Tuesday 15th October - leaving Istanbul

I left the big city today. I've actually forgotten what it's like to cycle and be on the road again. I'd spent 10 days in Istanbul, which was awesome, but I felt I was reaching stagnation, and I was beginning to get lethargic. You get used to the comfortable life and I could feel the muscle and strength that I had gained on my legs starting to disappear, not to mention the softening of flesh around the middle. If my mum was here she would be poking me in the belly, laughing and asking are you getting fat???..any psychoanalysts would have a field day. 

So the big day had arrived. During breakfast I was talking to two Danish and one Dutch guy who had been cycling to Istanbul and met on the way. The Dutch one filled me full of hope when he said he knew of a few English cyclists who had tried and failed several times to get an Iranian visa. He seemed keen to dissuade me. The Danes however suggested, rather than searching for a map, which doesn't really exist in sufficient detail for the whole of Turkey, that I download the CityMaps2Go App which is open source and allows you to download whole country maps and view them offline. So far it's been amazing and would definitely recommend it. However it does rinse the phone battery quite a lot. 

As always it took a while to get going, and countless people thought it hilarious to comment "still here?!"... Very good, yes.. However all morning I was confused because I swore I could hear mooing. Was it istanbul's less celebrated city farm?...no, it was the would-be victim of a brutal axe assault behind our hostel. I should add that it is Bayram in Turkey this week, a religious holiday where everyone buys a sheep, kills it with the family watching, and then eats it all week. Beats scrabble I guess. But this was a cow so maybe they'd run out of sheep. 

So I opened the window to have a look. Two men trying in vain to split a cow's head in two with a metre long axe. Thwack as steel met bone. Worryingly I could still hear mooing?...But this turned out to be the next in line. Of course, I know I sound like a pathetic westerner who's never seen dead animals before but it all felt a bit much as I was still digesting breakfast. 

The festival did mean the streets were eerily quiet and all shops were closed. The world's 2nd most populous city felt like a fishing village during a church service. Before I left I wanted to visit the home of the Golluoglu Baclava, the world's first Baclava shop just by Karikoy docks. Usually a queue snakes round the street but today if was empty so I bought a small selection and lacquered my insides with butter and sugar. They were very good, as was the Turkish coffee. 

It was the birthday of a friend, Lucy,  so my other friend Shah (who's helping sort my visa in Iran) cooked a meal. After munching this I was ready to go, making sure to take on extra as supplementary fuel. We took some group photos and with a heavy heart I left. They are a great bunch there and I hope to see them again.

The last supper in the hostel 

On board the boat to Kadikoy on the Asian side the night before. I forgot to mention, I bumped into German Chris again by accident. Our last photo together before he heads north to the Black Sea. 

Ready to roll. I will also be rocking the baby blue MS Trust colours from now on. Represent.

Goodbye Europe.

Hello Asia.

Turkish fever. 

I hopped on the boat over the bay to get to the Asian side and from there would follow the road out along the coast towards Izmit. It was Turkey vs Holland in football and the place was thronging with people. Usually pretty much everywhere you look in Turkey there are flags and pictures of Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. But being a religious holiday and match day (its difficult to say what is more important) it was awash with red and white. The match was being played in the Fenerbache stadium so all around it were inebriated Dutch fans clad in orange. I was very tempted to join them as an honorary Dutchman but I'd drunk enough of late and if I'd have stayed I would have never ever left. 

The cycle out of town wasn't as bad as I expected, following the coast in the direction south east along a cycle path. The sun was dipping low and it truly is a splendid coast line with huge statioanary vessels and locals enjoying the Autumn sun. However as the cycle path ended around 30km out of town I was forced back on the main road and I needed my wits about me. Finally the only option was to take the D100 highway, one of the main arteries out of the city. It was also dark now so I donned my hi-viz, illuminated, and took to the hard shoulder. Scary stuff even though i was starting to get used to it. I scanned feverishly for a place to camp, some grass, another thicket, anything, but this was Turkey and very arid. The only grass seemed to be owned by the military. I finally turned off the highway after 10km and followed some darkly lit roads. And there of course as if waiting fot me, bloody dogs. Big ones! One took chase and I pedaled hard. Remembering I now had a weapon I skillfully turned and blasted it in the face with pepper spray. In your face! Literally. He spluttered and stopped. 1-1 dogs. 

Boats bobbing in the harbour.

So at last after cycling aimlessly under moonlight I found a suitable, if not perfect patch of scratchy undergrowth and threw the tent up. It was nice to cook on the stove again and I retired early into my new sleeping bag. Which I should add is a beauty. Or maybe a little too hot? 

I only did about 45km today so tomorrow it's back on the road as I fear I'm still officially in Istanbul. I aim to be in Ankara to pick up my visa by Sunday so better get pedalling.