On The Move – Tom Gunn

‘Direction? Where the tires press.’

Well, that’s our first and probably last contribution to the poetic side of this tour but cycling through this part of the world, it’s hard not to wax lyrical.

Day 6 started with a bang. The bang of the door slamming shut. Unfortunately, Trine was still inside the said door (which was now locked) and everyone else (including the hotel owner) was outside. The keys were inside but no matter how loud the Turkish, Trine couldn’t understand in which desk drawer they were to be found and ended up climbing out of a window!

The morning flew by and lunch brought us to the banks of every cyclist’s favourite friend – a river. Whether you are with or against the current, odds are that when you have a river beside you the gradient will never be too demanding. We were reliably informed this was the river Devez and its green waters slunk all the way down to Osmancik, a great little town with a huge dome of a rocky outcrop in the middle.

The trucks are still giving us grief but the countryside and its people are incredibly accommodating. The irrigation system is remarkable in its simplicity and the results are stunning. Graham likened it to driving through Chinese paddy fields yet at the same time being surrounded by a spaghetti western set.