Day 51 (Turkey): just past Iznik - Yörükcepni

today’s distance: 120km
total distance: 4098km
riding time: 7-8h

The day presented itself with a good number of climbs. It started out with a steepish one, gaining over 500m within less than 6.5km. The good thing was probably that I couldn’t see the top due to the heavy fog only got denser the higher I got. It was also better as it would have been a bit discouraging I guess. The temperature had dropped to below 10C, necessitating a change of clothes on the top and a rather warm setup for the downhill, which was good fun though - albeit short - and soon enough I arrived in the town of Yenisehir. I encountered these scenes, apparently a local celebration for high school students. Though I may be wrong. I was also approached by what seemed like every student. Once an old man got angry when some students said hello, apparently because they weren’t solemn enough in the face of the flag and Atatuerk’s flag (the latter one of course being a slighly blasphemic comment).

Did lunch an hour later in Inegöl and then headed to an internet cafe. Funny things, these internet cafes in Turkey. They seem to do self-censorship for the most part. Youtube is practically blocked everywhere. Flickr however is freely accessible on private connections most of the time, but some of the internet cafes that I’ve been to block it.

I headed out and had decided on taking a route that looked like a straight shot without much traffic to Bozuyuk. Boy was I wrong (or rather the map that depicted a straight line). The start was OK, but then the road simply wound up the side of the hill for 13km, covering roughly 800m in altitude. Again, temperatures had dropped considerably at 1000m. After a brief stop at Pazaryeri I got to Bozuyuk to do some updates on the website and headed out again.

I arrived at Yörükcepni and asked to pitch my tent. Needless to say, this was followed by some tea, at which point I was hoping that I would be pointed where to set up. Nope. Somehow something was planned for me. I had no clue of course, conversation was a slow drag. Problem was that I was extremely hungry and needed food. And I couldn’t just leave of course. Eventually we ended up in a building adjacent to the mosque. Still no food though and certainly too late to fire up the stove. I munched on cookies and fruit. Tomorrow will be food day galore … so will be the days after I hope. People meant well of course and that’s what was important ultimately.

I also wanted to thank Eva for an email she sent me. Eva has more or less stumbled upon the website through mouth-to-mouth propaganda and has just told me that she would like to contribute to the donations for the Tajik village that I am supporting. A big thank you!!! If you want to consider contributing as well, there is more information over here.