Day 20 – 26th April 2014 leave 11.15am Miles rode 55 miles Cunda Island
I was warm and could hear the water slowly lapping against the shore around me as I woke up. After a while I opened up my tent, stayed in my sleeping bag and watched the near still sea. It was the sound that was special. It was 8am, I had had another good night sleep […]
Day 19 – 25th April 2014 leave 10.00am Miles rode 147 Erdek – Cunda Island
I was woken at 5.15 with the usual ‘call to prayer’, I had a slight headache and eventually went back to sleep to wake at 8 feeling not too bad. There was a mist rolling in from the sea so we packed our tents away wet. The ride was great today up in the mountains. […]
Day 18 – 24th April 2014 leave 9.30am Miles rode 153 Lake Iznik – Erdek
An interesting ride initially followed by hours of boring straight dual carriageways, we arrived near our destination to find ourselves in an industrial town, not nice, we rode on and after 20 mins were in Erdek, a wonderful seaside town full of character, both the town and people. We camped for the first time on […]
Day 17 – 23rd April 2014 leave 8.30am Miles rode 135 Istanbul – Lake Iznik
Off to the ‘Indian Embassy’ this morning, it would be good to get this visa sorted in the next week or so then I have India & Pakistan ‘in the bag’ which means other than Iran I’m sorted for the next few months. This will also allow me to plan a couple of options depending […]
Day 16 – 22nd April 2014 leave 8.30am Miles rode 28 Istanbul
Good day today, I rode over one of the main bridges which crosses ‘The Bospherous’ so I stepped into Asia for the first time on this trip, afterwards I made my way to meet Ceyhan a Bulgarian guy who lives in Istanbul (Oli, another overland biker put me touch with him), he’s a biker too. […]
Day 15 – 21st April 2014 leave 8.15am Miles rode 9 Istanbul
Up early and off to Iranian Embassy where they confirmed they just process visas and Tehran makes the decision. As I thought I have to get an authorisation code and this means a guide so looking into prices today and sorting other IT / mail stuff in between coffee in the sun. I feel really […]
Day 14 – 20th April 2014 Istanbul
Fuck Me! Fuck Me! Fuck Me! Would you ‘Adam & Eve it!’ The company that was sorting my iranian visa out has just mailed me saying the the MFA for Iran have suddenly imposed restrictions to British and Canadian nationals whereby I now need a guide for 100% of the time I am in Iran […]
Day 13 – 19th April 2014 leave 11.15am Miles rode 10 Istanbul
We checked out of Steph’s ‘posh hotel’ and rode across Istanbul to a cheaper one, more affordable! It was ok more the type of hotel I stay in when travelling, in the part of town where tourists are not, cheap, I like it. The area is full of locals going about there business as usual […]
Day 12 – 18th April 2014 leave 8.15am Miles rode 200 Alexandroupolis – Istanbul
It’s fucking raining! I rode away in the rain and after 30 mins I was at the Turkish boarder, I saw lorries cueing up 2km from the boarder crossing and I thought I would take hours to cross, the outside lane was empty and I rode straight past the lorries and to the boarder. I […]
Day 11 – 17th April 2014 leave 11.15am Miles rode 196 Thessaloniki – Alexandroupolis
Thessaloniki is a great city, the second largest in Greece, it didn’t feel touristy at all. I left late morning after a long lazy breakfast and soon it started raining. Greece hasn’t been kind to me with the weather. I arrived in Alexandroupolis in the rain, it seemed a rubbish town but then again I […]
Day 10 – 16th April 2014 leave 10.30am Miles rode 119 Bitola – Thessaloniki
I slept all night again and woke feeling refreshed, a good feeling after months of stress. It’s snowing! I didn’t envisage this! As I didn’t have a long ride planned today I was going to walk around the ‘Old Bazaar’ and slowly prepare for a short ride to Thessaloniki in Greece. It’s snowing!!! I made […]
Day 9 – 15th April 2014 leave 11.15am Miles rode 156 Thumane – Bitola
Again I slept all night, this must mean the stress I experienced over the last few months in England is slowly leaching away:) I gave Chris a ride to the workshop a mile down the road and went back to the hotel to sort my panniers and stuff out. The hour I spent was productive, […]
