I left Samsun just after the election results had come in at the weekend. From what most people I’d spoken to had predicted the verdict was a pleasant suprise. Very few of the folks I’d stayed with were voting for the current party AKP, (choosing main left party or HDP) and so I was happy … More Turkey part 4: Samsun to the Georgian border (10/06/15-21/06/15)
I left Ankara with a clear target – to cycle approximately 450km to Samsun (where I always intended on passing) by Saturday, five days away. Then I could get the bus back to Ankara on Sunday, try for the second time to get my Uzbekistan visa on Monday and return the same day or Tuesday. … More Turkey part 3: Ankara to Samsun (02/06/15-09/06/15)
Well rested and with a much less hair than when I arrived, I crossed the Bosphorus and began my adventure into Asia. Istanbul had been a great city for a break, but the size and busyness of it had been a shock to the system. The city’s traffic is crazy and it was a horrible … More Turkey part 2: Istanbul to Ankara (22/05/15-01/06/15)
If the border change from Bulgaria to Greece was dramatic, the crossing into Turkey was something else. Finally I was out of the easy EU borders. This crossing had a long no-man’s land, rusty barbed-wire fencing and large ‘no camera’ signs against military personnel stencils. There were soldiers around the buildings and for the first time … More Turkey Part 1: From the Greek border to Istanbul (08/05/15-22/05/15)
With my brakes working again, we crossed the Macedonian border back into Bulgaria again. Just passed the border we found a what looked like a perfect picnic spot by on old bridge over a river. But the picnic didn’t last very long – a shepherd arrived out of nowhere shouting at us to move so that … More Bulgaria & Greece: Mountain climbing (27/04/15-08/05/15)
JKB's Bike Ride 