Day 61 Alexandroupoli - 28.9.05 

We had a pleasant night on the town and before dropping off to sleep I patched some tubes just in case. The road was busy as we left town but soon quietened down when we passed the freeway entrance and the local airport. A simple breakfast at Anthia kept the fuel level up and we rode on towards the border.

10km later Daniel's tyre was flat again. We pulled into a petrol station a few meters ahead and began work. The attendants watched curiously and when I struggled to get the tyre off over the thick thorn-proof tube, a young guy leaped in and helped with great energy. He spoke no English so we chatted in German. He helped me wash up and I had my work cut out for tonight.

The only way across the border was to get on the freeway which by now is no problem. We are expert at Freeway Survival Techniques and know we always get a smooth road and a quick run. In this case for the next 6 kms only one car passed us. No one was going to Turkey today? The border crossing involved passport control Greek style (casual, off you go, stamping optional) Greek soldiers one side of the bridge, Turkish soldiers other side of the bridge.

We then went to the Turkish passport control where we were directed to the large building to apply for a visa. Application was no problem as long as we had 40Euros and then it was back to passport control to have our Visa stamped. next we went to customs where a man with Narkotik on his shirt saw us, laughed and asked where we were from and why we would want to go so far on a bicycle? He waved us through and we were riding in Turkey, country no.12 and nearing the end.

The next 60 kilometers only showed me that what I thought was dry in Greece was wrong. This place is hot dry and harsh. The wind picked up and whether it was a head wind or a cross wind, it drained our energy. We were going to have to earn these last few hundred kms. For 30km we rode to Kesan and I couldn't get a Cold Chisel song out of my head even though it was about a different place. Its really irritating to have a song in your head when you dont know the words. back to the ride...

We rode into Kesan, withdrew some Turkish Lira (about 200 million) and were able to eat. Another fight with the wind and we checked into a hotel in Malkara without really knowing what we were paying as we hadn't yet had a chance to understand the exchange rates. It turned out we were paying the equivalent of 24 euro for our 3 bed bedroom and we both ate a lovely meal at a local restaurant for 4 euro.

Stats Dist 106 Km, Average 18km/hr, Max 58km/hr, Climb 850m 

  Email John at John@CycleOdyssey.com.au
 

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