Day 50 (Turkey): Kartal - just past Iznik (leaving Istanbul II)

by markus

today’s distance: 115km
total distance: 3978km
riding time: 6-7h

I woke up too late. I had meant to say goodbye to Fatih in person early in the morning. That didn’t work. He left before 6:30am and I only heard the door close and he was gone by the time I had been out to open the door. Bummer …

Back to bed for some more much-needed sleep. Eventually, Fatih’s and Hussein’s aunt came to pick me up as I was leaving to head to her place. We had breakfast, talked about people we both know. I set out and as soon as I got to the coast, it was clear I would not enjoy yesterday’s tailwind. Completely the opposite. Not terrible, but still … Add a pretty ugly road, sideroads leading you off the track and I soon had it. I was riding next to too many trucks and through too many industrial areas. I looked at the map again and saw that I was close to the ferry station over the bay to Topcular. I decided that it would be the better choice.

After an uneventful ferry ride I continued on the other side until I hit the road to Iznik. It was some good uphill work for an hour with some good views. Not camera-good views given the so-so weather. After a similar downhill, I was out of energy. I could feel it, slowly slugging up the next set of hills. I pulled out at the next store, got my sugar levels back up and continued on with rain setting in. Only slight rain, but temperatures dropped. Dressed up for colder weather and continued to Iznik. I filled up the bags for dinner at the local bazar, got some baklava and was invited for tea at the bakery. Finding a spot wasn’t that easy today, but am now in an olive grove with the rain hopefully staying away.