Turkish Wedding Day

Sile to Kaynarca
July 27th
106km (1,958m vertical)

Last night my tent had a dozen hungry mosquitoes in it, and I stayed up for almost an hour trying to hunt them down after several bites early in the night. The local mosque was also keeping me from sleep, broadcasting their call to prayer over a loud speaker once after I had fallen asleep and once before I was due to wake up. I believe that the call to prayer is a tape, being played over a public address system because the quality is pretty bad and it starts and ends with tones like a phone being dialed.

At dinner, Graeme introduced the “Lame Duck” award to the trip. This was a fun award given most days on the last trip to someone that had done something stupid. Yesterday's went to Fred, who had bought a map of Eastern Turkey and a map of Western Turkey, once to discover that they were identical maps – he just hadn't turned either of them over. Today's went to Max, who went to bed without putting the rain fly on his tent and didn't wake up when the thunderstorm started to fill his tent with water. Graeme and Manon went over, found his fly, and put it on his tent while yelling his name...and he still didn't wake up!

I decided not to race on the trip. Only 4 other people are racing, and Al will beat all of them into camp each day by a few hours. I feel pretty comfortable that I could beat Al into camp by about 30 minutes or so each day, but that would mean that I could never ride with the Auzzies, or anyone else. Riding with them, Al will beat me in by 4 hours or more...which really doesn't give me any chance to compete. I figure that I can race Al some days, and take others slower to enjoy the scenery.

Accordingly, I rode with the Auzzies today and the scenery was great. Long climbs and long downhills all day,

I got my second flat tire of the trip this morning. The tires have about 5,000km on them now, and they looked a bit worn, so I put on new ones in camp this afternoon. The new ones are 700x35, a little bit wider and with little knobs on them for more traction on rough roads, Hopefully no more flats for a while.

Today's directions were entitled, “Sile to Soccar Field Camp'. (We got a laugh when Stewart told some locals that we were staying in the town of Soccar...it should have read Soccer Field Camp.) In any case, the camp is little more than a soccer field. No shade and only one little pit toilet in a small house nearby. They put a hose in the second pit toilet for showers. At least we had running water...although the floor of the toilets was covered in mud.

All day we were passed by wedding processions. Cars decorated with ribbons and lots of excited locals honking and yelling and clapping. One group even came into our camp, complete with a drummer and someone on a wind instrument, and danced with us. We laughed at how unhappy the bride looked...although I suppose I would be upset to if I was in a soccer field, dancing with a group of foreign cyclists on my wedding day.

Camp is also full of local children, all asking your name, saying hello, and trying to help you put up your tent. We are definitely the most interesting thing in town right now.

After dinner, Paul (a Silk Route expert) gave a short talk about the history of the route. It will be nice to have him along for the ride, to give the trip some color. Originally, the trade route consisted of many middle-men, that would transport goods across their country and then trade them on the other side. It would take 18 months or more to cover the entire distance.

Photos from today:




Wedding dance in the soccer field.