Day 30 – Denizkent to Celtikci

Distance: 45km

Elevation: 434m

The night at the littered beach was quite peaceful. I was a little worried about roaming dogs but figured that they would sleep at night like ours at home.

Around 4:00am the Imam was calling believers to the morning prayer. I passed and got another round of sleep.

Around 6:30am, the sun was lighting up my tent.

I went through my morning routine and was on the bike around 9:15am.

About 10km into the route, I met a French-Swiss couple resting after at a steep climb.

Julie had just completed her PhD in civil engineering and had researched alternative and eco-friendly building materials for her thesis.

Sylvain has been working in a company in Lausanne that would plan infrastructure for cyclists.

Both were in their late twenties and had finished their jobs and were now on the way to China. That level of boldness and carefreeness to quit one’s job and travel freely was something that always impressed me.

They had chosen a very special bike setup since Julie was not on the same performance level as Sylvain and still wanted to see everything.

For her, it was a recumbent, for Sylvain it was a cargo bike. Pretty cool choice.

We cycled a couple of kilometres together. They were heading for the same ferry to Istanbul that I would take in two days.

I had heard about a nice camping site on a peninsula close to Erdek and I wanted to rest and decompress there for an extra day by the beach before hitting the buzzing metropolis Istanbul.

One has to know about me that I’m not very good at decompressing normally. So I was curious how that would go.

It was very pleasant to chat with both of them. Since in the coming years I would follow their route more or less, we were trading a lot of stories and nerdy stuff that would sound super boring to bystanders.

It was so good to talk to people again that would feel about life on the road and its pros and cons exactly as I did.

We agreed to stay in touch and maybe meet for dinner in Istanbul later that week.

I made a lunch stop in a little vibrant village and found a very nice small restaurant. 

The host told me what was available in Turkish and I somehow chose something. As always, the food was simple and delicious.

After my break, I found the campsite a short distance away and it was a true paradise. Every tent spot was shaded and had an own refrigerator close by. There were showers, toilets and even a washing machine – all build for open air use.

The restaurant was still closed but there other places nearby.

Yusuf, the host, was very welcoming and spoke very good English. He normally lived in the Netherlands with his family and was operating the campsite in the time from mid May to September.

It was early afternoon. For a while, I sat in one of the chairs and did nothing.

Since I was literally the only guest, there was not much for me to do. 

I set up camp and went for a swim in the Marmara Sea. It was beautiful and the beach was clean. Also, I used the opportunity to wash my clothes.

A little later, I cycled to a nearby restaurant, had dinner, and did some grocery shopping.

What is really interesting is that the social consumption of alcohol is frowned upon here even if it’s just a ferry ride away from Istanbul.

That means even restaurants don’t serve beer or wine. So I had to celebrate the unofficial end of my tour with Ayran which was also fine.

In the evening, I had a chat with Carolin. We were talking about travelling together to Istanbul next year. We could explore the city while Rosinante would receive an overhaul.

After that, I would be starting my next trip to Kazakhstan. I really liked the idea!

I went to bed around 9pm.

I still could not fathom that my tour would only take another 13 km before reaching the ferry.

One large part of me wanted to finish the tour and go home. Another, much smaller part, had the feeling that the adventure was just about to begin.

It was still about 11,000km and 7 countries to Beijing. That meant 4 trips in my current rhythm.

What a great adventure this tour had been. Especially in my age range there were only very few people that were able to do this.

I never think of age as an issue. However, I realized along the way that many people look at me, see my white hair and ask themselves “How can he still do this?” 

I am truly grateful for this.