January 30th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Turkey
Yesterday’s weather forecast was a day late, it seems. The predicted snow, rain and wind came in force today, soaking me through on the 11km ride from my campspot to Inebolu. As I sit here in the internet cafe, it is still snowing the same slushy, haily gunk that the sky spat on me early this morning. My waterproof gear is great in its intended use, but when I am lying back on my recumbent, water gets through the front zips. Not pretty.
Before the skies dumped their contents on me however, the views from my campspot were thrilling.
The wet weather even made my dead neibour let up her stinking for a while.
Perhaps this is why the sea is called the Black Sea…
What on earth made you pitch a tent next to a dead whatever or did it get washed up? Hope your not having a moment? Pictures Horse milking while odd is acceptable in not tried it but hey! could be good in it's own sort of way. Yak Bum licking while not my bag could be alright for an alternative lifestyle. Dead dogs in small skips bit dark but again part of life's rich taprestry. However proper dead amd mouldy bits and pieces I'm getting concerned…. You could be attracting a whole new audience in Hannibal Leckter style. Who may want to track you down and have lunch if you know what I'm saying…
Hope all is well…
PS saw LOIQ this morning
Carl, flat ground is hard to find along this coast. Looks like the old girl was making the most of the flat ground too…
Loiq mentioned he caught glimpses of you through the gaps in traffic on the way to work too.
Made the most of it alright! your hanging around graveyards, now dead stuff, are turning gothic?
It's not a good look…. Sorry to all the goths out there! but the dead look is dead get some colour in your world! And stop skulking about in the dark, plenty of time to do when the fuel runs out. Get amongst it while you can!
Anyway supposed to be working so best I go.
I agree with Carl Dub. I don't quite get your drift. To put yourself in the proition of getting said deceased bovine's drift seems strange. Are you sure that's the only spot in leagues and leagues?
Uncle Peter, I'll get you over here next time I need to find a good spot then…
By the way, you are quite the lyrical one aren't you…
Any idea why they call it the Black Sea? It doesn't look particularly black but it does look cold.
Hi Rob,
You could try sticking duct tape over your zip to waterproof it – but I'm not sure how the gum reacts when wet, you'd have to try a wee bit to make sure it won't leave disgusting sticky patches up the front of your jacket when you remove it…
Jean
Gee mate, I don't know how you manage with holding a blog together at the same time as you are travelling. When my wife and I did the lengths of NZ and Japan we were too drained of energy to write more than a few notes before we collapsed into sleep. Trying to wrest enough time to write detracted from experiencing the trip itself. A mistake we made was to look for Internet access along the way. I presume that you are self-sufficient in that regard? My next adventure next month is to tray and walk 150 km in 24 hours.
I haven't seen you mention any dairy farms or cattle herds that you have passed along the way, so where has that poor carcus come from? That water looks very cold … now I wonder if Lil was there whether you would dare each other to try it out for a quick dip?!!!!
Rob
Have you considered ordering spiked (snow) tyres for the rear wheel? It may save you and your bike from slippery eisbahn. You may have to adjust or even remove rear fender though. I am sure you can order one on the net from a European dealer such as these: http://www.snowbikers.com/snow_tyre.html http://www.suomityres.fi/wxc300.html
and arrange to have it sent via airmail to the hostel in a fairly large town you will be staying in ten days time, just give them an advance notice. If you fail to pick it up due to delay in delivery you can leave a forwarding address to the hostel staff.
Did you think the Scandinavians, the Scots and the Finns would stay indoors for half of the year because they couldn't ride their MTB? Those spiked tyres look very mean and impressive!!
Satoshi, I had thought at times up in the highlands of Turkey that studded tyres would be handy, but here, there is not so much forzen ice on the roads. Just slush. And lots of wind today! Maybe I should move to Norway so I can ride around on studded tyres. I agree, they look tough!
Jean, you are a Jean-ius. Sticky gunk or no sticky gunk, the jacket will be taped. Cheers for the idea.
William, I only do updates on my days off. I can sit here in an internet cafe all warm and dry, listening to music on youtube.com, and play with photos and videos. On my riding days, I too am fairly tired.
Aunty Jenny, dunno where the cow came from. I tried asking her, but she was a litte non-communicative.
The sea doesn't look so black but the sky does!
Put your out layer on backwards to stop the wet getting in. You might need some help with that though!
Hi Rob,
Back from a week away telling people about Wycliffe at Parachute. Did you know there are 200,000,000 with no Bible in any language they speak? 2,289 people groups. Only 426 languages out of nearly 7,000 have the whole Bible. And English has 250 versions. I'm ashamed.
Speaking of ashamed, what's with all this decision-bashing, blog-readers?! Are we in Rob's (admittedly probably stinky) shoes? Are we in any position to question this journey which none of us would or could take ourselves? Sleep near a dead cow, Rob. Or in a graveyard. Or in clothes that haven't been washed for 3 1/2 weeks. Go nuts. I assert your right to make decisions from your rather unique position of knowing what it's like to be you. We are monumentally privileged to have this journey shared with us at all – perhaps we take our liberty too far by criticising it from our armchairs? In any case, perhaps the last thing we ourselves would want to read at the end of a hard and enigmatic day is 'yeah, you should've done that differently,' or 'why didn't you do X?' Correct me if I'm wrong though, Rob.
Snotrocket, great idea, but I would have to cut holes in the back of the hood to see.
Lee, couldn't have said it better myself. If only there were teleporter machines so I could get some of the 'experts' over here to make some decisions for me! 
On the topic of the bible translations, is there any other book that is translated into as many languages? Still, you're right, still much work to be done. Less work fattening up the already spiritually obese western Christians, and more work feeding the hungry…
Glad to hear I wasn't wildly out of line… was wondering whether it'd been a bit much.
You're right, I imagine the Bible is the most translated book… perhaps the Koran might have rivalled or exceeded it if it wasn't for the fact that people are supposed to read it in the original Arabic (from what I've heard).
Yes, spiritually obese… or, at least, spoilt. I reckon there's still plenty of spiritual malnutrition out there amongst us Westies, but it's a malnutrition of convenience, pride and fussiness, rather than of famine.
And yes, feeding the hungry, and/or those who've been filling themselves up quite happily on poisonous berries.
(excuse the word-smith-ery. can't help myself.)
