Thursday 26 May 2011

Istanbul to Trabzon

I finaly left Istanbul on Tuesday 3rd May with 3 visas and a route through central Asia. If all goes to plan I should cycle through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, get a ferry to Kazakhstan then cross the desert in Karakalpakstan to Uzbekistan where I should be able to pick up a Tajikistan visa. I also planned to meet Laura in Trabzon in North-East Turkey, on the 15th May so I need to get my skates on as I was already delayed by a day waiting for Kazakhstan visa.
Leaving Istanbul was tricky but the boat accross the Bosphorus was exciting - I was finaly in Asia. I rode hard for the first couple of days out of Istanbul, only stopping when I was offered tea, which was quite often! The weather was appalling and I got soaked and had to sleep in a wet sleeping bag a couple of nights. On the 3rd day out of Istanbul I woke up, cycled down a big hill then got to a cafe where the lovely lady who owned it made me a cheese and ketchup toastie for breakfast. Unfortunately the day got worse from then. My gear changer locked up and I couldn't change gear. I took it off and changed gear with a spanner but I had to get off the bike every time I did this so was riding single speed most of the time. I tried this for a while, I wanted to get to a campsite in the evening then have a look at it. Then it started chucking it down so I pulled into a bus stop and fixed it. Had to remove the cables and oil them. It had been blocked vy a frayed bit of cable so I cut it and put it all back together. It worked but it was lunchtime and I'd only done 7 miles.

I was plagued by mechanical problems all the way to Trabzon. My tyres were wearing out and the sidewalls collapsed on both of them. I had one spare but I had to fix the other one with gaffer tape and a tea towel. I also got about 10 punctures and 2 inner tube blowouts (where it explodes). One of these was at a garage with an audience of 5 blokes. They found it hilarious that the stupid English cyclist had overinflated his tyre and blown it up using the air compressor-i hadn't, it was a dodgy tube but they wouldn't let me put more than 20 psi in the next tube, which is a pretty flat tyre, it's supposed to have between 40 and 60. Other problems included the front pannier rack bolt coming loose, a disc brake pad failing, my light holder snapping and a broken spoke in the back wheel.

The road between Amasra and Sinop on the Black Sea coast is absolutely beautiful. I had a few days of good weather and it was fantastic although really hard work. I had to make at least 100 km per day to get to Trabzon on time and after a few days it really started to wear me out. The road is so steep its unbelievable, 20% inclines in some places. The hills are constant too, the road is either up or down, with no flat bits. It would be fantastic to go back with a lightweight racing bike and whizz along it but on my fully loaded beast it was the hardest part of the ride so far, but also one of the best.


One of the nights I was waved over by a posh car, where a very nice guy started talking to me. He's an engineer who works in Turkmenistan. He took me to a campsite and bought me dinner. The campsite owner wouldn't take any money and when I started pitching my tent he took me to a dormitory and gave me a bed for the night. More kindness from total strangers!
Sinop is the last town on that stretch of the coastline and is named after a Greek lady, Sinope who according to the legend died a virgin. Zeus had taken a fancy to her and granted her one wish to impress and seduce her. Sinope knew what he was up to however and wished that she could live the rest of her life as a virgin. Zeus reluctantly kept his promise!


After Sinop the coastline has been completely destroyed in favour of a dual carriageway. It's a massive shame because it must have been beautiful, but now tunnels and sea defences have replaced beaches. It is quick and easy to ride on though and has a large hard shoulder so I made good progress.
It was a fairly uneventful few days between Sinop and Trabzon. The worse part was when I took apart my rear hub to fix a broken spoke in the back wheel. When it was in pieces it started raining so I moved into my tent. A cog dropped out of the hub which is essential for changing gear. I didnt realise until the next morning after I'd pushed the bike down a steep bank that I camped on top of. I raced back up the bank in a panic and luckily found the small cog lying in the grass. If I hadn't found it I would have been stuck. Noone in Turkey sells Rohloff components, and ordering one would have probably taken ages delaying me and potentially meaning that my visas for Central Asia would run out!

On the day I got to Trabzon I met a Croatian guy, Josep, who was apparently telepathic! He said he had had contact via telepathy with a man in India so he was cycling there to live a spiritual existence. He had all he owned in a small backpack on the bike. No tent or stove. He slept in bushes, mosques and petrol stations. He said he had left all his material possessions behind, including his glasses, so he couldn't read! He doesn't like computers and the internet so he won't read this - I can say that he was completely bonkers. He said that his mind was 20% more powerful than a normal human and he was on another intellectual level!

When I arrived in Trabzon, Josep and me were offered lunch in a restaurant for free. He was given a pair of glasses and we talked about football - the international language! I cycled off to a hotel, very excited. I was going to pick Laura up from the airport later on and couldn't wait to see her!

Sunday 22 May 2011

Istanbul

A week off in Istanbul sounded like it would be relaxing and a chance to rest to get ready for the next leg. It wasn't! I had to get 3 visas, which took up the majority of the first 5 days. I had to go to each embassy three times and I was delayed by disorganisation at the embassies and them being closed at random times. After much frustration, 190 dollars, and a lot of patience I managed to get visas for Uzbekistan, Krygyzstan and Kazakhstan in 9 days. I've put some advice about the Istanbul embassies on my website if anyone reading this needs to get any of these visas.
The rest of the first 5 days were spent fixing the bike, ordering parts to be brought from home and planning the next leg to Baku, Azerbaijan. I improved the bike with an air horn which is a lot louder than the bell I had. People should hear me coming now!
After 1 night in a hostel which was run by a drunk guy we moved to a much better one recommended by a cyclist, Paul, we'd met at the Uzbekistan embassy. At this hostel, Sinbad, we met 2 more cyclists, Gordon and Theo. Paul is Dutch and cycling to South East Asia, Gordon is English, from the Isle of Wight, and is off to India having cycled through Europe and Theo is French and has cycled through Turkey. Was good to have a group to hang around with and we went to some bars and watched man u beat Schalke in the Champions League.
By the weekend I was getting frustrated that I hadn't had much time to look around Istanbul. Nino's family arrived on Friday night to spend the weekend with him and very kindly put me up in a posh hotel and bought me some very nice meals! I visited all the sights with them: the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, the Grand Bazaar, Topkafi Palace and others. It was a lovely weekend and I was overwhelmed by their generosity. I would never have been able to afford to see all the sights, the hotel was a huge luxury (particularly the breakfast buffet which I made the most of) and the company was great.



On Tuesday I finally had my visas and was ready to go. I left the others and Nino, who I'd cycled with since Austria. He's become a good friend and I'm sure we'll stay in touch. Laura is coming to turkey in two weeks to Trabzon so I've got a long way to go to make sure I'm there on time. I'm anticipating a hard couple of weeks. The Black Sea road is very hilly!
Istanbul is a fantastic city and I definately recommend visiting it.