Heading for the Black Sea
Took my sweet time getting ready. So came to the parking lot where my bike was parked and the guy points to his watch basically saying “what kind of time do you call this?” Apparently the bike was in the way and they were about to heave it to a different spot with the crane from the construction site next door…
On one hand I would have liked to see this one the other I’m glad I showed up in time. So set off to cross from Europe to Asia across the Bosporus. If all goes as planned I will not be in Europe for a year. Strange feeling when I think about it. Europe is so similar even when you are in a different country. Technically I will be back in Europe for a little while in Russia up to the Ural Mountains. I specifically went by an ATM to get money out to pay for the toll bridge. Then I did something that could bite me in the ass big time but I blame it on the signs or the lack of them. On the approach to the toll station they had signs on the 3 lanes with on showing what I thought was a cashier and I got in that lane. Then at the station itself there were 12 or more lanes with mad traffic. People crossing lanes like crazy.
In the mayhem I did not see a single sign for a cashier, just ones for electronic tags and ones for “KGS” what ever that is. Tried asking people in the cars beside me if I was in the right lane but either got nods or shrugged shoulders. To make it short I was of course in the wrong lane. Took apparently only token card or pass. There was a call for help button but that would not have been any use as I’m sure Turkish only. So what to do? Well I just went thru ignoring the red light. In hindsight I probably should have just parked the bike, not worrying about the cars behind me, gone over 5 - 6 lanes of traffic to pay. Anyway I didn’t. So now slightly worry is that they won’t let me out of the country before paying the fine that I’m sure is connected with this. We’ll see how efficient the Turkish law enforcement is.
The rest of the drive up to Gerede was motorway and then I headed for the coast. Once of the motorway the road conditions got pretty bad and the driving by other motorists got worse. Nearly got killed in a head-on collision when a mini-bus tried to overtake a lorry on this twisty road with a sheer drop on my right - just about made it. With the bike being so heavy it has a stopping distance of an oil tanker.
Found a nice camp spot by a river and made some pasta with tomato and tuna sauce. To my horror I found another spoke broke. Not good at all because now I will need to put in the one I have spare. Also major crisis as I’m out of cigarettes and will have to face bike repair tomorrow without nicotine.
Day 21
6. May 2009
Start: Istanbul, Turkey
End: near Abdipasa
Miles today: 237
Miles total: 2887
Odometer: 8849
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