Great night sleep in Fatih's house. We all had beds believe it or not!!!.....On waking up, Fatih was hard at work preparing a traditional Turkish breakfast for us. This comprised of Simit (like a bagel), Turkish omolete, cheese, salad and of course Turkish tea and fresh Ekemek (bread)...Life doesnt get much better than this!!!
Fatih busy cooking us Turkish breaky
Delicious!!
Turkish Cay with Fatih and Onur
Paul attempts to pour a Turkish cay (pronounced chai)
What the hell is Turkish Cay???? Ok, we will explain briefly. Paul is holding two pots. The one in Paul's left hand is filled with boiling water. The pot in his right hand contains a concentrated mix of Cay (which is incidentally brewed by the other pot of boiling water over a stove) The secret is to pour a little of the tea mix into a cay glass and then fill the remainder with as much/or little boiling water as you wish.....Hey presto you got yoursef a Turkish cay!!!!
Fatih and Onur help us find a bicycle repair shop
Fatih and Paul exchange bikes...
Fatih finds the going tough on Paul's galaxy
Fixing Paul's wobbly back wheel
Wheel Truing from a Turkish Master
Health and Safety should get onto this Turkish painter
2nd biggest steel factory in Turkey
Fatih shows us the wonderful scenery around Karabuk
Mr Fatih Sahin - a great host
Mike stares into a deep 80 meter river gorge 25km outside Karabuk
Turkish delights - Adios boys - Cheers for everything
We part ways with Fatih and Onur and head another 30km or so in the direction Bolu. We had a great time with the lads with it being a pity that we could not stay a little longer. Now, we had approx 300km to do till Istanbul. Mike will be taking a week off to meet his girlfirend, Joanne with Brian and Paul to take 2-3 days....(much needed after approx 1,800 kilomters of cycling since our border crossing into Turkey)
Brian searches for a camping spot
We find a dis-used house near a petrol station and decide to camp at the back of it. The nights get damn cold here still so its long-johns and socks come bed-time.....
Bring on tomorrow morning.....
Night folks
