Let me take you on a journey.  Set your mind free and fire up that imagination; You’re on an object with two wheels.  It has the aerodynamic proportions of a breeze block.  It weighs around 50KG but you woke up feeling lucky. You did some shopping and filled whatever available space you could find to throw on some more kgs. It’s windy. The wind is in your face. It’s hilly.  The hills are all over the place.  You’re going down hill but you’re not moving….that’s because you’re on a breeze block weighing over half your bodyweight with a wind that would make mother nature wince!  Welcome to our last two days cycling across Turkey.  Suffice to say we would on occasion happily poke a panda in the eye to hop off our beloved bikes, but it’s what we’ve signed up for in all is Technicolor glory!

Headwinds aside we’ve had a pretty colourful week cycling since we left Istanbul. Our time in the city itself was jam packed, first off in the northern suburbs recovering from the spaghetti junction on steroids that was the road into the outskirts.  Then on to an apartment in the Galata region that Brians friend, James, had rented for catch ups with fellow cyclists, the obligatory admin and bike repairs and taking in the unique metropolis.

Cat nap post the spaghetti junction madness

Istanbul is quite the sight, if you thought London was busy then you’ve not seen anything yet.  With 15 million inhabitants  plus tourists filling her streets, bazaars and sights it was not a stop for the faint hearted.  The Galata region where we stayed is a maze of narrow streets and tall buildings. Luckily James’ accomodation search had found us a place with a roof terrace that sat above it all as a perfect crows nest from the scuttling madness of the lanes below.

The view from our crows nest

The highlight of Istanbul was without a doubt catching up with friends and on boarding the ferry onwards to Yalova we were reminded that the biggest buzz for us on this adventure was the nature, space and hidden places we find off the beaten track.  Living in London we know that capital cities may sometimes not be a reflection of that country at large and as our sturdy bikes took us back to roads untravelled we were met again by the unique hospitality and warmth of the local people.  The day we left was the festival of Eid and as we arrived into the town of Hersek to join the Evliya Celebi Way (a cycle route we’d read about) we were greeted by a local man who insisted on taking us to his families house to feed and water us, after which his father implored we spend the night in an olive pickers hut he had in one of his orchards.

James giving Istanbul some ‘good face’

Whenever we stop on the road here we are met by such warmth from the local people it’s quite something to experience.  From stopping at grocery stalls in small towns and being given vegetables, tea and cakes to delicious hot dinnners by accomodaters of ask’y camping requests.  It seems to be an engrained thread of Turkish society to help and welcome travellers or foreigners and gives our journey through the country a very serene, humbling and peaceful tone.

Welcome to Turkish hospitlality

As mentioned above our intended route on from Istanbul was to join the Evliya Celebi Way from Hersek due to Brian stumbling across it a few weeks prior whilst planning.  What was unfortunately not explicity mentioned through our research was that this route was specifically for unloaded mountain bikes, not fully loaded steel framed touring bikes/breeze blocks.  The first couple of days on the route culminating in a particularly gruelling up hill struggle in the dirt and baking sun, which amounted to pushing the bikes up a near vertical mountain side for 2 hours + a complete sense of humour burn out on my behalf, saw us swiftly deciding to set a new route. (Whilst in Istanbul we met another Irish Cyclist who’d come from his homeland to the city on his own.  Whilst sharing stories over dinner he had said a plus about cycling alone was that if he ever made a wrong turn on route, he smiled, shrugged it off and cracked on).  That day, in the baking sun with no sense of humour left we remembered how when there is someone close by, things can be a little more dramatic with an audience.  We learnt two things that day; 1. To reliase when enough is enough and not be too proud to turn around and go back on yourselves, 2. To remember just because someones around, it’s not automatically their fault!

Once the new route was set we headed on to the town of Isnik where Brian shared some national dancing lessons with our accommodating ask’y camping host.  I don’t think they knew what hit them when he flung into a River Dance spectacular, suffice to say I was very proud and they loved every minute.  The next couple of days served us some rather large portions of Turkish mountains that got our legs back into form.  The passes we cycled were ablaze with the colours of autumn and on one of our mornings post wild camping we were greeted with our first frost!  Our sleeping options are serving us well and we always tuck down in our toasty bags or duvets with great relish at the end of a hard days peddling.

The lake at Isnik with the mountains to come in the distance

Irish dancing lessons

Autumn blaze

Another joy of travelling through Turkey has got to be the Çay, Turkish Tea.  If you thought the British loved a cuppa then step aside and start up your kettles because the Turkish can literally not get enough. Çay cafes are an institution here and serve the delicious smokey beverage in small glasses with a couple of lumps of sugar on the side.  In towns they work as caffeine hubs to local vendors and you’ll see çay waiters running around with their teacake like trays full of little steaming cups all day.  People take time to have their tea and whenever we have a fresh pot or cup served on the road it is always accompanied by a good sit down and relax.  An absolute treat to the weary cycler and again such a wonderful patch in the quilt of everyday Turkish life.

Çay tea magic

Çay waiter and tray (excuse Brians finger)

So this about takes us up to the opening gambit of this post and the last two windy days before our rest stop here in Kuthaya. As we read before arriving, there really is no tourism in this town of 250K people so its great to feel like a proper foreigner and absorb more of the common Turkish life style.  The stares are something to get used to but we’re not sure whether it’s our technical clothing getting the once over or our blonde hair, either way we’re taking it in our stride.  From here we’re planning on heading to the Pamukkale mineral basins before arriving at the South coast for our boat to Cyprus.  So far it’s turning into a magical country and we’re sure there will be plenty more Turkish Delights to come.

As a bonus to all you healthy eaters we wanted to end this post with a delicious Paleo recipe James shared with us in Istanbul, super healthy and it must be tried to be believed.

It’s also with pride in our hearts that we give the crown of this months snack to the classic milk chocolate Toblerone.  Honeycomb, almond piece’y, magicness!  This doesn’t mean we want to cancel the drone full of snickers my friend Laura is threatening to send who works at Mars HQ…just another classic to share the love.

Happy munching you big beautiful bunch

Brian and Tommy

xxx

Paleo Brekkie

Could work well with some crispy bacon or halloumi on the side

• Chop up some fresh peaches and have ready to go, tinned work fine too

• Heat up a pan and lightly toast some almonds or peacans

• Whack in a large knob of butter

• Throw in peaches or whatever fresh fruit you think will go and caramelise

• Chuck in your beaten eggs (we like 3 per person)

• Keep the eggs slightly wet

• It’s a bit like a slightly wet breakfast cake mix….trust me it’s good, I’m a doctor 😉