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Go East

May - November 2020
A 175-day adventure by Herbert & Meike Read more
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  • 167footprints
  • 9countries
  • 175days
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  • 10.6kkilometers
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  • Go East
    Day 175

    Back home in quarantine

    November 20, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    We left Antalya in the morning. The taxi company had sent the wrong car at first although we had talked to them twice the day before and even measured the different cars. This one was too small to fit our bike boxes. But good we are in Turkey, so they just called their colleagues and asked for the cab we ordered. It only took 3 minutes for it to get to our hotel, so we were still on time at the airport.
    Some of the mountains around the city were covered in snow, so the view from the plane was beautiful. When we arrived in Frankfurt after an uneventful flight, it was pretty grey though.
    For the next 10 days, we'll be staying in quarantine as per current law. At least, there's some stuff to do at my parents' house, so we won't get bored.

    Anyways, our trip is over and here's some stats for the GoEast trip:

    9 countries
    13.394km cycled
    799:48 hours on the bikes
    131.172m climbed

    In sum (including our Americas trip), these are the totals for the last 15 months:
    20 countries
    28.000km (exactly!) cycled
    1655:33 hours on the bikes
    283.578m climbed

    It was an unforgettable experience and we already have a few ideas in mind. But first, we have to get back to a normal life again 😉    Read more

  • Go East
    Day 174

    Getting ready for Germany

    November 19, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    As expected, our Covid test results were negative, so nothing here that could extend our stay in Turkey. In general, our timing isn't too bad as the weather here changed completely with rain all day and temperatures dropping under 20°C. Thus, we could already acclimatize to German weather conditions today. Plus, Turkey is going into some kind of a lockdown again tomorrow, so travelling wouldn't be that much fun anymore I guess.
    We made the best of the day and had some of the delicious food we could find in Turkey: Su Böreği for breakfast, Çiğköfte for lunch and grilled seabrass for dinner.
    Furthermore, we prepared our bikes for the flight. Luckily, we have a good network of cyclists in Turkey by now. Gökhan, who we had met in Side, owns a bikeshop in Antalya and delivered 2 bikeboxes to our hotel. So I guess we are ready for the very last leg tomorrow morning.    Read more

  • Go East
    2
    Day 173

    Last day on the bikes

    November 18, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today, we cycled our last stage on our epic bike trip: From Kemer to Antalya. The cities are only about 45km apart and we could see our destination pretty much all the time.
    The road wasn't too interesting. It led through a couple of resort towns that are already closed for the season. Furthermore, the highway was busy and led through some tunnels, so cycling wasn't too much fun.
    However, once we got to Antalya, we were pleasantly surprised again. There's a bike path along the long Southwestern beaches with lots of cafés and many people exercising in the outdoor gyms. We really liked this area.
    We checked into a hotel in the old part of the city, had the obligatory Covid test done, went for a last swim (probably) and explored the harbour during sunset. The atmosphere in Antalya is very enjoyable overall.    Read more

  • Go East
    Day 172

    A hike on the Lycian Way

    November 17, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Yoga, swimming during the sunrise, breakfast at the hotel - definitely could get used to this morning routine! Afterwards, we wanted to hike a little bit on the Lykian Way which we've been crossing every day since Fethiye. It's a long distance hike of more than 500km in this area of Turkey.
    We only wanted to hike a tiny part of it. Therefore, we cycled to a bay some kilometres out of Kemer where we wanted to start. The part we chose led directly along the coast with some stunning views of the sea as well as of the ruins of Phaselis Antique City. It was an easy hike and we generally prefer our technical hikes in Alps. But today it was a good alternative to cycling all day.
    Once back in Kemer, we went swimming again, had a coffee on our favourite harbour terrace and cooked dinner at the beach. We ended the day with a local beer. The Bomonti isn't too bad after all, for sure a lot better than the well known Efes.    Read more

  • Go East
    Day 170

    A stormy night

    November 15, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    The night was horrible. At about 1am, the bay got hit by a huge thunderstorm with thunder, lightning and a lot of rain. Sometimes, we even felt the ground vibrating which was kind of scary. It went on until 6am, so we didn't sleep much.
    In the morning, it finally stopped raining and the sun came out straight away. The campground was full of puddles, our tent dirty and soaked. Therefore, we had to spend half of the day drying and cleaning our stuff.
    Our neighbour had even more bad luck. His tent was completely under water so he had to spend the whole day drying his stuff.
    As we weren't too motivated to cycle anymore, we decided to stay another night in this beautiful bay. We went to the beach, did a workout, went for a swim and watched the waves.    Read more

  • Go East
    Day 169

    Olimpos

    November 14, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Another day in Turkey = more things to discover! After a short, but extremely scenic ride with a steep climb and a fun downhill on a dirtroad, we arrived in Çiralı. It's another beautiful turquoise bay in this area of Turkey, surrounded by steep, green mountains. We first had breakfast at the beach before looking for a campground. Again, most of the tourist places are already closed, but we were lucky enough to find a nice place for our tent in between some orange trees.
    Afterwards, we went out exploring and checked out the beach side of the ancient site of Olimpos. The scenery is quite impressive as the ruins are located next to a river coming out of a canyon and basically right at the beach.
    Then we went for a swim, had a quick lunch and went to the next highlight of this bay: the Chimaera Fire Mountain. It's a natural phenomenon where flames come out of cracks in the rock caused by the combustion of gas. This is definitely something we had never seen before!
    Finally, we did some yoga at the beach and went for a swim again. Once the sun hid behind the mountains, it got really cold, so we had to put on a warm jacket.    Read more

  • Go East
    1
    Day 168

    Endless awesome bays

    November 13, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Our route was very scenic again today. For most of the time, we cycled directly along the coast. First on a highway which wasn't busy at all, then on an absolutely empty and stunning secondary road. We had our breakfast stop in the bay of Finike and a swim stop in one of the turquoise bays for a swim.
    Before the descend to Adrasan, we had to climb one more steep hill with 9-10% elevation gain. Adrasan is another beautiful bay surrounded by mountains. It's touristy, but 90% of the hotels, campgrounds and restaurants are already closed for the season. However, we still found a place to camp, went for a swim and ended with some yoga on the beach.    Read more

  • Go East
    Day 167

    The sunken city

    November 12, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We left Kaş after breakfast and went on another really nice day of riding. A stunning final view of Kaş - and we climbed up the mountains along the coast again. We could ride on a quiet scenic secondary road with lots of ups and downs, but enjoyed it a lot.
    Around lunch time, we did a detour to the coast. There's a sunken city under the water (Theimussa) which was caused by an earthquake many years ago. We would have loved to go kayaking around the islands and ruins but couldn't find an open operator anymore at this time of the year. As there was no beach in the little harbour town either, we decided to continue.
    In the end, we found a nice campground in Demre, right next to a sandy beach. So we could go swimming and do some yoga here.    Read more

  • Go East
    1
    Day 166

    Plaji day

    November 11, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today was a rest day. We had breakfast at our little guesthouse, cycled around the peninsula and spent some hours relaxing at one of the beaches. The water was absolutely great for swimming!
    Afterwards, we explored a bit more of Kaş, visited the rock tombs and the amphitheatre. For dinner, we treated ourselves with some delicious kebab at a restaurant.    Read more

  • Go East
    1
    Day 165

    Seaside cycling

    November 10, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    After a cup of coffee with our hippie hosts, we left the campground and cycled towards Kaş, our next stop. We had breakfast in Kalkan, a touristy, but at this time of the year pretty chilled out town. From here, the road led along the coast, so we could catch some really nice views.
    There were some thunderstorms in the far distance which caused a really cool light. You don't get this incredible turquoise coloured water on a day like today, but we didn't mind.
    We passed Kaputaş Beach, usually crowded with tourists because of the colour of the water and a narrow gorge behind. But at this time of the year it's empty.
    In Kaş, we went to one of the beach, relaxed in the harbour and walked around the little streets. It's a tourist town as well and really quiet now as season is over.    Read more

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