31/1/25
The room was toasty. We propped the balcony door open overnight, but we had to shut the toilet door because it smelt like drain and spread into the room. We went to enjoy our included breakfast at around 9am. This time it was a buffet. We could eat fried potatoes, salad, bread, assorted ‘jams’, and cereal. There were quite a few people staying. Most of whom appeared to be Turkish. Most of the women were wearing a hijab.
We pedalled back on the route at around half ten. Probably a bit later than we should considering our lofty goals. We were aiming for Bandırma, where we could get a ferry to Istanbul. There were meant to be strong northerly winds coming in four days. So we had three. We were keen to knock off as many miles as we could on the first day. Start strong and all that.
First we were heading into Çanakkale. The route was hilly and on secondary roads, some of them were quite busy. We pushed hard because we were feeling enthusiastic. It was a busy city, and we ended up on some frantic dual carriageways. Sans hard shoulder. Eventually we were on a very long straight road, with intermittent red lights, which led all the way in.
We noticed a huge mosque out of the corner of our eyes, behind some buildings and across the highway. We’d have to make do with distant views. There were only two other sights we planned to see. The first was the castle. Following the garmin led us onto some sketchy streets. It was a very run down area. But the castle overlooked them. We left hastily to find the main castle entrance, it’s now a naval museum, but we could see even less of the castle, because it was blocked by trees.
We weren’t going in anyway, no time, we carried on along the waterfront to find the second giant horse of Troy. This one was from the movie. We didn’t have anything left to do but find the highway. There wasn’t any other way to get to Bandırma. As we headed toward the D200, we passed hundreds of men with large duffel bags leaving what seemed like an army or naval base. Probably the latter.
The road was dusty, busy and without refuge. We joined the D200 using the mini corkscrew boarding ramp. It continued to make us doubt our lives. It was also the start of a 2km long hill. Nothing overly steep but an annoying start. We persevered. What goes up must come down. Big long ascent meant big long descent.
As always, nothing momentous happens on these roads. About 20km later a fruit seller sold us some mandarins, a persimmon and an apple. We stayed on until Kemiklialan. Then we dropped closer to the strait and used a minor road. We bought coke to keep us going and paused at a little beach to eat the fruit, bread and halva.
We were passing under the 1915 Çanakkale bridge. It wasn’t built then. It’s the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it was opened in 2022. The name is to commemorate the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli. In Çannakale everything was about the war too. There are huge memorials everywhere.
After the bridge it was back to the D200. It had improved a lot since the start. Big wide hard shoulders and a lot lower concentration of traffic. We hammered out the kilometres to Dalyan where we came off again. It felt unnecessary but it was the route we planned. It wasn’t even on road, but rough sandy grit. It was probably going to be a a road eventually.
As we were leaving Çardak, and rejoining the highway, we remembered this was the last place to get some food. We saw a bakery over the road and got some ekmek but decided to make do with what else we had. We’d been on the flat for a while but now we had hills again. The landscape was made up of big green rolling hills, which made for nice views when contrasted with the open water to our left.
We ended up going another 20km before we started looking for a place to stop. There weren’t any hotels round here, we’d have to be camping. We originally planned to head to Gürece, as it had some beach, but as we passed a community called Bozkent we saw a nice man made woodland.
We laid up the bikes and then looked around. We wanted to ask someone about camping, but there was no one here. Not a single car. Just an old dog. There had been a big gate on the entrance so we assumed it was some kind of private development. There wasn’t any rubbish and it was a memorial woodland of some kind. As always, we tried to work out if it would be okay. Bit of pot luck we decided.
While we were sitting on some benches and making some noodles, well adding water, a car arrived. They didn’t seem to notice us but we ran down to say hello and ask them. A man jumped out, his two sons in tow.
He was super friendly and keen for his sons to practice speaking English with us. He confirmed we could camp and his son told us about it being his summer holiday and this was their holiday home. It was hard not to be envious of such a good grasp of another language at an early age. Learning English is very important to them.
They came back over as we were about to eat, and invited us to the beach. We felt bad declining their invitation but our food was ready and we really didn’t want to walk anywhere! They drove off shortly after and we were alone again. We sat outside until it was dark, made tea, set up the tent, and then sat inside nibbling some bread, chocolate and dried fruit. We’d need to get more food tomorrow.
The road was busy late into the night. We’d get used to it. We were knackered anyway, having not been up to doing 80km in a while. It was nice to feel a little bit stronger again. It was a clear night, not that we could see the stars from beneath the trees.
Surly They Won't Make It 