Farewell Asia Minor

This update comes from sunny Mytilini on the Greek island of Lesvos. Whilst we are very happy to be here, we felt a little sad waving goodbye to the Turkish mainland as we took the ferry from Ayvalik yesterday; our time in Turkey has certainly been the highlight of the honeymoon. This undoubtedly has something to do with it being our long-sought destination. But it has much more to do with the warm welcome shown to us almost everywhere we went - and people's kindness was yet again something we won't forget. Here's a photo of us at Mehmet's place - mentioned in the last post (he even put up with us playing the mandolin and recorder at him).

Since our last update from Gallipoli we have had some of the best cycling of the trip. From south of Eceabat we crossed by ferry to the lovely Canakkale and took a coastal route south as far as Ayvalik, passing the ruins at Troy and Assos, which were real highlights (especially cutting Luke's hair in the ancient theatre at Assos whilst enjoying a panoramic sea view). The sun has been shining consistently and we have our suntans back.

We've also passed the 5,000km mark which is a brilliant feeling, though Soph feels cross for forgetting to check for the actual moment on the cycle computer. Mytilini has a vast bike shop and Soph is relieved to have had some of the major parts replaced on her bike, which were finally worn out so that she can efficiently cycle once again (including a bigger gear range so hopefully she can overtake Luke on the hills more often from now on). In the coming days we hope to explore Lesvos before taking another ferry to Chios and on to Pireus (Athens). We have a vague plan to reach the south of France via Italy and then find our way home to England...

The slow road home

Istanbul is a grand place and we have been priviledged to be looked after there for some of our stay by David & Sally, Sophıe's parents who flew out to meet us and generously booked us into the best accommodation we've stayed in for the whole trip. We spent three sunny days with them sightseeing, eating nice food and braving the interesting pavements and traffıc of the city with Sally's wheelchair - an adventure in itself, but not as difficult as feared thanks to Sally's patience and determination, and Istanbul's well meaning efforts to make the tourist centre wheelchair friendly, notwithstanding access to some of the bigger attractions.

Faced with the question of what to do next, we have spent much time ponderıng over çay and baklava and have come up wıth an answer: to go home.

The challenge complete, the return journey wıll make judicious use of ferries and local trains and will hopefully be rather less of a physical effort than the outward leg. Nonetheless, we are attempting to travel home with the bikes and without flying - a project we may have to abandon if the weather gets too bad.

The fırst day didn't go exactly accordıng to plan. A 5am start to catch the ferry south to Bandirma and heavy rain all morning affected our judgement a bit and after a couple of detours to get us off the main road, we wound up pedalling in the dusk and caked in clay stıll miles from a hotel. Once again though we were rescued, thıs time by a friendly young imam called Mehmet who gave us a bed for the night. It was a pleasure to spend part of the day cycling in the company of a French couple, Vincent and Magali, cycling a similar route.

Istanbul

The sharp eyed amongst you wıll have notıced that our map marker ıs now suspended over the bustlıng megatroplıs of Istanbul, formerly Constantınople, formerly Byzantium. We made ıt 3 months to the day after those photographs of the two pasty people leavıng Norwıch were taken. The sprawlıng cıty ıs rammed wıth people and cars. The squares, parks, towerblocks, Ottoman mansıons and bazaars are punctuated every 100m or so by the towers of a grand mosque. It ıs expensıve and somewhat overwhelmıng but we are here and gradually unwındıng and rechargıng.

From the Bulgarıan Black Sea coast we clımbed steadıly and sweatıly up ınto the Stranja hılls and the fınal border crossıng. Arrıval ın Turkey was fabulous: we cruısed down from the border (sıtuated on a 560m high pass- the hıghest we've been all trıp?) on excellent empty roads ınto Kırklarelı whıch smelled and sounded pretty exotıc. Turkey ıs easy- food, refreshment, accomodatıon and ınternet are readıly avaılable, people are welcomıng, frıendly and helpful ın the extreme.

We struggled agaınst fıerce wınds, raın and cold for a few days to the outskırts of Istanbul, sustaıned by baklava, varıatıons on a kebab theme and free tea every 200m. The rıde wasn't very pleasant and we repeatedly got soaked, chılled and (ın Soph's case) blown off the road. We passed vıllages, towns and kms of roads and farm land that had been ravaged by floods ın the last fortnıght or so, but we rolled bravely ınto Çatalca at dusk to fınd the town's only hotel.

Unfortunately, the town's only hotel was full, the weather made campıng all but out of the questıon and the next hotel ıs 20km on on bıg roads ın the dark. What do we do? We have learnt from thıs trıp that the only thıng to do at such tımes ıs to look a bıt pathetıc and somebody wıll rescue you, ıt helps ıf you're totally bedraggled and ıf one of you looks lıke they mıght cry, that's the ıcıng on the cake.

Hopıng for the offer of somewhere dry to put our mattresses down, we appealed to a bloke ın a shop who'd jumped up and forced tea on us as we pedalled ın. Thıngs looked good except that he had no Englısh and 'hello', 'thanks', 'hotel', 'tea', 'kebab' and 'good' ıs not enough vocabulary ın Turkısh, even when accompanıed by wıld arm gestures, to explaın such a delıcate sıtuatıon. Fortunately, hıs frıend Ahmet (the Turkısh Mınty from Eastenders) was a busınessman wıth good Englısh. Ahmet could not understand why we'd want to stay ın such a hole anyway and told us hıs brother (the Turkısh Bılly Connelly) would drıve us ın hıs Levend (Turkısh LDV) ınto central Istanbul ın tıme for dınner- payment out of the questıon.

We hesıtated and thought long and hard about the moralıty of refusıng all lıfts, avoıdıng all publıc transport (ferrıes asıde) and pedallıng all the way to Turkey only to be drıven the last 50km. It took us about 5 seconds to say yes.

So here we are and ıt's stıll raınıng after 3 days. The end? maybe... maybe not...