By the eighth day in Antalya and the seventh in Hassan's tiny apartment I was definitely ready to hit the road again.
The cycling along the coast was undulating but not too bad. The weather a little grey, but warm enough. Neil is stoked to be in a place so warm that he can wear shorts and sandals.
By early afternoon we had a decision to make. The offlinemaps that Neil and I both use showed a dirt road alternative that leads to Olympos. We checked with a local and were told 'no problem' for the bicycles.
A quick stop in a village for some beer and food for dinner and we set off. Although the road was a little muddy we had no problems. The hills were a little steep and I had to push in places.
A couple of hours of very scenic riding later and I found my self skinny dipping at a very secluded beach. Dinner that night was pesto chicken pasta - quite possibly the greatest camping meal ever, made even better by the ideal beach campsite and pairing it with an Effes Malt - my favourite Turkish beer.
After our morning coffee and porridge we packed our tents and headed up hill. The Turkish coast was proving to have some very tough cycling, climbing steeply before descending back to sea level and repeat. To make matters worse the road quality was declining. On one particularly steep section I found myself walking my bike downhill, glad I wasn't going the other direction.
At about lunchtime we make it to another beautiful beach and only about three kilometres from our destination. Unfortunately it was also a dead end. The map definitely shows a road but all we can find is a hiking trail, too rough and steep to even wheel the bicycles along. An old row boat offers a tempting solution to our predicament but is nixed when we find a massive hole in the bottom.
Finally we decide to turn around. No cycle tourist likes doing this and the thought of going back up those hills made me feel a little sick. We are urged to make haste by the forecast of rain tonight. The terrible roads will be much worse once they turn into sticky mud.
Of course this is when things start breaking. Neil's rear rack has broken, been welded and broken again. Now it has decided to completely give up. We spend half an hour figuring out the best way to tie his panniers onto his trailer. Now we are off. Only for 100 metres though before his trailer tyre gets a flat.
We set off again and push our bikes up the hill. It is tough. This is one of the worst roads I have 'cycled' on. Super steep and large loose rocks. Sweat drips from the end of my nose.
Despite the terrible road we are making ok time and should be back in the village on pavement by the time it gets dark. Then Neil has another flat tyre. We fix it and move on thinking, it's ok, we will get there tonight. And then it starts raining.
The light drizzle gives us a sense or urgency. I do not want to get stuck in the mud. Unfortunately by this stage we are all out of snack food, thinking that we would be in olympos by lunch time. Hunger has set in and before long I will be Hangry.
Despite these challenges we make it to Tekirova just as darkness falls. We go straight to the supermarket, grab a loaf of bread, dip and some soft drink. As we sit on the step outside, shovelling food into our mouths it starts pissing down rain. We made it just in time.
The willingness to camp has been washed away in the downpour and we find a cheap pension to stay in for the night. It's a total dive but at least we have a solid roof over our heads.
The weather is still dismal in the morning. We only have to cycle about 30km to get to Olympos, where we can stay in a nice hostel until the weather clears in a few days.
I layer merino thermals under all my rain gear and set out into the downpour. This isn't just a light drizzle. Within 30 minutes my 'waterproof' gloves are soaked through. I have a puddle of water inside my shoes.
A dog has followed us from the village and has a great time playing chicken with the cars on the highway. It makes us very nervous. We do our best to chase the dog away but cycling uphill for two hours means that it can keep up with us easily.
We turn off the highway and descend down a windy road, there are great vista of steep hillsides, covered in pine forests and patches of mist floating around.
We continue into Olympos, a village that seems to exist only for tourists. Pensions and 'treehouse' hostels line the road. We head for Kadir's, reccomended to us by locals in Antalya.
On arrival we are ushered inside to the common room, given a cup and told to help ourselves to çay. We meet a few climbers and hear a rumour from the staff about other cycle tourists from Belgium.
After settling into our dorm and realising that solar hot water heaters don't make hot water during rainy winter days I wander through the grounds of the hostel and meet Hadeil and Joachim. They have cycled from belguim to Istanbul with their two year old daughter Lhasa.
Over a cup of tea Neil and I get to know this lovely family better and arrange to cycle together once the weather clears.
The following day the five of us set off. Not on our bicycles. We pack a lunch and hike past the ruins of Olympos, down the beach, through Caleçi (another village that seems to exist only for tourists) and up the hill to the eternal flames of Chimera.
These are apparently the same flames used for the first Olympic torch. They are fueled by methane that seeps up through the rocks. It was quite an interesting place to visit and I wished I had some marshmallows to toast.
The weather prediction or the following day was heavy rain and storms. We decide to stay another day. Apart from fixing my stove, I didn't do a lot. I am sure I drank a few cups of tea but other than that the day is a blur of laziness.
5/12 Antalya - near Atbuker: rode 56km, ODO 5060km
6/12 near Atbuker - Tekirova: rode 25km, ODO 5086km
7/12 Tekirova - Olympos: rode 25km, ODO 5111km
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