Distance: 96km
Elevation: 700m
After a short night, I had my first Turkish hotel breakfast and loved it.
When I was getting ready to leave my cute little place directly by the harbour (Hotel Gelibolu – highly recommended), I ran into three cyclists from Germany.
They were three retired friends and were doing Rome to Istanbul. They had arrived around 10pm last night after a bit of an adventure to find a place for the night.
Roland (blue shirt next to me) seemed to be the lead guy. It would have been interesting to chat more but we exchanged contact details. Since we actually live close to another, we might meet for a coffee one day.
Rosinante and I managed to get onto the 9am ferry. Everything was well organized.
When the ship departed and we crossed the narrows of the Dardanelles, I realised that I was now crossing over to another continent: Asia.
What you can see in the background is the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge. The toll bridge connects Gelibolu and Lapseki across the Dardanelles and is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was finalized only in 2023.
In Lapseki, I did groceries and got me some Turkish Lira. Inflation here was very high, around 50%. The recent attempt of President Erdogan to marginalize the opposition by imprisoning their leaders, had added to the economic instability. 
By 10am I was finally on my way. My legs were super heavy, and I was tired from the day before.
For the first 40 k, I had to follow a highway with a lot of rolling hills and headwind. The sun was up and shined relentlessly. There was no shade or cover from the wind.
I was very slow and needed a lot of time and mental strength to complete that part. However, when I finally arrived at an exit that led to a back road, there was also a gas station with an attached trucker restaurant. Cyclists paradise.
Nobody spoke more than 5 words of English but we got along. I even got myself a desert which a was delicious.
After that great experience, the cycling became better. The back road let me past a lot of rice fields. I had never seen that before.
It seemed that rice farming requires a lot of precision because you need to manage the water level carefully. Also, there were wells and pumps and water hoses everywhere.
At one point I came by a team, that was preparing a huge drone with what I suppose, was pesticides to spray a field. With propellers the drone was about 1.5 x 1.5 m. 
I came through simple little villages, which sometimes had a beautiful mosque. On several occasions, I got invited to Chai, Turkish tea.
I had to decline because otherwise I would never reach my destination today. 
I had the feeling that literally everybody who saw me greeted me and smiled. The level of warmth and friendliness of these people is unparalleled so far on my journey around the world .
The only level of cordiality close to this I experienced on Prince Edward Island in Canada.
In the afternoon, I had a call with my family back home. They were all together to celebrate Kara‘s birthday. It was wonderful to see all their faces and hear their voices.
The last 20 km to my alleged campsite were on sandy pathways that were only used by farmers with their tractors.
The cycling was rough and time consuming but deep down I really enjoyed it. I said to myself that if I wanted to cycle the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan one day, this bit should be a piece of cake for me.
At one point, I needed to cross a little creek. For the first time, Rosinante and myself just cycled through. To my greatest surprise, we succeeded. It felt like a little victory!
The “campsite” was a dirty beach in an abandoned village at the Mamara Sea. All shops other than a gas station were closed since many years. It could’ve been a place in Bulgaria or somewhere in the Balkans.
At the sea, there were some huts, boats, and some abandoned cars. A lot of litter was everywhere.
I asked one of the people enjoying their time by the sea if it was okay to set up my tent here. I suppose they were grandparents with their grandkids. He said the equivalent of “sure” in Turkish. When I asked him where I could find freshwater, he offered me 3 liters of his own. 
Soon thereafter, another guy who was fishing brought me cookies and sunflower seeds. They warned me of the mosquitoes that would soon come and the sand flies.
Also, the fisher guy recommended, that I set up my tent in the shade of a nearby hut. I didn’t understand what he said at first, but it made sense the next morning when the sun was shining already relentlessly around 7am.
I took a swim in the sea to clean myself from all the mud of the day. Then I used some of the freshwater to get rid of the salt water. it didn’t really work but I felt cleaner than before. 
I had some trail mix for dinner when the sun was setting and the mosquitoes came out.
I went into my tent and watched the sunset from there. My mosquito net was keeping the little bugs out. It was very peaceful.
Even though the day had started very tough, I was very thankful for how it had ended.