February 6th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Turkey
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 86.36km
Average speed / 平均速度: 11.8km/h
Time on bike / 走行時間: 7h 16m
Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 3204.6km (plus 4200km)
Ascent / 上り: +1160m
Descent / 下り: -1380m
I played with the ‘ferocious’ guard dog for 30 minutes before heading off.
It was a cold start to the day. A chilly -9 degrees celcius. Karaman is a hill range over from the coast, and it is amazing how different the climate is here even though it is not very far from the coast. The cold froze the moisture in my brake and gear cables, resulting in only one gear (the climbing one), and front braking only. This was fine for climbing up the hill in the morning, but going down was tough work. Had to take it really easy. Braking with only your front brake at high speeds is not recommended.
Zonguldak is a big, dirty city. Zoomed through. A long, long, long uphill followed. I was hoping to be up and over it by lunchtime, but I got to the top at 2pm. I had a late lunch at the only cafe at the top of the pass (700m).
The day ended with a 2 hour dash along the flat coast on a narrow road with a lot of traffic. Ugh. Eregli had some impressive ship building yards tho.
Camped on a newly built marina, and watched the sun drop into the Black Sea.
Hi Rob. I'm just back from work in the UK and catching up with your exploits. I keep thinking that you'll be hitting warmer climates soon, but -9 is the last log from you. Ouch! Keep munching up those miles, there'll be the comforts of Europe soon.
Andy, cheers for checking in. Hope everything is smooth back at the office in Baku. I've been enjoying some better weather now here nearer Istanbul. 25 degrees celcius today! Wohoo!
Enjoy the warmth while you can – it will get colder as you head into the rest of Europe – although with you now being behind your planned schedule the worst of winter may be over by the time you hit Switzerland.
Those marinas seem to be very handy for camping on!
Great photos Rob. I wouldn't be surprised if the next foray into the media is a T.V camera crew. You could be featured on their national television!
