Day 20: Istanbul. We Actually Made It.

Day 20: Istanbul. We Actually Made It.

Çorlu → Istanbul | The Last Kilometres. Finally.

We woke up this morning knowing Istanbul was within reach. Mixed feelings getting on the bikes. Do we do this in one go or stretch it into two days, purely to avoid it being over? We were not ready. The bikes, however, had opinions. Specifically PJ's bike, which since yesterday's trench incident has developed a habit of honking every time it is switched on. After 2,800 kilometres of Turkish drivers honking at us enthusiastically, the bike has simply decided to join in. We cannot argue with the logic. 📯

The D100 again, not the road of dreams but the only real option. Leaving Çorlu we stopped for coffee, which meant Adem was immediately spotted by a local, Turkish was exchanged, and a conversation began that had its own schedule and was not going to be rushed. See the picture. This has happened in every country. We have stopped trying to explain it. ☕

In Silivri, lunch at the seafront, calls made, bikes charging with the sea in front of us. The further south we came on this trip, the easier charging became. Nobody ever made it a problem. We will genuinely miss that.

Then Istanbul appeared on the horizon. Wonderful. Except we still had 44 kilometres to go. Inside the city. Let that number explain what Istanbul is. It is not a city. It is a geographical event. 🌆

The traffic operates on a system we can only describe as organised chaos with the organisation removed. No lanes, no rules, just collective forward momentum and absolute mutual trust that everyone will figure it out. After three weeks on Balkan roads we felt completely at home. On the busiest urban motorway in the city, where cars were standing still in traffic not going anywhere, we were overtaking everything on two wheels feeling like we owned the place. Genuinely one of the best moments of the entire trip. 🚦

The route occasionally sent us through parks, which today were completely packed because of a national holiday. Bikes through crowds, crowds around bikes, everyone cheerful, nobody moving particularly fast. More chaos, different flavour.

Then, with 4 kilometres to go, a miracle: a quiet, empty cycle path running straight toward the Galata Bridge. To reach it we had to take a lift that fitted exactly one bike. We went up one at a time, met at the top, and looked at each other. Nearly there.

Five hundred metres from the bridge, Istanbul had one final joke to play. Eid al-Adha meant the streets were so overwhelmingly full of people that we could barely see the bridge we had spent twenty days cycling toward. We pushed the bikes through the crowd like two people trying to swim upstream at a very friendly but very determined music festival. Completely bizarre. Absolutely unforgettable.

For the last stretch we called home. Families on the phone, the people who waved us off in Den Bosch three weeks ago, riding the final kilometres with us in the only way they could. We have missed them every single day. A special thank you to our wives Penny and Fatma, who kept everything running at home with the kids for three weeks. Without their support, none of this would have been possible. And to every single person who donated, sent a message, or cheered us on along the way: thank you, from the bottom of two very tired but very happy hearts. ❤️

And then there was the bridge. Half dazed, ears still ringing from the city, we took our photos, made our videos, called our friends and colleagues, and stood there in the middle of it all trying to take it in.

Den Bosch to Istanbul. Twenty days. Nine countries. One knee scare, two bee attacks, three wrong hotels in a single evening, one man doing push-ups behind the wrong window, one 78-year-old cycling to China who made us feel almost modest, one data bundle quietly emptied by someone who shall remain PJ, one colleague we carried every single kilometre of the way.
Who would ever have thought we would actually make it. 🌉🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

Tomorrow: the secrets. The dirty laundry. Everything we did not tell you on the road. You have been warned. 😉

Sleep well, for the last time from somewhere that is not home. 🌙Read more