I’ve recently got into making video compilations of our travels using the iMovie and Vimeo apps on my phone. So here is is a ‘vlog’ to accompany the blog of our week with Andy and Clare sailing.
Author: annieandpaddy
Embarking on a cycle tour across Asia, the Middle East and Europe on our tandem
Week 1: Sailing the Northern Cyclades with Andy and Clare
We only had a day to sort the boat before Andy and Clare arrived, and the first thing to do was to store tandem in the rear port-side berth. We’re not sure how he feels about being displaced by the boat but hopefully he will get out and about on some of the islands… Andy and Clare arrived late afternoon. The last time we had seen eachother had been outside a restaurant in Bishkek so it felt slightly surreal seeing them pushing their loaded bikes along the marina. They kept us in good spirits the whole week, helped us shift back into the travelling mindset and made great crew members onboard….
Monday & Tuesday
Monday ended up being quite a late one, spent sitting around the dining table drinking beer and red wine. The good weather wasn’t due to roll in until Wednesday so Tuesday was spent storing gear in the hold, rigging the sails, shopping for supplies, blowing up the tender (dinghy) and getting the additional two bikes stored on top of tandem in the spare berth.
The Aegean is characterised by a infamous prevailing wind called the meltemi which blows Northerly throughout the summer months. In the winter the winds can shift from different directions and having looked at the weeks forecast we were expecting a shift from northerly to southerly and back to northerly. Rain wasn’t due to roll in for a good five days.
Taking this all into account Paddy decided to stick to a loop which would keep us in the Northern Cyclades. This would give us plenty of scope to island hop but would mean we wouldn’t have to sail upwind too much to get back to Lavrion.
Wednesday
The next morning the skies were blue, the sea was calm and the wind had dropped (perhaps too much!). We got going with just the jib (smaller, front sail) and headed southerly down past Makronisi island. We were headed to Kea island which would be our first stop. We took a small detour around to the temple of Poseidon at Sounion which sits on a craggy outcrop overlooking the sea. We’d all cycled past the temple ruins from the road on the other side so it was good to see it from this angle.
As we got further out, the wind almost completely died so we ended up motoring a lot of the way. I spotted three dolphins pop up together crossing the boat’s path but despite keeping an eye out they didn’t appear again. After the excitement we laid out our sleeping bags on deck and I enjoyed a nap in the sun.
Thursday
After a breakfast of scrabbled eggs, we all climb into the dinghy and row ashore. This port was home to a small city state called Karathia with a population of around 1500 people and we enjoy exploring the old city ruins, amphitheatre and three temples dedicated to Athena and Apollo. The site offered a great view down to Encore. After practising our stone skimming skills the sun came out and was warm enough for Andy (at least) to swim back.
Again, not much wind so we motored out towards Kithnos island heading to its ‘main port’ of Merikha. Both islands have been quite barren and rocky with a small number of houses dotted here and there.
Parking the boat is often the most stressful time but we got there in the end with the help of a friendly port attendant and Paddy’s manoeuvring skills. Merikha is a tiny, picturesque port with a smattering of quayside cafes and restaurants. Being February everything is mostly closed up and the town is very sleepy. We manage to log onto wifi for a few hours and enjoy a beer in the warm afternoon sun. Andy and Clare have been great company – we love their appreciation of ‘well deserved beers’.
Preferring to be in a secluded spot we motor back north around to Fikiada bay and drop anchor. Clare cooks delicious bean chilli which we follow up with a competitive game of happy families (a game all adults should play with wine and without children).
Friday
We wake up to a greyish morning after quite a windy night. Paddy had to get up early to try and stop all the rigging banging against the mast. The blue sky soon appeared though and although the wind kept up it was a gorgeous morning with lots of white horses on the deep blue water out at sea so a promise of a good sail ahead.
We row ashore to the sand bank which sits in the middle of the bay and enjoy a lovely coastal walk around the headland to the next beach. For a while we search for a hot spring which we had seen marked on a map.
We made an excitable friend along the way who – despite my obvious dismissive attitude – insisted on sticking to me throughout the walk. We never found the hot spring but did enjoy the stroll and after an early lunch of the standard cheese, salad and crisp sandwiches got ready to sail around the headland.
Wanting to avoid another night of rolling around and to avoid Encore drifting too much in this shallow bay Andy and I took a couple of stern lines ashore in the dinghy. In all the excitement Paddy lost his glasses overboard. These have travelled with us since Vietnam and were a sorry loss so Andy volunteered to stick his head under while Paddy rowed around the boat in the dinghy. Despite their best efforts we never found them. We had a quiet evening of reading and film watching that night.
Saturday
We all felt in need of a shower by Saturday morning and so we motored around to Kithnos’ main port and executed a perfect alongside mooring. The beach at this port boasts a natural hot spring which seeps into a shallow pool before running into the sea. We all enjoyed the warm free bath and spent a long time lying in the pool enjoying the sensation of being right next to the sea.
After a tricky manoeuvre off the jetty because of the wind direction we got both sails up and steamed out of the harbour and into 19kn of wind. Today we were headed to Syros island which acts as the main administrative centre for the Cyclades. Andy did most of the helming and it took us a good 3 hours to reach our intended destination. This meant Andy and Clare had to get to grips with the important skills of tea making and sandwich eating while the boat was keeled over.
After an exciting mooring session where the wind kept blowing us off and we nearly left Paddy on the quayside after one of the bow lines came untied, we managed to successfully tie up stern-to and made friends with the local gang of cats who padded down to see what all the commotion was. With the southerly wind keeping the air temperature a touch warmer we enjoyed another peaceful night of beers on deck as the sun set.
Sunday and Monday
Monday was to be the last good day of weather before rain and colder temperatures were due to roll in on Tuesday. We planned to see out this bad patch sheltering in Syros’ capital Hermoupolis. We were also low on provisions and needed somewhere with a good power and water supply. It was a good 3-4 hour sail to reach Hermoupolis and we had some pretty crazy gusts along the way. Paddy took the helm, steering us into a sheltered bay so we could take down the main and just sail into the harbour with the jib.
The town is built like an Amphitheatre around the port and was a very picturesque place to be. Encore was the only boat in the port so we enjoyed excellent service from the port official Thanassis and were well looked after while we were there. In the summer this area of Greece is buzzing with yachts and charter companies so it was kinda cool to be the only ones braving the ‘cold’ weather.
Andy and I were in desperate need of some blogging time and we were able to go on some nice walks around the town. Tuesday was a complete wash out but that was OK as we had enjoyed some late night revelry the night before, having turned Encore into our own little ‘nightclub’. We all enjoyed a long lie in and cooked a warming stew with the leftover red wine.
With the weather looking pretty decent for Wednesday we planned to head back NW to the mainland. We decided it was best to cover the distance over two days, sheltering in a port overnight on Kea before completing the loop back to Lavrion on Thursday.
Wednesday
Getting away by 10am we had a lovely sail and with the wind blowing from behind, Paddy was keen to get the spinnaker up. It was so warm that we all had shorts on and enjoyed the easy morning sailing.
As the afternoon approaches the wind really picks up and we zoom along at 5-6kns. We reach Limin Ay Nikolaou at 4:30pm, drop anchor and enjoy the incredible sunset.
The wind really picked up over night and although we only had a short way to get home it was going to be a bumpy ride, sailing up wind. Paddy took the helm and we all clothed up with our waterproof gear. It was all pretty exciting with the wind picking up to 25kn, Encore’s bow crashing into what were the biggest waves I’ve ever been out in, as we approached the northern tip of Makronisi on a tight starboard tack. The wind headed us and we struggled round the headland.
Wind swept and heart racing we managed to get the sails down and motored into the Lavrion Marina. Ready to enjoy a hot shower and relaxing cup of tea, Paddy and I crawl into our cabin to change and discover that everything is soaking wet. As we pull everything out onto the deck and prise up the storing compartments we discover lots of water washing around underneath. We’re able to salvage most things and then move out into the saloon where we prise up the floor to discover more waterlogged compartments. Andy and Clare were heroes and helped us get rid of most of the water and start drying the waterlogged gear.
After assessing the damage the source of the problem is located and it’s not as bad as it sounds. Not the most ideal end to what was a really lovely week of island hopping but that’s sailing for you!
We finally said goodbye to Andy Clare on Friday as they decided to get back on their bikes and start their cycle west despite the gale force winds. The next time we we see them we will probably all be back in the UK having completed our journeys! Paddy and I now have a week to get Encore sea worthy again before my sister Kate and boyfriend George come out to visit us.
The start of our cycling ‘encore’ !
It feels slightly strange to be back blogging. In total we have now been away from the tandem for a full 6 weeks, enjoying creature comforts back in the UK while catching up with friends and family. We had a lovely time and the trip home cemented many things and hopefully opened up a few new possibilities for when we finally get back.
Our next six weeks won’t see us doing much cycling either as we plan to live on Encore, Dermot’s sailing yacht, while we cruise around the Aegean Sea and wait for the weather to get just that little bit warmer before we cycle north towards Albania. The hope is that the sailing will be a great stop-gap in Greece to ease us back into that travelling mentality before we get going again.
Our only concern is that our fitness levels will be so low by mid-March that those climbs will feel pretty taxing. Fortunately, we decided to give the tandem some important upgrades while we were back including a completely new chain, cassette and smaller front cogs which now means we have a few more lower gears to make the climbs that little bit easier. We also got a bomb proof Surley steel front rack which we are both very excited about.
So we arrived safely back to Lavrion where the boat is currently moored and found everything as we had left it before Xmas. It didn’t take much time to settle back in.
For so many reasons, we are very fortunate to have the use of Encore for the next six weeks. We have had many amazing summer holidays on the boat so we associate being on her with many good times. In this way she feels like a little home away from home…
One of the best things about Encore is that she is big enough to accommodate six people comfortably so it’s easy to have friends come and visit us while we’re here.
We had last seen cyclists Andy and Clare in Kyrgysztan back in June. They had also spent the summer and Autumn steadily making their way across to Europe too and we had always had vague plans of meeting up on the boat in early 2017. A lot of things can change over 7 months when cycle touring though, so we were really glad when they replied to our message confirming that they were still in Greece and had time to come and join us for a week of sailing. With some relatively good weather promised it was time to get back exploring, this time by sail.
FINAL year long Statistics
344 days
122 camping nights (5 temples, 8 campsites) 35%
150 hostels/guest houses/air b&b 44%
49 nights with warm showers 14%
6 Nights with WorkAway host
7 families who took us in
4 nights with friends
4 trains (3 nights)
18 bus/shared taxis (4 night bus)
4 ferries
10 pickup trucks/hitchhiking
138 Days not cycling
WE MADE IT!!!
Just under 12 months ago we were dropped off at Heathrow Airport with six panniers and a styrofoam box containing a tandem. We were headed for Vietnam. This week we officially crossed into mainland Europe and cycled to our intended destination; the boat Encore in Lavrio near Athens.
It’s been pretty great cycling across 13 countries with Paddy long legs… We have climbed 6 peaks over 4000m and 1 over 5000m. Cycled across deserts and through snow blizzards, along mountain ranges and sea coasts. We have slept in our tent 122 times, worn our way through 5 tyres, fixed 25 punctures and replaced 2 spokes. We’ve hitched lifts on cars, trucks, trains, canoes and motorcycles, and cycled nearly 13,400km.
The journey isn’t over but we’re looking forward to coming back to the UK for a month. This is us signing off from the blog for a while. Thanks for following and we wish you a very merry Christmas. We’ll be back writing again in 2017!
Love from the two Londoners and one bike
Here are some of our favourite bits of 2016:
Turkey in Stats
Total Number of Days: 25
Total Distance Cycled: 1044.7km
Average distance per day: 58km (over 18 days)
Shortest Day: 20.6km – hour morning cycle to Bodrum
Longest Day: 103km towards Antalya
Public transport: 2 busses from Georgian border – Ankara – Mersin
Hitch Hiking: 0
Number of punctures: 0
Days of rain: 3
Days of snow: 0
Number of nights camping: 14
Nights at Warm Showers: 4
Nights at WorkAway: 6
Total spent on hotels: £22.60 (1 night)
Days stopped due to illness or injury: 0
Fethiye to Bodrum – our last days in Turkey
We spent a nice day food shopping, eating and relaxing on the beach front in Fethiye with Kathy and Nigel who are both keen cycle tourers too. Before he met Kathy, Nigel had been cycling for 6 years and has been everywhere including all over Europe and South America, a long tour following the full length of the Mississippi River and the famous Cairo to Cape Town tour. Needless to say we had lots to talk about and it was good to hear about their next trip which will see them team up to cycle around New Zealand.
In the morning we visited a local bike shop and made the unusually (for us) snap decision to have a new Shimano cassette and chain fitted to the bike. Initially everything appeared to be working well despite the fact that the shop hadn’t also been able to replace the front cogs. We cycled around Fethiye peer without a problem but as soon as we tackle a hill the new chain now starts to jump off the smallest front cog… It turns out that all the advice is right – once you need to replace the cassette, everything needs to be changed because it all wears together. After some researching on the net by Paddy, we also discover that the cassette we’ve been sold isn’t quite the quality we’d hoped for. Knowing that we had a good few climbs to tackle before getting to Bodrum we decided we were better off going back to the bike shop and having our old chain and cassette put back on – we had come this far with it and had developed some pretty good tactics to prevent it jumping in the easiest gear! We half hoped that the shop might give us a refund for the new parts in light that we had only cycled 3km on them… Unsurprisingly, the shop wouldn’t take the new parts back and so we were kicking ourselves slightly for not doing our homework before buying.
Anyway, these things are all trial and error and we now know for next time! Back on track we start to cycle out of Fethiye when the car in front of us suddenly turns right into a parking bay without any warning or indicating. We are forced to swerve quickly to the right to avoid crashing and start to skid on the wet ground. We both go over, Paddy taking the brunt of the fall. Things escalate and we end up having crossed words with the passenger in the car who was this big mouthy Turkish women. She claimed that we should have been in the cycle lane and this was Turkey not the UK so driving habits were different. This annoyed us because the whole thing was clearly the drivers’ fault.
Anyway, after brushing off most of the dirt we finally get going properly. Bodrum is 240km away which we hoped to complete in 3 and a half days. Despite being delayed first in the bike shop and then on the road we still hoped to get to Koycegiz Lake 77km away.
The day was spent on the main road; not unpleasant but not particularly scenic either. Koycegiz is really beautiful and the Lakeside park offers great camping facilities for 20 Lira a night so it was a great place to stop for the night. 
Onwards the next day and we reach our turn off at Akyaka which will see us leave the main road and take us along the Bodrum peninsula for the next two days. It was really great to be off the main road and we stop at a very swanky harbour for lunch before spending the afternoon cycling along some beautiful small roads with gorgeous coastline to our left.
We reached the small cove of Akbuk and manage to find a local guy to open his little shop so we can stock up on a few things before camping on the beach.
We had two days to reach Bodrum from here before catching the 9:30am ferry to Kos on the 9th of December. It was only 88km but there were two big 500m climbs between us and the town. We spent most of the day getting over these. This would be our last major climb of 2016!!
It was a beautiful cycle up through pine forests and mountains and we enjoyed winding our way up through the small sleepy villages despite it being pretty tough in places! We stop to buy some hand pressed olive oil from this lovely chap who was also selling his own honey, olives and balsamic vinegar outside his house. I wish you could all smell the oil – it’s divine – and we buy a litre. A little taste of Turkey to last us through our time on the boat in Greece.
We dropped down to camp on a beach just around the headland from Bodrum itself. The next day would see us complete the final 16km to the town, and find the campsite situated in the western part. Suddenly it was our last night in Turkey so naturally we enjoyed a few beers overlooking the marina. Tomorrow we catch the ferry to Kos where we can then get the long ferry to Athens.
Discovering Ancient Lycia and cycling the Turquoise Coast
Our five days on Susanne and Orhan’s horse farm were a welcome break from the cycling. Each morning would start at 7:30am with the morning feed followed by the mucking out of the 15 stables.
Our afternoons were often spent separately, Paddy fixing the sink unit in the kitchen and me gardening in the veg patch.
We also spent a lot of time with Emre and his son Met collecting firewood and cutting down trees to fix a couple of rotten beams in the outhouse.
There was plenty of time to relax and we both got addicted to eating all the pomegranates, oranges and grapefruits from the garden.
So after a week stopped on the Workaway farm we left Susanne and Orhan and started our next leg of the Turkish coast. We were heading to Fethiye 370km away.
Day 1 – 57.8km
We didn’t do loads of miles on our first day as we stopped in Antalya for a couple of hours to get a new screen fitted for my iPhone – having dropped and smashed it two days before… While we waited we sat in the sunshine of the main pedestrian square eating sandwiches and looking out across the old city to the sea. Antalya sits on the east side of a large bay. We dropped down to the main road which curves its way round the coast and passed a few nice beaches and coves. After just 58km we decided that a bottle of wine and an early stop was too irresistible. We stopped on the edge of what was obviously an old beach resort area still with beachside changing rooms and delapidated looking pavilions. The whole place was fenced off by barbed wire which initially confused us as there were lots of people picnicking, fishing and generally milling about on the beach. After a short search we spotted a large gap cut into the fence. If the locals were happy to break in so were we. It was lovely sitting on the sand sharing this gorgeous Sunday afternoon with the local families. Lots of people had lit barbecues.
We had got ourselves a half bottle of some very nice Anatolian wine which we sipped on the shoreline looking out across the calm bay, the tantalising smell of kebabs wafting over from the other picnickers. Tanker ships moored in the bay peppered our view. At dusk a large puff of dark smoke rises from each of them in turn as their generators are switched on. Soon clusters of orange lights are floating on the surface and a few lonely stars appear overhead. We copy the locals and get a fire going after dinner and sit reading before climbing into the tent.
Day 2 – 63km
The second day saw us start to cycle through the impressive mountains which run parallel to the coast. They are covered in rich green pine forests. We turn off down to the small village of Cirali planning to find a spot to camp before walking to the Eternal Burning Stones of Chimaera which are best explored at night.
We knew that heavy rain was forecast that evening so finding somewhere undercover was desirable. Camping on the beach in prime tourist spots can be a problem around here. It’s not as bad as it would be in the height of summer though and after chatting with a lovely barman he offers us a space under his awning for that night. By 7:30 the rain is holding off so after dinner we set off on the 90minute walk up to the Chimaera stones which are pretty cool. They have been burning for over 2000 years! A big group of locals had claimed the biggest and most impressive fire toasting marshmallows on long sticks but we found a comfortable spot a few metres away and with our backs warming against the flames we sat talking about the prospect of coming home
When the rain started at 10:30pm it didn’t stop all night and unfortunately we woke in the morning to find that a puddle had formed under the awning right where our tent was… Things were in a worse state than they would have been had we just camped out in the storm – the bottom of our tent was pretty soggy and the rain was forecast to last all day and well into the next evening… so we decided to stay put, book into one of the rooms behind the bar and sit the storm out.
Day 3 – 37km
We managed to dry everything out by the next morning and with the forecast just promising rain again that evening we set off early wanting to reach Finike. The plan was to cycle along the 1km track which connects Cirali to the famous hippy trail, ancient Lycian site of Olympus which sits on the beach just around the headland. Unfortunately, the 24 hours of rain the day before had turned the track into a raging river. We had two options – push the bike across the beach instead and reach Olympus that way or go round by cycling back up to the road 400m up. We decided to push the bike along the sandy, pebbly beach. A tough 20 minutes but it would be much easier than cycling up a steep climb for 90minutes, especially with our cassette in its current condition…
The problem was, was that when we reached the headland we discover that the usual path through the archaeological site was now covered by a lake… To make things worse, while we had been pushing the bike along the sand, a giant rogue wave had come crashing towards us. Paddy had managed to escape but I had been holding the bike at the time and so ended up with very wet feet – not even goretex NorthFace shoes save you if a 2ft wave washes over you…
Our only option now was to find a way with the bags and the bike through the higgledy-piggledy, rocky, overgrown paths which wind their way up through the old ruins. It meant taking the bags through first and then going back to carry, drag and push the tandem through. It took us two hours to cover 1.5km of ground! Here I am with the bike after we finally meet back up with the main path which leads to the ticket office. We had just battled our way through the old amphitheatre arch behind me.
Back on track, we wash down the bike (and my shoes) thoroughly with a hose to make sure no sea water is left and then we get going. Its a really nice ride out of Olympus and we soon link back up to the main road and make good headway.
It stays dry all day and we do manage to reach the long stretch of beach which leads up to Finike. We camp underneath this handy picnic area which are dotted all the way along the shoreline.
Day 4 – 75km
Having stayed dry after another overnight storm hit we wake up early and find snow has been dropped on the mountains above Finike. It’s still raining but thanks to our large roof we eat breakfast and pack down easily. We have an hour of rain on the bike but the weather soon turns pretty good with some nice patches of sunshine. It’s pretty flat for sometime and we speed along stopping to eat lunch on this pebbly beach.
We then turn off the main road down towards Ucagiz which is where we were headed.
When we get there it’s as beautiful as the guidebook promised – normally teeming with tourists in the summer I think we were lucky to be here on the 1st December! The whole place was idyllically sleepy and quiet.
After walking around the harbour for a while we spot a small patch of grass just off the main path next to some old ruins. We pitch out tent and cooked dinner right on the water front over looking the gorgeous harbour. The clouds slowly part and we enjoyed an incredible sunset and then a spectacular nights sky. A couple of locals walk by with a quick glimpse and ‘merhaba’ as we sit drinking our beers and eating dinner. At sunset the Mosque lights up green and rings out with the usual call to prayer; cats flit here and there along the path. The lights from the many boats make silver ribbons across the flat calm water and we watch the last few vessels arrive back to harbour and drop anchor. It’s very sheltered and we have a very peaceful nights sleep.
Day 5 – 52km
To join back up to the main road we had a very hard 20km climb out of Uclgiz the next morning. There was a bit of a headwind but clear blue skies. It was really nice to have an extended cycle away from the main road and we had some lovely views of snowy mountains.
The wind picks up quite a bit in the afternoon but we manage to find a sheltered ‘shelf’ of land in between a few houses on the outskirts of Kalkan. Nobody seemed too bothered about us setting up camp.
Day 6 – 90km
After stopping in Kalkan for a cash machine we got going and ate up the miles towards Fethiye where we would be staying with Kathy, a warm showers host from the UK! After the climb away from Kalkan it wasn’t too hilly and we arrived into Fethiye by 4pm. We met Kathy at her apartment and got fed delicious food and good company that night. Here we will rest up for a day as rain is due tomorrow before completing the last section towards Bodrum!
It’s been a really nice cycle along the Lycian coast. Keen walkers should definitely check out the Lycian Way path which stretches across this stretch of coast.
Mersin to Topalli near Antalya / 427.7km
Day 1 – half day 45.5km
We really liked staying with Kadir and his housemates. It was really interesting talking to them about the current situation here in Turkey with Erdegon’s illiberal agenda. Kadir is Kurdish so it was good to get his perspective on the PKK and Kurdish history.
He joined us for our first 10km out of Mersin the next afternoon. The city is actually a really big place with hundreds of new apartment blocks constructed in neat lines along the coast line. They go on for miles… and we were caught on the busy dual carriageway meaning we didn’t catch our first sight of the sea for some time. The road was completely flat so we easily completed 40km in a couple of hours before starting to scout out a potential camping spot. It was still very built up here and after reaching our first bit of beach our hopes of a sea side sleep were soon dashed when we spotted a group of guys with motorbikes drinking and wrestling each other on the sand.
So instead we turned off the road and headed north through a big orchard and polytunnel complex. After cycling through a sleepy village we reached a road stretching through an impressive gorge. As in other parts of Europe at this time of year it gets dark here really early but just as the sun was setting we spotted a riverside grove of lemon trees reached via a rickety bridge, a perfect hidden sanctuary, and we pitched the tent and cooked up dinner in the semi-darkness.
The moon was incredibly bright that night and at about 10:45 I stirred initially thinking it was the light that had woken me. Suddenly I heard a kind of loud snorting near the tent. A VERY large something was making its way towards us, padding its way forwards. Trying not to panic I shook Paddy awake and by the light of the super moon we lay facing each other, wide eyed and listening, as the beast drew ever closer. It circled the tent and then headed down towards the river where it went out of earshot.
‘What do you recon it is?’ I whispered to Paddy. It sounds like a pig, or maybe a really big dog…’ After a long pause where we both strain to listen again, Paddy answers. ‘It could be a pig… or maybe it’s a bear…’ At once, an image of us fighting off a large, fierce grizzly with our inflatable mattresses and Swiss Army penknife flash through my mind… ‘I’d better put in my contact lenses’ I say defiantly.
It’s difficult to be completely rational when there is only a thin piece of canvas between you and a potential attack from an unidentified animal but we did our best, and we spent the next few minutes formulating ‘operation intimidation’ for if it came back and approached the tent. We knew it had been close and it hadn’t been too bothered about us but our biggest fear was that it would detect the food bag… We heard it again roaming through the trees but it didn’t get close and we finally concluded that it wasn’t too bothered about us. We both managed to get back to sleep.
Nonetheless, we woke up early and packed down quickly the next morning and decided it would be best to have breakfast on a beach somewhere instead. We had lived to cycle another day!
After speaking to some locals on the beach we get told it was probably a wild boar. Feeling initially relieved I google ‘Anatolia, Turkish Wild Boar’ and get this image.
Not a hog you might exactly call piglet in any case…
Day 2: 88.9km
Our second day saw us see much more of the coast as the string of apartment blocks gave way to more beaches and coastline. The Eastern Mediterranean with Cyprus’ mountains just visible through the ocean haze. Lovely!
Farming is big here and fruit is in abundance in this part of Turkey so we spend our breaks picking fresh oranges, lemons and pomegranates from trees. There are also loads of muzler (local banana) trees which means they are really cheap to buy. After the morning clouds were swept away it became pretty warm, although a nice off shore wind kept things a decent temperature. We cycled through a few more towns and passed our first Roman ruins and reached the island Byzantian fortress of Kizkalesi castle.
We stopped for a couple of hours at the caves of heaven and hell – two impressive sink holes which both have great mythological relevance. The 200m mammoth ‘heaven’ cave is incredible and visitors are able to walk right down into it. At its mouth is a lovely old 5th century Byzantine chapel ruin. Locals believe the underground river connects to the hellish river Styx.
After lunch the wind really picked up and was blowing in our faces the whole time. We were heading to Ovacik where the house of another warm showers host, Bayram is. By the time we reached the town it was blowing a proper gale and we were being blown all over the place. The storm was so bad that the whole of Bayram’s neighbourhood had no power when, very wind swept, we finally arrived.
Day 3 – 62.1km
The storm blew itself out overnight and we enjoyed a cloudless, 28 degree blue sky the next day. The flat coast road turned away inland for a while and we had a couple of hard 300m climbs. They are in the process of widening the road to form a dual carriage way which I guess will eventually span the whole coast line although the road works didn’t really affect us too much and the road wasn’t too busy. Paddy is very happy to be spending so much time on the coast and I’ve caught him on more than one occasion staring at the sea, a contented smile spreading across his face.
That night we camped right on the beach under a grove of olive trees and fell asleep to the waves gently crashing onto the shore. The wind picked up again but we were very sheltered under the trees.
Day 4 – 64.14km
We woke at 6:30am with the call to prayer blasting from a nearby minaret. Another clear sunny day and we stop at the ancient city of Anamurium for lunch. It’s an amazing complex first dating back to the Phoenician period in 400BC although most of the ruins are from the Roman and Byzantine period. It’s a sprawling site which reaches all the way down to a pebbly beach. Interestingly it’s the southern most point of Asia Minor. We would be heading Northwards from now on…
Much of the amphitheatre, bath houses, basilica, city walls, and long aqueduct are still standing so we spent a good couple of hours walking about the site.
We had a long very steep climb at the end of the day which we managed to complete before dropping back down to sea level and into a beautiful little bay. A group of fishermen were sorting their gear out on the beach and one of them offered up his tent and little campsite set up which meant we didn’t need to bother erecting our tent and bed. This would mean a speedy pack-down the next morning, a good thing as we knew we had two big 500m climbs the next day.
Day 5 – 93.5km
So began our big day of climbing but we managed to set off at 8am and despite stopping to chat to Martin, another cycle tourer from Canada who was heading the other way, we managed to complete the first climb by 10:30am. There were a few stiff parts of the climb and our chain continues to jump so there were a few sections in which we had to get off and push for a bit. Although we were climbing, the sea remained on our lefthand side all day and we had great views across the Mediterranean. Another super hot day.
A steady down hill section helped us rack up the miles in the afternoon and we took the smaller coastal detour for a while before meeting back up with the highway. We completed the last 15km to Turkey’s longest beach and here we treated ourselves to our first Turkish restaurant meal and enjoyed an overdue (albeit pricey) beer as we watched the sun set over the sea. We managed to find a hidden spot for the tent just a few metres from this beachside restaurant meaning we could sneakily access their shower and wifi the next morning. After a stint of reading the international news in bed I ran down to the shore and plunged into the sea. It helped to wash away most of the Trump madness…
Day 6 – 51.1k
With only 153km over two days left to complete and no substantial climbs we had a couple of easy days ahead before reaching Aksu where we would be staying on a horse farm for a week. However nice it is to be clinging to the coast we both feel sad that we haven’t had a chance to cycle through some other parts of Turkey. Clinging to the south coast means we’re spending a lot of time cycling through resort towns, marvelling at some of the big hotel complexes with their Taj Mahal style towers and luxury beachside bars. The convenience of having access to beach showers and supermarkets means camping day after day is easy and we’re eating a much more varied diet; things like muesli with fresh milk which is a real luxury for us!!
After a while though the restaurants, bars, tattoo parlours and shops all start to look the same and although its low season and there are lots of secluded spots between the towns and plenty of ancient sites along the way we both feel a little sad that we won’t be cycling through some of the more remoter areas of the country.
Day 7 – 103km
The last day saw us stop at Side which is a nice resort strip popular with German tourists and also home to a large Helenistic and Roman ruin complex. We spent a nice couple of hours cycling along the beach front and visiting the old amphitheatre, temples and city walls.
It was slightly further to our Workaway host than we had originally thought so we ended up doing 103km on the bike that day. Here we will stay for five days helping out on the farm and in the house in exchange for free board in their cottage in the grounds.
TURKEY – Country No. 13
So believe it or not we were in the final month of this 11 month trip and although the plan was to carry on back home from Greece after a break at Christmas it certainly felt like we were coming to the end of something substantial.
Not wanting to spend half of our final month in snow, rain and cold temperatures we decided to take a long bus journey from Tbilisi all the way to Mersin on the south coast of Turkey. It was a hard decision to make because cycle tourers never like getting public transport if they can help it but the draw of 20+ degrees, coastline cycling and lots of camping opportunities was too inviting.
We had also recently signed up to Workaway and after two long stints in capital cities (Yerevan and Tbilisi) the idea of spending a week working on a farm in the Turkish countryside was really appealing. So via the site we organised a week with Susan and Orhan who have an olive farm, boat building and horse riding business just west of Antalya. Right up our street! Spending a week on the farm would mean we would have three remaining weeks to cycle along the coast to reach Bodrum where we would get a ferry over to Athens before flying home for a month to spend time with family and friends.
We crossed the border without too many problems, it’s always slightly stressful pushing/carrying and lifting the tandem through the various custom buildings, especially when we didn’t know how long we had for our bus connection to Ankara but all was fine in the end. Luckily this second bus was only half full which meant we could both stretch out over two seats and get a half decent nights sleep. By 8am we had arrived in Ankara with just the 7 hour journey to Mersin left.
The Turkish people are incredibly forthcoming in their friendliness and hospitality and we easily found our connection bus to Mersin, storing the bike and the majority of our bags easily in the luggage compartment before heading off to find some breakfast. We didn’t rush as we had 90 minutes before the bus left. Or so we thought… Returning to the terminal in ‘plenty of time’ we discover the bus had already left and looking up at the large station clock we realised, to our horror, that my phone had set my clock to the wrong time zone. I officially hate apple products…
A really nice guy who spoke good English helped us explain what had happened and we were given a new ticket free of charge and assured that the conductor had been called and would ensure everything got safely stored in Mersin station’s luggage storage. Considering the whole thing was completely our fault we were very well looked after. All was well, and we were reunited with tandem and all of our bags on arrival with lots of lovely people helping us along the way; including a Syrian refugee who had perfect English and who told us all about his successful family run hostel which he had owned in Palmyra before he had fled with his young family to Turkey. I kept thinking what a pity it was that we didn’t have such an energetic, intelligent and generous person coming to relocate to the UK…
It was downhill all the way to our warmshowers host so the 10km to his house in the dark wasn’t a bad ride. We enjoyed the warm sea air and spent a really nice evening with Kadir and his two housemates who were preparing for their English linguistic exam the next morning.
COMPLETE TANDEMONIUM 
