Maggie's Rambles

Sleeping location: The edge of Guver Canyon, near Antalya, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 57 / 5425 Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 46100 Campsite rank: #1 Day in three words: In precarious positions It was sad saying goodbye to M&D and to the easy life of the last few days. It probably helped that I was in a (as it turned out, totally unnecessary) rush to get to the bus station* and it wasn’t drawn out. I had confirmed that taking a bike on the bus would be ok the day before, and the man confirmed again and said to wait for the bus. As it turned out the bus was very much mini, and the driver had not been consulted about this in advance. His solution was to take all my luggage off Maggie and unceremoniously hoik her up onto the the roof, where she was tied down with some very thin looking rope. I had absolutely no input in this process and was terrified he would either bash her around or not tie her up properly, but she stayed put for 150km and didn’t seem worse for

Sleeping location: Mum and Dad’s house, Kalkan, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 0 / 5368 Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 45900 Times I left the house: 2 Day in three words: Poolside mechanical session A blissful three days spent doing admin and mechanical jobs by the pool, with frequent dips to cool down. Maggie got a substantial strip down and clean, and we replaced a fair few parts. She’s now gleaming and ready to be bashed around on the flight to Jordan. Two problems have been kicked down the road for now due to lack of the right tools and replacement parts; the bottom bracket (or possibly left pedal bearing) keeps clicking, and the chainrings are getting quite worn. Hopefully both will make it to Ethiopia, which is my next chance for a supply package. Mum and dad were both extremely helpful throughout my time here, dad with Maggie assistance and mum with clothes washing and general motherly benevolence. Not sure I said thank you enough in person, but I know they both r

Sleeping location: Mum and Dad’s house, Kalkan, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 106 / 5368 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 45900 % of Turkey successfully crossed by dad without incident: 99 Day in three words: Dog bites dad At breakfast we picked up the last pocket eggs of the trip, and also saw the first western tourists since Istanbul (Germans in this case). No sign of Rusty on our way out of Elmali. Stay strong Rusty. The first 35km was along another wide flat valley, this one full of apples as expected. Dad expressed a desire to try one, so he went back to his West Country roots and engaged in a spot of scrumping at the side of the road. Maybe the pocket eggs have given him a taste for theft. Along this section there was a pesky headwind, and for the first time since the Macedonia/Bulgaria border (two and a half weeks ago!) some rain. We had coffee and eggs in Gombe, a town at 1300m which is surrounded by mountains which are way bigger than that. It was pretty atm

Sleeping location: Otel Tu-Ba, Elmali, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 125 / 5262 Estimated climb (m today/total): 900 / 44900 Turkish food bingo: HOUSE! Day in three words: Along the highways A mostly unremarkable day along the big roads which are often the only way through the mountains and valleys here. The first 45km was dead flat or a slight climb along wide valleys full of wheat and cows. It’s fascinating how the conditions change from one valley to the next, both in terms of natural vegetation and what crops are grown. As the road was quiet we rode side by side and had a long chat about the state of the world/politics, which was mostly just me banging on about the evils of capitalism. We stopped for coffee in a nice shady town square where everyone was playing this mysterious game with numbered tiles. After this there was a gentle climb for a long way, but it was made more difficult by the heat, which was the hottest since I first arrived in Turkey. In Korkuteli we sto

Sleeping location: Orel Buru, Bucuk , Turkey Distance (km today/total): 87 / 5137 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1100 / 44000 Height of Sagalassos AND years since it was abandoned: ca 1400 Day in three words: Heights and history The (surprisingly good) hotel breakfast provided the first pocket eggs in a few days, and further bounty was picked up at a bike shop in town where dad bought two new inners. This takes his total stash to three spares; I bet he doesn’t get another puncture now. From Isparta we zipped down the dual carriageway as it was the only route down a steep sided valley. Thankfully it was very quiet, and very quick, and we covered the first 17km in half an hour. From here we climbed up into another valley over a beautiful pass, all forest and rugged mountain. After climbing gradually up the valley we reached Aglasun, a small town at the foot of the mountains, to pick up some bits for lunch. There was a huge plane tree in the town square that was 1000 years old, wh

Sleeping location: Hilton, (This is) Isparta, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 110 / 5050 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1200 / 42900 Amount of the day which was beautiful: 100% Day in three words: Lakes and mountains After some quick pastries and coffees in a bakery we set off back along the valley of fruit. The day was cloudless and everything was very pretty, although it was a cold start to the day. Along this road we passed a huge temporary camp, probably at least 1000 people living in tents made of metal frames and blue tarp material. These are probably for refugees and/or migrant workers who come here in summer to pick the fruit - dad said that one of the grape pickers yesterday said he was from Afghanistan. I hope they find somewhere else for winter because it will be bloody cold in a tent up here at 900m. At the end of the valley road we reached Lake Egirdir and turned right to follow the road along its shore. The water was lit bright blue and green by the sun and th

Sleeping location: Elit Orel, Senirkent, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 118 / 4940 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 41700 Free grapes received: 2kg Day in three words: Lumps, bumps, grapes With no breakfast at the villas, pocket eggs were a distant dream and we had to settle for a breakfast in a coffee shop on the outskirts of Afyon. After this we headed through the town itself, which was quite nice. It has an enormous rock with a fortress atop, right in the middle of town, which makes for some good views every time it pops into view between buildings. There was also a beautiful old mosque on a leafy square, which we stopped and admired through our cameras. The route after this involved crossing three valleys, with a climb after each one to get into the next. The going was pretty good as we a had a tailwind again and the climbs weren’t too taxing, although the surface was wildly variable and would often rattle you to death for several km at a time. Dad’s tyres can’t cop

Sleeping location: Dundar Termal Villas, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 102 / 4822 Estimated climb (m today/total): 500 / 40700 Apparent main products of the region: geese and potatoes* Day in three words: Across the plains *It was too hard doing number-based stats of the day so I’m moving to a more general stat approach. Sorry Andy and James. As the hilton breakfast was uninspiring and not included in the price we went out to get some at a cafe we’d spent he night before. We were foolishly coerced into buying the biggest one, which was like a normal Turkish breakfast (cheese, olives, eggs, various preserves, tomatoes and cucumbers, bread and tea) but also for some reason inexplicably included a huge bowl of chips and a huge bowl of what appeared to be fondue. It was all tasty but the total amount of food was insane and we didn't even get close to finishing it. This fuelled us up nicely for an easy run across very flat land, with a good surface and a nice

Sleeping location: Hilton Garden, Kutahya, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 89 / 4720 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1100 / 40200 Plums from the tree: 12 Day in three words: Water and tea Breakfast provided some more pocket eggs, as well as little pots to carry jam that were made of the same material as ice cream cones. After you use the jam, you eat the sweet little treat. Genius. On the way out of town we stopped to buy dad an inner tube and me some new cycling gloves. My beloved rapha wool and leather ones have given up after 6500+ very comfy km, and the right palm is now mostly just duct tape. The new ones were £4 and have 5x as much padding, but are somehow less comfy. We were straight into a series of climbs up to 1100m, but they were less tough than yesterday and as we’re at higher altitude it’s a little cooler. We stopped for coffee in a little town where we were the centre of attention, including from an older guy who’d lived in Germany and tried to speak to us in G

Sleeping location: Hotel Cali, Bozuyuk, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 95 / 4631 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1800 / 39100 Km between opportunities to buy water: 50 Day in three words: The uphill struggle After loading up at the hotel breakfast (including two pocket eggs, which are becoming a bit of a tradition and were very useful for lunch) we set off almost immediately uphill. This was made a bit difficult because my front derailleur stopped working and was only repaired when Dad came to the rescue. His solution of “oil it then whack it a bit” worked perfectly, and a small stone was apparently expelled from the mechanism with the first whack. Subsequent whacks improved things further and it’s now shifting better than it has for ages. Dads know. The terrain for the day was lots of climbing, a lot of it steep, and a net gain of about 700m. This made things really tough as it was cloudless and the sun was beating down. We went a pretty backcountry route through forests a

Sleeping location: Hotel Zeytin Bahcesi, Iznik, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 111 / 4536 Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 37300 Types of fruit: 20ish Day in three words: Turkey redeems itself After rinsing the hotel breakfast for eggs and halva we set off out of Istanbul. This involved navigating the chaotic cobbled streets down to the docks, then taking the passenger ferry over to Asia. I did this the last time I was in Istanbul and it was just as fun this time, with great views over this beautiful city from every angle. On the way out on the Asian side we also stumbled across a bike shop that sold the specific chain that Maggie takes,* which most major UK online bike shops don’t even stock. Result. The way out of Istanbul then turned out to be a wonderful seafront cycle lane which went on for about 30km. It was glorious and it pains me to think that this might have existed on my way into Istanbul, when I took a dual carriageway into town instead. We then went on the D

Sleeping location: Beyhan Hotel, Istanbul Distance (km today/total): 0 / 4425 Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 36500 Dried fruit purchased: 2kg Day in three words: Istanbul is lovely A rest day with the first half spent on bike maintenance and internet admin, and the second half spent wandering around with my dad. I’ve been to Istanbul before so wasn’t in sightseeing mode, but it really is the most magnificent place to just walk around and take in the sights, sounds and smells. At the Hagia Sofia I spotted a touring cyclist from afar and went to say hi, then realised it was Andreas from back in Plovdiv. We had a catchup and then he headed off to his hostel, then eventually Vietnam. We spent the day grazing from the various street food sellers, including one guy who sold “mini melons” that were kind of like short fat cucumbers. I had never realised that a cucumber is really just a long savoury melon. Mind blown. At the spice market we picked up a LOT of dried fruit for snack

Sleeping location: Beyhan Hotel, Istanbul Distance (km today/total): 120 / 4425 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1000 / 36500 Distance from start of Istanbul to the centre: 70km Day in three words: Istanbul is big I knew from the off that today was going to be another 100 odd km of the same dual carriageway, with the same headwind, with even more traffic, but that there was a kebab and a healthy bag of achievement waiting for me at the other end: the end of Europe. The morning was indeed a dull grind, apart from the nicest Turkish petrol station bathroom yet* which had a robotic toilet, woodland decor and loads of fancy smells. After 40km I reached the sea and basically the start of Istanbul. After this everything got extremely hectic and mostly unpleasant. The traffic was relentless and the Turkish way of driving involves filling up available space as quickly as possible, with the existence of a cyclist in that space only of mild interest. I can see why Lachlan Morton on Outsk

Sleeping location: Grand Park Hotel, Çorlu, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 138 / 4305 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1100 / 35500 Litres of fluid drunk throughout day: About 12 Day in three words: Setback after setback An absolutely rubbish day during which everything seemed to go against me. Things actually started off pretty nicely; I woke up from a combination of morning chill and the first call to prayer, then packed up quickly and headed into Edirne. I was heading east so the sun was rising behind the huge Selimiye Mosque that the city is most famous for, which was very beautiful and atmospheric. The mosque itself was absolutely magnificent, and I spent a bit of time wandering around it. After that I went to pick up some bread, pastries and coffee, but misjudged and ended up going to a place that only served borek and tea, but the man was nice so I stayed anyway. After all this I was still away by 8.30 - the day was going well so far. It then turned out that the plann

Sleeping location: Patch of woodland a few km W of Edirne, Turkey Distance (km today/total): 115 / 4167 Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 34400 Apparent soldier:dog ratio in the Turkish army: 20:1 Day in three words: Under military escort I got up early and ate my oats before heading up for a look round Perperikon. I was in fact so early that the ticket desk wasn’t yet open, so I went up and figured I would pay on the way out. On the way up to the site I was befriended by a weird looking dog that I called Oscar, who devotedly followed me around the whole time I was there. The site itself was pretty interesting, with bits of it dating from the Bronze Age up to medieval times. It was in an atmospheric setting up on a hilltop, and I had it to myself for the whole hour I was there (apart from Oscar). Thankfully Oscar did not charge me for a guided tour as I left, and even better the man now on the ticket desk refused payment after asking if I had cycled here. Result. After that

Sleeping location: Thistly but beautiful meadow close to Perperikon, Bulgaria Distance (km today/total): 103 / 4052 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1400 / 33600 Number of fish churches I have now seen in my life: 1 Day in three words: Upset tummy blues I set out from Plovdiv in reasonable time, going via Lidl which I can attest is as crap (but cheap) here as it is everywhere. On the advice of my dad I’d adjusted the route slightly to go via the ancient city of Perperikon, which was a bit more distance and a lot more climb but avoided staying on the main road for almost 200km. The first 20km out of Plovdiv was on a huge motorway, but thankfully it had the Shoulder of Dreams, which was wide and smooth as silk. In the first town I stopped for coffee and had a nice conversation with a man in a bizarre mixture of English, German, Bulgarian, Russian and Turkish. My dad had also recommended a fortress here, which was quite nice, but had neglected to mention that there was also “The Fis

Sleeping location: Weird airbnb, Plovdiv, Bulgaria Distance (km today/total): 50 / 3949 Estimated climb (m today/total): 100 / 32200 % of Plovdiv’s old town suitable for cycling: 0 Day in three words: Friends! Cycling friends! We all woke up about the same time and broke camp in a relaxed fashion. I made coffee for everyone but it was at best 6/10 - I think my gas canister is on its last legs and can’t produce enough power to boil water properly, so the coffee doesn’t brew quite right. At some point very soon I will have to learn how to use the stove with petrol/kerosene, otherwise there will be no coffee for anyone, ever again. We set off as a team for Plovdiv over a pretty relaxed and uneventful morning. The highlight was seeing a sign by the road that simply said “Danger Zone”, meaning we were quite literally on the highway to the danger zone. In Plovdiv we went for lunch as a group, plus Nina’s Bulgarian friend whose name I don’t remember but was very nice. Andreas left aft

Sleeping location: By a river a few km west of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria Distance (km today/total): 107 / 3899 Estimated climb (m today/total): 700 / 32100 New friends: 3 Day in three words: Through the mountains After a relaxing lie in (until 8am!!!) I ate some overnight oats, drank some coffee and said goodbye to my lovely campsite. Last night’s dirt road carried on for about 4km, getting steadily worse but still rideable. Abruptly the road ran out and I had to follow a hiking trail for the final 2km. It wasn’t too bad as it was downhill, so I could “walk” the bike and steer it round the dodgy bits, and it was through a beautiful quiet forest which was only spoiled by me clonking Maggie around. Hilariously this section was still shown as a continuation of the 6206 road on google maps. After an hour or so I came out onto tarmac again, so the dirt road gamble was definitely worth it, although it would have been a lot worse in wet weather or going the other way. After this the route

Sleeping location: By a babbling brook at 1600m, a few km east of the 7 Rila Lakes Lift, Bulgaria Distance (km today/total): 63 / 3792 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1600 / 31400 The main chunk of the climb up here: 800m in 12km Day in three words: Rila high up* *Pun works best in a Yorkshire accent Firstly, an important update on the egg situation from yesterday. It turned out 6 (SIX) of them had broken, so breakfast was scaled down to bread and cheese as I was in no mood for eggs by now. I broke camp in a leisurely fashion again, perhaps too leisurely as it was 10.30 by the time I finally set off. On the way back to the road I had a really funny incident with a herd of goats/sheep and their shepherd*. He was trying to get them to follow him but when they saw me coming along the track they all froze. He kept whistling and I kept trying to hide but they refused to move for a few minutes. Eventually I decided to move forward in the hope that it would “push” them towards him, b

Sleeping location: Hidden in the woods near Novi Chiflik, Bulgaria Distance (km today/total): 99 / 3729 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1400 / 29800 Terminal velocity of Maggie: 55kph Day in three words: Border up top The day started off surprisingly cold and I had to put on a couple of extra layers to stay snuggled in the hammock for a bit. As the time pressure is off a bit now I had a pretty relaxed start to the morning, watched some Netflix then made coffee and eggs for breakfast. Then I headed back to the petrol station to use their toilets and wifi again (hehe) and set off. The paper towel dispenser was one of those motion sensor automatic ones, and the noise sounded exactly like the first note of Jump Around by House of Pain. The terrain for most of the morning was this wide open scrubland, often with goats and little trees the only thing for miles. It was pretty quiet on the road, despite this being the Macedonian equivalent of the A12, which made for relaxed riding. Af

Sleeping location: Hidden in the woods near Vojnik, Macedonia Distance (km today/total): 57 / 3630 Estimated climb (m today/total): 700 / 28400 Average size of dogs involved in chase: spaniel Day in three words: Fed and watered I spent the majority of my 20 hours in Skopje eating, drinking and lying in bed, which was absolutely great. Food in particular has been something I’ve neglected at times on this trip, so I’ll take any opportunity for a proper munch (or in this case, three opportunities). I had a little cycle through Skopje centre but it’s still the same combination of weird and unremarkable that I remember. I did get a fist bump from a guy selling paintings though. Set off about 2.30 (or twenty past kebab) for a short day towards a wild camp spot I’d seen on the app iOverlander, as from google maps it looked like pretty difficult terrain to find anything good. This hypothesis was proved correct by the 50km of semi-rural scrubland and run down towns I went through after

Sleeping location: Hotel Pine, Skopje, Macedonia Distance (km today/total): 131 / 3573 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1400 / 27700 Lorries overtaken on big descent: 3 Day in three words: Pure Balkan joy After the nonsense of the last couple of days, today was a day that was everything I had hoped from cycling the Balkans, and was up there as one of the best days of the trip so far. Things started off with a long gentle climb from my overnight spot at about 650m to the day’s peak at 1300m. This was actually really great as climbs go, a nice steady gradient up a gorgeous river valley/gorge with a decent surface and hardly any cars. But it was surpassed, and then some, by an absolutely amazing descent. 15km with hardly any pedalling or braking, at an average of about 50kph, round beautiful sweeping bend after bend. It was glorious. The only downer was seeing the aftermath of a massive head on collision between two cars near the bottom - their occupants were nowhere to be seen, whi

Sleeping location: A semi-beach on the finger of the reservoir about 10km E of Debar, Macedonia Distance (km today/total): 87 / 3442 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1600 / 26300 Bike races with Albanian children (all won eventually): 5 Day in three words: I love tarmac I started early in an attempt to knock off the rest of the climb/push as quickly as possible, and managed to cover the 200m of climb in 2km by 7am. On the home straight! Nope, I hadn’t reckoned with my own ineptitude and the further surprises of the mountain “roads” around here. Firstly, I somehow missed a turning and dropped down off the ridgeline that I was supposed to be following. I’d lost about 250m of height by the time I realised, and the way back to the route was up the worst section yet. Mostly big stones, pitching up to 30%. I had to ferry the panniers again, but for a couple of km this time, and it took ages. Once back on the “main road” I thought again that I was on the home straight, but this was stil

Sleeping location: Off the side of a mountain “road” at about 1100m, east of Zall-Bastar, Albania Distance (km today/total): 70 / 3355 Estimated climb (m today/total): 1500 / 24700 Time taken to do last 10km: 3hrs Day in three words: Fancy a hike? The day started with the sort of sleepy befuddlement that you often get when you arrive in a new country after an overnight journey. My first task was to withdraw some cash, which was quite confusing because the first ATM gave out Euros and I almost ordered 5000 before I realised this. Once I found one that dispensed Lek I got my 5000 (about £40), which obviously came out as a single note that would be useless in most shops. In order to break it I went to the fanciest looking cafe possible, which also employed the world’s most suavest waiter. His response on receiving the note was to make a sort of “UUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHH” sound, which more than made up for the previous hassle. After this I checked the route, which actually only includ

Sleeping location: A cabin aboard the Rigel III to Albania Distance (km today/total): 2 / 3285 Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 23200 Number of owls in our Airbnb: 178 Days in three words: Bari is love A blissful four days spent not doing very much in Bari. The airbnb we booked was absolutely great, with an amazing balcony with views over the port, and we spent much of our time on that, sunbathing or playing cards at the table or listening to 80s music and watching the lighthouse flash in the distance.  The apartment was also in the middle of the old town, so going out to do any kind of errand meant walking through its maze of winding streets, accidentally going the wrong way and seeing some more of the beautiful city.  Bari has so much history but the old town is still very much a place where people live, and after dark it really came alive - people sat out on the street on their own chairs, and filled up the restaurants and bars every night I was there. A few individual m