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Tea and tuna sandwiches

The ride today was great fun as usual. We had the tea stop in a tiny village again. And our by-now usual tuna sandwich lunch from the supermarket, sat on a bench next to the old fellahs. For the whole ride it was rolling arable farmland, not dramatic but nonetheless lovely.

It felt like we were cutting across roads. At this point, most roads are heading in a south easterly direction in Turkey, towards Istanbul. In fact at our lunch stop we received unsolicited detailed written and verbal instructions (in Turkish of course) on how to get to Istanbul from a friendly local. Just nod along with thanks. Today we were going north west, against the flow.

It was rain free, mercifully. In fact, quick weather note. All of the mountain passes I went over in Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo have been under about 2m of snow for the last week. I rode them in bright warm late summer sunshine. I missed the snow by a week. It’s been excellent timing.

Once again our route took us through parts of Turkey that are rarely seen by travellers. That’s been the beauty of this ride. I’ve taken the road less well travelled. The parts of Italy and the Balkans in particular that I’ve seen aren’t generally reached by many others.

Of course it hasn’t allowed me to completely understand the places I’ve been, but I have enjoyed at least trying to get to know more remote parts of these countries.

Bike travel offers an opportunity to stop and get to know a place in a way that car or air travel doesn’t. Even when you’re not stopping, you’re breathing the same air and feeling the same weather.

It also seems to engender positivity in others. If you’ve read this blog you’ll know that I’ve experienced kindness in the vast majority of places I’ve been to. I think when people see that you are traveling by bike they know instinctively (but not necessarily consciously) that you’ve had to work to get here, and that you’ll be working to continue. They offer things. You’re not a threat. It creates trust.

Tomorrow the peleton will increase by one rider – our special guest is hotfooting it to Saray right now – as we take on the penultimate stage, 120km south east, to stand close to touching distance to the final destination.

And whilst we ride, my family will be in the air, taking four hours to travel that which I took 52 days over. We will be reunited tomorrow evening.

It’s long overdue that I credit my support crew. You didn’t know I had a support crew this whole time? Her name is Jenny. Without her support I wouldn’t have been able to undertake this journey in the first place. It’s no easy task having to solo parent three children whilst working full time on behalf of a husband who has voluntarily gone missing on a jolly for months. Jenny has been my vital support crew, and I owe her everything. Thank you, forever. I’ll do the dishwasher now, hey?