Tuesday November 19
Cycle: 54.93km//3hr 51min//14.23km/hr
Today we awoke to a Turkish man calling from outside our tent. Our Turkish is limited - about 10 words - none of which we heard, making things a little awkward. Genida!! offered Jenn, quickly deploying her distraction strategy of being overly friendly. She proceeded outside of the tent, and after a largely incomprehensible exchange, was offered ekmek and smiles. She managed to understand "dog", a sweeping hand gesture, and determined it must have been his dog that we heard all night.
Breaking camp was a slow process, slowed by the thick fog that hung on everything, blocking out the sun, and soaking the tent. Rolling out at 10 am, we'd gone about 10m when Jenn realized that her front tire was flat .True, nasty sharp thorn bushes peppered our otherwise lovely camping spot. It was a quick fix, and we were on the road again. The next 30 km would be very cold and even quieter - courtesy of the fog which would suddenly lift and descend for reasons I couldn't determine. Was it that we passed a river? Was it that we gained elevation? Was it that we were in a valley ? Fog knows. En route we passed a mixture of villages, small to big, and were universally stared at by everyone. I don't think this area of Turkey sees many tourists, especially cycle tourists, both girls, in November. We picnicked at an abandoned fruit stand - a telling sign of the season, before rejoined a highway heading west to the coast. Thankfully, we left behind the major hills, trading them for smooth new tarmac.
Around 4PM we spotted a forest suitable for camping, far away from goats, fields, and barking dogs. It was still early when we arrived, and light, so Madalene went for a stroll to scope out the place. Once it was properly dark, Madalene built a fire (our second fire of the trip) to ward off cold, and raise our spirits. We went to bed at a respectable 8PM, stones from the fire transferring warmth into the tent (and melting a bag or two).
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| The view from our tent epitomized fall. |
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| The fog was cold and wet, making breaking camp a difficult task. |
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| One of the offending thorn trees that must have given Jenn's bike a flat. In the background, hanging bread, for keeping the herd dogs motivated. |
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| Jenn fixed the flat in a jiffy, and we were off again. |
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| This was a hard day to get through. Something about the dark, damp, and quietening fog, and the undeniable truth that winter is coming, it not already here. |
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| Fires are good for the soul. So are fire roasted vegetables! |
