Day 19: Horn Honking, a Bee in the Helmet, and…

Day 19: Horn Honking, a Bee in the Helmet, and a Woman from Den Bosch

Edirne → Çorlu | 2,675 km from home

First, a word about the chains. PJ has been carrying two heavy-duty bike chains for the entire trip, 4 kg of dead weight across 2,546 kilometres, just waiting for a moment when the bikes would need to sleep outside. Last night in Edirne was finally that moment. Consta and Atlas slept safely chained to something solid. The chains had earned their place. Every gram justified. ⛓️

Out on the Turkish road, something immediately felt different. Cars were honking. Constantly. In the Balkans, honking generally meant one of two things, neither of them friendly. Here it turned out to mean something else entirely: enthusiasm. Drivers passing two heavily loaded cyclists apparently feel compelled to express their appreciation. After several weeks of Balkan dogs and indifferent traffic, being honked at in a good way was a genuinely lovely change. 📯

Turkish dogs also appear to be considerably more relaxed than their Balkan counterparts. Only one gave chase today. We are choosing to see this as progress.
The highlight of the day arrived in Babaeski, a small town with a coffee shop called Point Cafe, which was exactly that. We asked to charge, no problem. PJ ordered a çay, and the owner asked where he was from. The Netherlands, said PJ. Den Bosch, she said. She was born there.
Let that land for a moment. We started this trip in Den Bosch. We are now in Turkey, 2,546 kilometres later, and the woman making PJ's tea grew up in the same city we waved goodbye to three weeks ago. Her name is Nihan, the tea was excellent, the chocolate soufflé even better, and the photo with her is one of our favourites of the entire trip. Check it out. 🫖🍫

The landscape through this stretch of Turkey was stunning in a quiet, rolling way. Fields of barley, wheat and sunflowers as far as you could see, the kind of scenery that reminded us of driving through the south of France in summer. Beautiful and generous and warm.
Then a bee flew through a ventilation hole in PJ's helmet and stung him directly on the head. PJ removed the helmet, assessed the situation, and confirmed it was a honeybee. Adem removed the sting, pressed out the poison, and normal service resumed. The wildlife was not finished, however. Later in the day, a second creature flew straight into PJ's eye at speed. He is writing this post with approximately one and a half eyes. We hope it does not show. 🐝👁️

The final stretch of the day was, in honesty, less inspiring. The D100 road is functional but not enjoyable. Tomorrow we find a better route.
One more thing worth mentioning. It turns out there were people who had placed informal bets on which country Adem would quit in. We will not name names. What we will say is that those same people, having lost their bets. Others have even donated again of respect we made it so far. We are deeply grateful. If Istanbul makes even more people reach for their wallets, we welcome that too. 🙏

Approximately 150 kilometres to go. Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️Read more