17/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 85

Distance cycled: 80.9km from nearby Yatagan to just west of Koycegiz
Average speed: 17.8km/h
Moving time: 4h32m
Total distance: 7288km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 35 Lira = €14

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I have a lot to bitch about today due to the weather just dumping it down but I'm going to make today's post much more cheerful.
For most of the day I was bouncing around 600 meters in altitude, I was eagerly awaiting until the point where things finally sloped downhill and eventually it did. This descent was epic, the view was literally eyewateringly beautiful, I was in the clouds at first where I could not see further than 100 meters in front of me but as I descended there was a clearing in the sky and I had a magnificent view of the valley I'd be soon cycling through - this made my day.
I was drenched, cold and not enjoying myself whatsoever but this view just blew me away.
Trying to express my joy to the local from the epic winding roads to the valley floor was interesting but fun. My smile from this experience stayed with me for the rest of the day and I could see the people that I met opening up to me by way of giving me free food, even at the roadside supermarket I went to gave me free water, mandarins, soft drink and baklava.
Further down the road just before setting up camp I picked up some 'mogal'(?) mushrooms from the roadside where i met the family selling them to passing by cars, they cooked some up for me to try and WOW we're they delicious, I bought a bag and went on my way.
Today was the first day on this trip I decided to actually make a campfire with scavenged damp sticks and twigs, if it wasn't for my ingenuity using my camp fuel the fire would have hopelessly extinguished itself without having dried my drenched clothes (although they are still wet), but I wanted to cook the mushrooms I bought the same way as the roadside family did for me.
It worked and my dinner for the evening was delicious.
It's funny how having such a demoralizing morning can be outweighed by some kindness of strangers all because I had a smile on my face from an epic twisting road.
A thank you goes out to these people.

Oh, the rain!

Things beginning to clear up.

Drenched but what a view

Wild mushrooms sold on the side of the road, meeting the family collecting them, really friendly.

My first attempt (and successful) at making a fire on the side of the road. and cooking more of the mushrooms.