34. Soke to Gulluck

Martin slept. I slept a bit! 

The hotel saga got better!

We had opted for an early-ish start…to get the hell out of this immemorable place (actually very memorable!). So we met in the back reception area….hoping to find someone to open up the transit…to release our bikes! 

We were laughing about our night. Calls to prayer…setting alarms to change batteries…worrying about bed bugs…etc.

And suddenly there was stirring from the couch (tucked round the corner on the right of the photo!)…and a guy we had not seen…mumbled what sounded like obscenities…”FFS I am trying to sleep”…sort of thing.

So we quietened down…and went searching for the young manager who had fixed things up. No response from the bus. No response from the van. 

We phoned up the hotel…on all its numbers. Nothing! Wasted half an hour.

And then decided we had to wake up grumpy guts for some help!

Without one word…..not one!!…..he stretched…..farted…..fumbled around in his pocket….found keys…..stood up…and wandered out to unlock the van!! 

Irritating…but really comical at one level!

A quality place…not! This is the fire exit door from a six storey hotel….completely blocked by a concrete planter. (Quite glad we only found this out in the morning!).

So we were on our way…still quite early really….(& quite happy to leave Soke)…..for 30kms straight! And when I say straight…I mean it! Not even one slight bend to relieve monotony…for 30kms. And on a fast dual carriageway to boot!!

Turkey’s roading system is fantastic really! If you are in a car! And very safe really for biking. But when building these roads.. they destroy the ordinary roads…so..there is all too often no choice but to use the big roads. Not ideal!

But gladly we were able to turn off……and take a road less travelled! 

Great breakfast…

And then…a GREAT ride….which took is away from the coast…so no shit developments etc for nearly 60km!! 

Lovely!!

Lots of ups and downs……

…before it flattened out (..that is Bodrum airport in the distance)….

We spent a while finding a rote avoiding the merging of motorways to circumnavigate the airport!

This was our route under the main airport approach….! It did not look too bad…but got deeper and deeper…and full of sticky mud…so we both came very close to a wet fall!!

From here only 6kms or so to our destination. Gulluck! Picked off the map as the first coastal place for sixty kms or so (since breakfast!)

And it is delightful! That is the view from my hotel window…a luxurious step up from last night!

Pretty…

…relaxed…..

…and lots of real life (serious fishing!)…

And SO close to the airport. It sort of reminded us of riding past Split airport last year…where we rode through lovely beach places….right next to the airport. But folk are possibly put off by the airport’s proximity!

But this place is really…ok!! 

Yes…I could spend a week here! Not Foca pretty…but…..the water was not Foca cold either!…as I took only my second swim of this trip! At least five degrees warmer…and after a good day of biking in the heat…it was gorgeous!!

So…no second layer…for two days on the trot..ALL day!!

Maybe summer has arrived! 

We even had a beer on arrival…..when I discovered I still had my room key from last night in my pocket.

I asked the guy here about it…and he threw it in the rubbish bin!….probably entirely appropriate!

Footnote: as we pulled in to Gulluck…I just passed the 2,500km mark…so (according to prior estimate)…half way exactly!!

Feeling good. Body working (surprisingly well in fact!). Bum surviving. And LOVING it!!

It really is such a great way to travel. Not for the feint-hearted….but it is forever exciting…challenging…sometimes awful…sometimes terrifying….but actually almost always wonderful….!