Batumi to Samsun - Flyin' along the flat

28th May - Batumi to Ardesen - Hello Ramadan

We left Batumi botanical gardens early because cycling isn’t allowed in the grounds and we wanted to avoid detection. 

The gardens are huge (10km across), hilly, and very understaffed. They had lots of things on the map, like a hothouse and a rose garden, that seemed to have been written futuristically. It was beautiful though, with lovely views over the sea. They had departments based on practically everywhere we’ve been, and while some of them seemed unfamiliar, Australia’s eucalyptuses brought back happy memories. After the botanic gardens we cycled into Batumi. We’d heard a lot about Batumi, most of it negative, but the town was surprisingly nice. The buildings are very French (apparently, I obviously wouldn’t have noticed this), with cobbled streets. We had proper coffee and pancakes for breakfast, went to buy clothes that are more appropriate to wear in Turkey, and cycled along the seafront out of the city. On the way out we met a Dutch FAMILY cycling from Holland to Nepal. They had two children, the girl was only just one, and the boy was three. The boy had a trailer type thing so he could do some pedalling, and the girl was towed along in a bubble. She was still wearing nappies. I thought they were all insane. The boy really did not seem happy, he desperately missed his grandmother (I know the feeling) and had apparently told his parents that he wanted to stay in the same place for 100 days. We asked if they were carrying any toys and the parents said “No! They can play with rocks and sticks if they want a toy!” They had some tough stuff coming up and I’m very worried about them. 

After we left them we cycled to the border. Leaving Georgia was easy, and then in the middle of the two countries we discovered we had to buy a Turkish visa for $30 each. There was no warning of this on the way in! We thought we didn’t’ have $60, there were no cashpoints and you couldn’t pay by card or any other currency. The border guard’s only suggestion was that we cycled to the nearest cashpoint 16km away and then came back with the money. They weren’t holding our passports or anything and we easily could have just cycled into Turkey and kept going. We decided although this would be satisfying it would cause us problems later. Then I remembered my stash of dollars and all was well.

Entering into Turkey was an immediate change. It was obviously more conservative and we were glad of our “travelling clothes”. It was also Ramadan. Luckily most of the shops are still open, but no cafés or restaurants are, and everyone seemed pretty miserable. We bought some DELICIOUS bread. Turkey is probs in my top 3 bread countries so far, and had lunch. We knew we had 550 flat kilometres along the Black Sea to Samsun, and we wanted to smash em out. We cycled 60km without stopping and got to a town where there was a campsite marked on the map. The campsite didn’t exist and the wild camping options were scarce on a road built into a cliff. We’ve got a new rule (inspired by Anna and Ollie) where we don’t put pressure on ourselves the first day in a country, so we found a hotel. The hotel was absolutely revolting and expensive. Although it was dark by this stage, everywhere was closed because they were all frantically eating. We had to eat crisp sandwhiches for supper.

29th May - Ardesen to Trabzone – Pffffft this is a nightmare

We had 125km to the big town of Trabzone and we wanted to make it there. The riding was strange, we were metres from the sea so it should have been stunning, but the weather wasn’t good and there was lots of low lying cloud. The coast is also really built up, mainly with apartment blocks, so you can’t actually see the cliffs. Traffic was increasing with every mile and we weren’t excited about 500 more kilometres of this. It was very flat. About 20km before Trabzone we looked up hotels and they were all really pricey, and way off the main road. Trabzone is touristy, with lots of attractions including a monastery cut into the cliff. Ideally we’d have spent a day there, but we didn’t have time for that, and it seemed silly paying crazy money for a hotel we’d be in for less than 12 hours. We’d met Ruslan, a Ukrainian cyclist, a few hours before and he told us that he’d camped in a park in the middle of the city. I wanted to stay in a hotel, Mum wanted to stay in the park. We always have arguments in a big town at the end of the day, and we shouted at each other a lot. In the end I said I’d do exactly what she wanted. It was getting dark and the city went on for ages and ages and ages.. We kept cycling, and cycling and cycling and it got darker and darker and darker and I got angrier and angrier and angrier. We went through a 3km tunnel which was the final straw for me. Cycling through a tunnel hearing a truck approach and wondering if they’ve seen you is really very terrifying. At the end of the tunnel I told her we were staying in a hotel and I was stopping doing exactly what she wanted. They were at least a bit cheaper than the city and we found a really fab one, which came with breakfast included. Yay. The wifi was good enough to facetime everyone in St Mawes and we both slept really well.

30th May - Trabzone to Ulubrun - What a lovely beach

We left late in the morning, enjoying the buffet breakfast. We definitely got our money’s worth that’s for sure. The road was not nice to start with, it was very busy with lots of traffic and lots of slip roads making for stressful merging. Anyway once we’d left Trabzone behind us it got all nice again. We stopped for Turkish coffee and played Backgammon (we call it backy g now) and the café owner got very excited. It turns out Tabla is the national game in Turkey. He gave us a massive set to play on. Turkish coffee is alright, a bit gritty but infinitely better than Nescafé. After this we continued on. Lunch was a bit of a problem because most places (coffee was an exception) are closed for Ramadan. The supermarkets were the other side of the dual carriageway so buying lunch wasn’t an ideal choice. In the end we saw an open café on the other side of the road, locked our bikes to the fence and walked over the bridge. We had stuffed cabbage and pide, which is the Turkish equivalent of pizza. It’s basically pizza with a lot more cheese. This one had mince on top as well. Very full up we kept going along the coast. The coast was really getting beautiful now, with hidden coves, and the sunshine made the black sea blue. Just before the campsite we were called in by a café owner and given free çay (tea) and then lots of food, despite us refusing. We played tabla again had a big audience – luckily it was an incredibly exciting game (I won). Afterwards we went to find the campsite which was stunning, but pretty derelict. 

The owners tried to charge us 50 tl which was outrageous for a piece of grass with no facilities. He then offered to carry our bikes down the very steep steps so we could camp on the beach. We were pretty tempted to take him up on this for the lols but were worried he wouldn’t carry them up again. We negotiated him down to 30 which was still a great deal for him, and he knew it. He spent the whole evening trying to make up for this by being incredibly irritating and hangy roundy. Following us with chairs, that kind of thing. He was also in the danger range of single unmarried men who seem to all want to marry me. I’m not joking, they all do. Anyway I’m much less patient with irritating people I don’t want to talk to than Mum is so I went to bed and she struggled on. 

31st May - Ulubrun to Yalikoy - See yaa Ruslan

25km into today we bumped into Ruslan and rode together. He’d slept in another city centre park. He’s a cycle courier in Kiev and also participates in underground cyclecross on his fixed wheel bike. Aka he’s cool.

 Anyway we had a good time riding together in the sunshine. As we got further into Turkey the road was getting busier and busier so we took a coastal diversion which was hilly but much quieter and very beautiful. We decided to stop along this road and wild camp on a beach. 

We weren’t hidden but felt very safe – specially with two tents. Anyway we were very glad Ruslan was there because we were continually approached by complete weirdos, many of them drunk, which in Ramadan is especially dodgy. One of these men asked Ruslan if he wanted a beer,went off and got him one and bought us sour cherry juice. Mum was bristling at this and gave the men a lecture – completely wasted on him as he spoke no English and his Russian wasn’t quite up to her hounding. At one point a Turkish man who was travelling with his two dogs on a bicycle with a small engine, carrying the dogs in his trailer. He really was mad. He had the biggest tent I’ve ever seen, and didn’t pick up the dog poo. Ruslan made a huge fire, killing several trees and destroying a lot of grass. It really was a dramatic evening.

1st June - Yalikoy to Samsun -  5km is too much tunnel

Today was PRE REST DAY DAY. YAY. We had around 125km to go to Samsun so it wasn’t all plain sailing. We rode with Ruslan to Unye, where he was turning left to head to Ankara and we were carrying on along the coast. We decided to take the shorter route which was through a lot of tunnels. Adrenaline much. Anyway we made it through alive and were heading to Samsun. We got to the city and could see the campsite, the other side of two railways. It was a relief to see that is actually existed but it was so far away! We had to cycle 3 kilometres before we could turn around, which is really not ideal at the end of the day. We got there and had no food and no money, and the cash point was the other side of the two railway lines. The very lovely man running the campsite let us off and invited us to break Ramadan fast with him and friends. We had the traditional Ifta meal – soup, rice with something baked bean like. We ate a lot more than all the fast breakers. After this I brushed and washed my hair for the first time since Luang Prabang (26 days ago). I’m hoping this won’t increase the marriage proposals.

2nd June - Samsun – REST DAY.

Samsun is lacking in tourist attractions. What a relief. We went to a bikeshop to try and get our bikes fixed, and yet again our bikes were in a much better state than the bikes coming out of the shop. Anyway they did their best and didn’t take any of our many. After this we went to the supermarket and bought a lot of food. We got back to the campsite excited for a fab lunch and found two new campers. They insisted we joined them for lunch. Aghhh. I’m so sick of socialising. They didn’t speak English and communication was really tough and awkward and they were back in the danger range. Sure enough they didn’t leave us alone for the rest of the day. We managed to escape for a bit to go and see a “genuine model” of the Bandiarma, the boat that Ataturk arrived on in 1919 to save Turkey before the British split it up and handed it out. The turks love Ataturk. One of the things he did was give Turks surnames, and his own means “father of Turkey”. Anyway if you want to read some more have a google. When we got back our friends were waiting. Mum was far too nice to them and I was probably quite rude. I told them I had a boyfriend and they still kept saying things via google translate like “why are your eyes so beautiful” “why do I have love”. They were both mid 30s and very unattractive so it was offensive for lots of reasons. As it got dark they forced us to eat disgusting donner kebab meat out of a packet, and then kept trying to persuade me to go for a walk around the beach with them. I got really fed up and went to bed but was then stuck in the tent. Everytime I tried to escape they were watching, The other drama of the day was a couple travelling by motorbike being kicked out because they weren’t married!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!! !!!!