87th-91st Day: Forced break at the picnic area

I was awakened in the morning by the ringing of sheep bells. Right in front of my tent, a herd of sheep passed by with its shepherd. The shepherd greeted me friendly, but continued on his way. I packed up my things and set off. The destination of the day was the city of Cerzesköy, just about 20km away. When I arrived at the outskirts of the city, I was surprised by the lively construction activity of this quite modern city and quickly found my hotel room.

Today, I finally wanted to book my return flight. But oh dear: the hotel and the whole street had no WiFi. Broken for days. For a short time, I got internet access through the hotel manager's private mobile phone and was able to book my return flight. Then I wanted to explore the city a bit. But Wikipedia didn't list a single attraction in the city, which has a population of 124,000. Just about 100 years ago, the city was a collection of 3 insignificant villages. Due to the industrial boom in recent decades, it has developed into a 'faceless' metropolis.

I spent most of the evening in a pizzeria with WiFi and was able to plan my further route. I wanted to spend 1-2 days at the Black Sea, since I was already in the vicinity. I found my cycling route, had a good Turkish snack, and returned to the hotel.

My 88th day of travel took me back to a picnic area for a free overnight stay in nature by a small lake. There was nothing noteworthy to see on the side roads, except that I rode through a low forest for a long time. At the picnic area, I made myself comfortable, read the biblical Acts of the Apostles for some time, because it was only early afternoon. At the picnic area, I got into a conversation with an older Turkish excursion group who were just grilling. The grill master was amazed that I had cycled all the way from Germany to here. As a 'guest gift', he brought me some grilled chicken legs and white bread, which I gratefully accepted and skipped cooking my own meal. In the evening, I watched some historical documentaries that I had downloaded beforehand in a tea house.

During the night, I had a strong diarrhea and my stomach rumbled fiercely. I had to go out several times. It came out of my bottom like water and I felt physically weak. The next morning, I took two anti-diarrheal tablets and decided to stay at the picnic area for another day and night to rest. Fortunately, I was about 4 days ahead in my overall planning and could 'afford' a day off and still had enough water. I spent most of it in the tent, ate only a little dry bread, and drank water, nothing else. It became a long day and the hours passed 'very slowly'.

The next morning, my stomach had calmed down and I was able to continue cycling. The destination was the coastal village of Yaliköy, slightly off the main cycling route. The closer I got to Istanbul, the denser the traffic on the D 020 became. Taking the side route with the coastal village allowed me to bypass about 35 km of the main road, even if my route would be about 50 km longer.

Arriving in the coastal village of Yaliköy, I found a nice camping site 3 km outside at the beach with a direct view of the roaring Black Sea in the strong wind. In Greek times, it probably even had a church in the large coastal village under the name of Podima, but I only saw two mosques. I set up my tent and looked for a tea house to charge my phone and laptop and to edit my travel photos and write a text. In the twilight, I drove back to my beautiful camping site on the beach. In the evening, I went on a diet and ate only bread and a chocolate bar. Unfortunately, it got quite loud for about 3 hours because two Turkish teenagers were camping just about 30m away and played Turkish rap loudly on their music box. Around 11 p.m., I looked at them and they actually turned it down a bit, so I could fall asleep.

My 90th day of travel was Sunday, October 9th. Since I still had a 3-day lead, I decided to stay at the beach camping site near Yaliköy for another day. In the morning sun, I took a long walk on the beach, collected some stones, reflected on my journey so far, and planned the 'free' cycling day a bit. At noon, I used the WiFi at the nearby tea house to search for an evangelical radio church service. I continued reading chapter by chapter of the biblical Acts of the Apostles on my phone and occasionally watched the activities of the excursionists at the beach.

In the evening, for safety, I only ate white bread again and made myself a hot black tea over a fire. My young camping neighbors with their music box had meanwhile left and I could look forward to a quiet night. In the tea house, I had also downloaded some Terra X documentaries from the ZDF media library and was able to have a small TV evening in the tent with historical reports about the historical Orient.