İnebolu

Weather was not as great as the last two days, anyhow İ did not get wet!
İ cycled to Cide and run into the there-is-no-accommodation-in-any-reasonable-distance-problem. So İ took the bus to İnebolu. Very nice coast line - so happy İ don't have to pedal

The road along the coast

Tarmac - the stones are about 2 cm in size - makes smooth riding

that's what İ call a natural harbour

the houses in İnabolu are quit stunning

so is the mosque

Kurucasile

Today was wonderful! Only the roads are a bit up and down!

The ups and down of Black sea cost roads :)
lousy 50km with 1262 ascent

Amasra in the mist...


finally out in the sun!

Spring! people tell me it is to early in the year to be here. İ could not disagree more!

Why do they always walk (or whatever turtles do) in the middle of the street. - İ rescued her/him to the side of the road!

half way!

Bodybuilders in Kurucasile.

PS İ was heading for Cide but with these roads - no chance. 20% and more accent are not for quick biking.

Amasra

Today was my first day on the road.
Being a conservative Austrian İ planned a nice and easy still challenging leg.
Plan was to climb an easy 600m and then glide along a nice river to the sea. Total 80km max.
So much for the plan :)

İt turned out to be 96km and in total 1250m ascent. This still should not by any means be too much under normal condition but with a too heavy backpack (İ need to leave some stuff - but what??) on the Turkish equivalent of torture for stupid bikers (tarmac of the nasty kind) İ almost did not make it - almost.
Especially the last pass (only 350m above sea level but starting at 4m :) is a masterpiece of Turkish engineering. Just simply to steep to cycle :)

Conclusion: İf you (or İ in this case) want to avoid a late arrival don't 1.) trust any estimation of distance of any locals and local maps and 2.) check the elevation profile all the way.
Anyway İ made it safely and happy to Amasra which is a very nice place with two harbours and lots of tiny streets in between. Downside is that it was already to dark to take pictures when İ arrived here.

İncluding me we are talking about 110 kg...

The destination

The coast - the direction i want to head tomorrow! Lots of 'rampa'!

PS. İ got myself a beer!! :)

İstanbul - Safranbolu

İ left İstanbul without any trouble.
Only the way how the bus people stuffed my bike into the luggage compartment made me worry for a moment - but what can you do?
Safranbolu is a little town around 150 km North of Ankara (N41.25243,E32.68730).
İt is famous for its Ottoman houses, and indeed is very pretty. The Pictures by no means come close to the real thing. Another intriguing thing is the river that runs through the old town in a gorge at some places about 15 m deep and only 2 m wide.

Heading on...

Yva and I spent a wonderful week in Istanbul. We had fun in Troy and were enjoying the endless varieties of the Istanbul food scene.

Thanks to Irem, Nevra and Selin this stay was something special - and we will soon be back:)

Yva left back to Sofia and I will be heading for Safranbolu tomorrow to start the biking there - it will be cold, it will be uphill, it will be fun!







PS. Yes the weather was bad :)

İstanbul

İstanbul is great...

My Visas...

Some of you might not understand my happiness, but especially the Iranian one is not easy to get:) As a compensation it looks different every time. Turkey will follow on the border. Georgia no longer requires one - I hope they have a nice stamp though. Armenia... lets see.
If anybody has connection in the Pakistani Embassy in Istanbul or Ankara please let me know!

The quest continues on Monday in Istanbul.

Syria - where I never intended to go...

Iran - half way to Pakistan!!