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The road to Istanbul proved to be a real trial on our nerves and muscles: the quiet provincial road turned into a two lane heavily used main road with speeding lorries, series of ramps, and ever increasing headwind as we approached Istanbul. Progress slowed the nearer we got to Istanbul – on one evening we were 10 mile short of our target destination when we had to stop due to nightfall in a small village that had nowhere to stay. Thankfully the guys at the local petrol station showed us our first experience of Turkish hospitality and offered us a clean storage room to sleep in. That was probably the low point of the entire journey so far.
Two days later, weary from ramps and crazy drivers who went past way too close for comfort, we left a seaside resort in the morning, still exhausted despite 10 hours of sleep. 5 miles down we had climbed yet another ramp where the wind was so fierce we could hardly stand up let alone cycle or even push the bike, we decided that we had had enough!! Stuck out our thumb to the first passing van in the direction of Istanbul, who promptly stopped!
The van drivers were Omer and Ugur and they shifted all the crates in the back of their van to make room for our bikes, tetris style! Once in, we crammed into the front of the van – despite the lack of room it was such a luxury compared to the last few days!
An hour (and 40km) later we were in the outskirts of Istanbul. Omer and Ugur kindly changed their route to take us almost as far as the hotel we were aiming for!! They even gave us some bread from the back of the van to help restore our energy!
Ok, we know we have cheated…..but it will just be our little secret, won’t it! Seriously though, without a lift that last 40kms could have quite easily taken us two days or could quite easily resulted in a serious accident!
So now we are in Istanbul, tired but happy that leg 1 is complete…and looking forward to a well deserved rest!!
