterward—at least according to Gabriel’s experience—it might have turned into a relaxed evening, and they might have told me to just stay. It’s truly incredible hospitality, and it noticeably lifted my mood. It’s just wonderful to be traveling in a country like this.

I didn’t want to linger, not only because I was running late to my next Warmshowers host, but also because my friend Erkin wanted to join me from today. However, things didn’t seem to be going smoothly for him either. He was coming from far away by car and was quite delayed because he had an issue with his bike and had to take it to a mechanic. Now he was on his way to me with his cousin. In the end, they caught up with me about 13 km before the destination. But Erkin really wanted to ride a bit with me—that was, after all, why he had come.

The last few kilometers were mostly downhill, so despite everything, I arrived at my accommodation just before 6:30 p.m. Not exactly early, but not too late either. There was still time for a short walk by the sea. Erkin didn’t stay here; he found accommodation nearby with his cousin. But tomorrow we can ride together all day, and I’m really looking forward to that. And as mentioned, tomorrow I’ll head to Istanbul. I can’t wait. The weather forecast also looks very good—sunshine without clouds and up to 18°C! Everything is set for the final stage of this first phase of my journey…