Day 47
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 and fields and villages with more dogs than people, which made it impossible to find anywhere to buy food or water. Luckily we had stocked up in the last town and had about 7 litres between us, but we burned through almost all of this before the next shop. We also had a lot of dried fruit and a bread, which when combined with the pocket eggs and some Bulgarian chilli jam made for a pretty good lunchtime sandwich. Turkey has provided some excellent cycling snacks - Turkish Delight and semi-dried figs are about 1000 times better than gels or protein bars.
After lunch the scenery switched more towards endless mountains and forests in every direction. We were up to 1000m by the end of the climbing and were then treated to a quite fun section of dirt road across the top. Well, I thought it was fun but my Dad less so, he had considerably less wide/knobbly tyres and picked up a puncture at one point. We descended off this road past a little lake and a strange village which looked like all the houses were ruined but was apparently still lived in. A little jaunt down a dual carriageway and we were in Bozuyuk, checking into our weird and strangely dated hotel. My room smells of cigarettes and the wifi doesn't work and I keep expecting to see those girls from the Shining, but I suspect I will still sleep well tonight.
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 and fields and villages with more dogs than people, which made it impossible to find anywhere to buy food or water. Luckily we had stocked up in the last town and had about 7 litres between us, but we burned through almost all of this before the next shop. We also had a lot of dried fruit and a bread, which when combined with the pocket eggs and some Bulgarian chilli jam made for a pretty good lunchtime sandwich. Turkey has provided some excellent cycling snacks - Turkish Delight and semi-dried figs are about 1000 times better than gels or protein bars.
After lunch the scenery switched more towards endless mountains and forests in every direction. We were up to 1000m by the end of the climbing and were then treated to a quite fun section of dirt road across the top. Well, I thought it was fun but my Dad less so, he had considerably less wide/knobbly tyres and picked up a puncture at one point. We descended off this road past a little lake and a strange village which looked like all the houses were ruined but was apparently still lived in. A little jaunt down a dual carriageway and we were in Bozuyuk, checking into our weird and strangely dated hotel. My room smells of cigarettes and the wifi doesn't work and I keep expecting to see those girls from the Shining, but I suspect I will still sleep well tonight.
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