14/12/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 82

Distance cycled: 92.8km from Izmir to
Average speed: 21.7 km/h
Moving time: 4h16m
Total distance: 6960km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 30 liras, €12

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About 1300km in roughly 13 days is what I have to do to be able to have enough time to catch my flight in Cyprus to Israel. I woke very early this morning to figure out my options getting from Cyprus to Israel and seeing as there were no boats or ferries running between these ports I was left with paying for a flight. I know I'm suppose to cycle into Israel but because of political reasons I could not pass through Syria without having an issue with entering Israel. A boat or ferries would have been ideal as I wouldn't have to pack up my bicycle into a box but I was left with no choice. Now I get to celebrate New Years and my birthday with my buddy Nash and his missis Sarah who are there in Israel now.
My flight is on the 29th so I have to cycle these 1300km in 13 days to get the boat to Cyprus and then sort out my bike for the flight to Telaviv. I hate traveling with a time constraint especially on a bicycle because I miss out on seeing the places I want and and if I were to find a place I would want to chill for a day or two I simple cannot.
Having this time constraint lingering heavily on my mind I set off from Serdar's place in Izmir having had a great time with him where he helped me with this issue with getting to Israel.
Serdar also helped me out with a route that I would take mostly around the coast of turkey to reach the port town needed to catch a ferry over to Cyprus which I uploaded to my GPS.
Having cycled out of Izmir I encountered a little issue with the route, it was set for walking and as such I was directed onto some muddy roads that presumably were shortcuts but road conditions were too shitty for cycling so I had to backtrack; all this didn't help me on achieving my new goal within the time constraint that I have.
I still was able to cover some decent distance today but with the help of a friendly man who spoke to me when I stupidly took the mountain road to the coast apposed to the flat highway that avoided the mountains all together; the view was great but wasn't worth the sweaty effort to reach the top.
When I saw this same guy later on in the afternoon he drove me a with my bike in the back of his ute down the road about 10km down the coast. This was fantastic as I made up the time and distance from climbing up and over the mountain in almost the wrong direction.
Anyway I ended the day asking a guy at a closed for the season campground if I could camp for a price but him and his friend invited me into a small cabin and fed me a delicious dinner. Hüseyin and Turgay were friendly as anyone could be even letting me stay inside the warm cabin for the night. After the roasted chicken cooked in the wood fire oven and chai they went home and left me to sleep.
Honestly the Turks have been the most amazing people of this now almost 7000km journey and I highly recommend for people to travel here to experience the hospitality of these fantastic people.

 

Serdar and I, just before leaving his place in Izmir, Turkey

This was an accidental move, going through the mountains instead of the flat highway where the wind was helping me out considerably… well, look at the positive points, the view was lovely and the downhill run was epic.

All inclusive 5 star hotel, oh yeah, might spend the night here.

The guy who drove me 10km, yes it was cheating but if i would have taken the flat road i would have been far beyond this point.

these guys working at a camping ground let me sleep inside...

…they had puppies…

… and great food… but unfortunately not puppies for dinner.

13/12/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 81

Distance cycled: 91.6km to Izmir, turkey
Average speed: 18.8km/h
Moving time: 4h53m
Total distance: 6867km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 10 lira.

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I had a bit of everything today, flats (not the punctures), mountain terrain and hectic heavy traffic of city cycling. The latter being something that I despise, especially when getting into Izmir. I was thrown about, I'd like to say all the districts before finally finding the waterfront bike path.
Cycling about the city I got lost, stuck between the major toll way onramps and train tracks having to find my way out without backtracking by making use of a tiny elevator to get over the train tracks.
Every time I see a bakery offering baklava, I can't help myself and treat myself to this indulgence, I always end up purchasing more than I can eat of these sickly sticky sweet treats - try and say that quickly 10 times.
Having to hang about the city for Serdar to finish work i eventually met with him for a beer and went back to his place. Serdar who was on the warm-showers.org list is a kind and helpful fellow that treated me graciously, he, like pretty much everyone listed on this website had done a few bicycle tours and obviously we had a lot to talk about even showing off the gadgets and gear that we loaded our bicycles up with.
I cooked up dinner for the the two of us and later started the process of getting me from Cyprus to Israel, certainly not an easy thing to do, not only because of the current events in Israel making things much more difficult but also it being the lowest of the low season many, if not all of the passenger ferries were not running. Tomorrow Ill have to wake early and make a plan.
Thankyou Serdar for all your help and hospitality, you were and are a fantastic host.

 

oh no, this looks to be a rather difficult cycle up and over…

Just outside if Manisa, why would anyone want to swim here? its drainage and probably part of the sewer system.

Another road that was not a road.

The beginning of the hard climb over to Izmir

about 3/4 of the way up

It was apparant that i was about to be in the 3rd biggest city in Turkey

Yay, Made it back to the sea. This guy gave me some fruit and candy, what a nice guy

Santa was here too… and a woman.

Not a place i would want to dine at… what a terrible name for a cafe.

12/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 80

Distance cycled: 92.2km from Pumukcu, turkey to
Average speed: 21.1km/h
Moving time: 4h22m
Total distance: 6775km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 20 lira = €8

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To not sleeping very well at all last night due to the passing trucks 20 feet from where I camped and then road workers checking out my place of supposed rest for the evening in the early hours of the morning I began the day ruined.
80 days of cycling with 5 days without a shower and I am certainly feeling it, perhaps smelling it too.
Still, I have made it this far and I have to conquer this mission of mine.
There was a cold 500 meter climb today that I had to tackle but other than that the terrain mostly sloped in my favor. I did however meet some great people who made my day a little better and I got the chance to organize a place to rest in a proper bed tomorrow night in Izmir using warm-showers.org.
Whilst on the Internet I found out that Nash, a good friend from home who i traveled with a few years ago and caught up with at a festival in Germany before starting this trip will be in Israel around the same time i will be there - around New Years. There is an issue though, because I cannot travel through Syria then into Israel I will have to take a boat to Cyprus then to Haifa, Israel. This boat to Haifa could cause me a bunch of difficulty because boats don't often, if ever, take this route. I really don't want to take a flight reaching my (supposed) final destination by air - it really defeats the purpose of this trip. Damn Israel.
I was thinking it would be nice to be there for Christmas, New Years and my birthday on the 3rd.
Anyway, I have a few weeks to organize this so, I'll just enjoy my time in Turkey.
Ok, back to today, looking for a place to camp as the sun was setting was difficult because the flat plain I was cycling south on had no suitable places, I thought however I'd give it a try asking the locals if I could crash with them but without success.
With only a little bit of daylight left I went into another muddy olive orchard but was deterred by some yapping dogs that scared me off.
I was getting worried and continued with the hopes of finding something decent and thankfully I did; I found a farming side road that took me into some scrub where I set up camp.
Just like the other day I jammed up my rear wheel with mud and tomorrow will have to sort that shit out. *sigh*
It's going to be a cold one tonight but at least it's not going to rain - I need a decent night of sleep.

Climbing more mountainous terrain.

These two guys feed me food and drink, they called me in off the road to meet me.

Cycling down to Akhisar, Turkey

12/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 80

Distance cycled: 92.2km from Pumukcu, turkey to
Average speed: 21.1km/h
Moving time: 4h22m
Total distance: 6775km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 20 lira = €8

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To not sleeping very well at all last night due to the passing trucks 20 feet from where I camped and then road workers checking out my place of supposed rest for the evening in the early hours of the morning I began the day ruined.
80 days of cycling with 5 days without a shower and I am certainly feeling it, perhaps smelling it too.
Still, I have made it this far and I have to conquer this mission of mine.
There was a cold 500 meter climb today that I had to tackle but other than that the terrain mostly sloped in my favor. I did however meet some great people who made my day a little better and I got the chance to organize a place to rest in a proper bed tomorrow night in Izmir using warm-showers.org.
Whilst on the Internet I found out that Nash, a good friend from home who i traveled with a few years ago and caught up with at a festival in Germany before starting this trip will be in Israel around the same time i will be there - around New Years. There is an issue though, because I cannot travel through Syria then into Israel I will have to take a boat to Cyprus then to Haifa, Israel. This boat to Haifa could cause me a bunch of difficulty because boats don't often, if ever, take this route. I really don't want to take a flight reaching my (supposed) final destination by air - it really defeats the purpose of this trip. Damn Israel.
I was thinking it would be nice to be there for Christmas, New Years and my birthday on the 3rd.
Anyway, I have a few weeks to organize this so, I'll just enjoy my time in Turkey.
Ok, back to today, looking for a place to camp as the sun was setting was difficult because the flat plain I was cycling south on had no suitable places, I thought however I'd give it a try asking the locals if I could crash with them but without success.
With only a little bit of daylight left I went into another muddy olive orchard but was deterred by some yapping dogs that scared me off.
I was getting worried and continued with the hopes of finding something decent and thankfully I did; I found a farming side road that took me into some scrub where I set up camp.
Just like the other day I jammed up my rear wheel with mud and tomorrow will have to sort that shit out. *sigh*
It's going to be a cold one tonight but at least it's not going to rain - I need a decent night of sleep.

500 meter up… lets hope for 500 meters down.

Great shoulder all day… the further i am away from those 16 wheelers the better.

These two guys stopped me and offered food and drink, thanks guys.. great meeting you two.

Coming down the mountain and into the plains to Akhisar, Turkey.

11/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 79

Distance cycled: 48.8km from some dirt road to 15km south of Balikesir, Turkey
Average speed: 14.3km/h
Moving time: 3h25m
Total distance: 6683km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 14 Lira

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It was a fantastic nights sleep last night, this dirt, well muddy road that i camped beside only catered for very minimal traffic and as such I was able to drift off into the best sleep I have had in days.
This was all good and well but I had a major issue at hand with my bicycle, as I mentioned yesterday the screw holding my back rack into place had snapped off. Yesterday I did a quick fix hoping that today it would hold up; unfortunately it did not and even after removing the rear fender I was unable to have my wheel free spinning without a horrible grinding noise.
I had to walk my bicycle roughly 3 km until I found a roadside mechanic that could not help me at his shop but the small town called Demirkapi had a guy who new a guy that would have the tools needed for the repair - which really was a drill with a small metal bit. The guy was happy to help me and did the repair for free but he did not have the right drill bit meaning I lost the thread on the frame - something I was trying to avoid but the repair worked and I now have a bolt securing my rack.
Although the sun was out it was bloody cold and windy but not of the nice kind where I get helped along the road and up hills, I struggled to keep above 15km/h even when descending the rolling Turkish hills heading south.
People were being so friendly today, smiling, helpful, intrigued by my endeavors, amused by my means of transportation and despite their lack of English, questioned me without understanding my response or anything else I would say.
I've said it before, I like turkey, oh, and the food.
Tonight I will again sleep in my tent beside a major highway, but hey, what else is new. I've become proficient at erecting my tent and securing my tarp to avoid the rain and in no time at all. This $12 tent has lasted me over 100 sleeps in almost 2 years; 12 cents a night or 200 times that for one night in a hotel - ill pick my tent in some random forest or scrub any day of the week.
I cooked up an absolutely delicious dinner tonight, the Israelis call it Shuk-shuka , something I will put in my cookbook for roadside cooking, not surprisingly ill call it roadside Shuk-shuka.

 

View of the landscape when waking in the morning after a great nights sleep.

The dirt road that broke my bike.

The mechanic who apparently does a little more than just fixing machinery.

Waiting for the calves to be put in the pen before the mechanic could fix my problem

Roadside Shuk-shuka!

10/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 78

Distance cycled: 47.3km a muddy olive orchard to a roadside in the middle of nowhere
Average speed: 18.8km/h
Moving time: 2h30m
Total distance: 6634km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 7 lira = €3.50

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Today started and ended badly, like I said in yesterday's post i had to remove the mud caught between my fender and rear wheel that had locked up the wheel completely. It was stupid of me to remove the mud before i set off only having to push my bike through more mud that locked up both wheels. It took upwards of an hour to have the wheels freely spinning again where I got covered in the mud that I removed.
I joined back up to the main highway for a short spell where I was able to keep a decent pace but this was soon interrupted by a truck stop offering free wireless Internet that I needed to use.
Stopping here and one other town I entertained the locals that surrounded me, I was offered free tea whist I gestured my way through multiple conversations at once.
Following my GPS I was taken up and over mountains that could have been avoided if I were to stay on the main road but I prefer the view of the high roads but obviously being off the main, smoothly paved road came at a bit of a cost; the road turned into a dirt path that was cyclable but due to the recent rains I encountered the issue that I had this morning - sticky mud!
I was only able to cover the distance that I did today because I now have a major issue with my back rack, only one of the two screws that secures the rack to the frame is secured in, the other has snapped off leaving the thread of the screw inside the frame. I tried everything to remove it but I do not have the adequate equipment, I bodged it up with some straps I removed from my bags with the hopes that tomorrow ill be able to make it to some sort of mechanic to get the stew out.
Problem is, is that I am in the middle of nowhere, I don't know where the closest town is? Not to mention that this bumpy dirt road will destroy my bodge in no time.

 

Sticky mud caking up everything.

Off the main road, what seemed to be a good idea… but as you can see below, it wasnt such.

Farmer herding his sheep… but i didnt need to tell you that.

All the bumps of the dirt road broke the screw holding the rack in place…

With any luck this should hold it until i can find a mechanic tomorrow with a drill... something tells me that is will not be any good.

One of the better camping spots of my trip… running water, decent shelter, next to no traffic and a fantastic view – behind me.

09/12/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 77

Distance cycled: 76.8km from Bursa to an olive orchard
Average speed: 15.9km/h
Moving time: 4h49m
Total distance: 6587km
Border X'ings: 22
Money spent: 25 lira = €10

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Today was slow going and exhausting, the wind and the mountainous terrain with not so good roads were things to blame.
It was so cold last night in my tent and it was the first time I really struggled to keep warm and sleep so as you can imagine i did not sleep all that well.
I would have slept in but a man and a bunch ladies came to the area beside the highway where I camped in search of something on the ground, the guy politely gestured for me to leave and so I did and made my way towards Bursa.
I didn't want to do as many kilometers as I did today but because I was in the middle of ascending a mountain I did not want another restless night in the cold at high altitude. It took a long time for the road to go downward and finally when it did I legged it down quickly before it was too dark.
Finding a decent camping spot amongst all the olive orchards was seemingly difficult because the dirt that they grew in was very sticky mud, so sticky that it clogged up my rear wheel making it difficult to push about.
I cooked up a quick pasta dish with the groceries I bought today and crashed out.
Tomorrow I have to unclog my fenders before I set off, a dirty task.


Climbing the mountains

Damn dogs, i was actually hoping to go one day without being barked at or chased by these bitches.

Mountain town at 400m, late in the afternoon, needed to refill my water bottles when the whole town came along to see me and my bike.