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Day 9
Well what day, it had ups and downs, bends and straights.
The morning was bright and sunny and about 20 degrees. We set off to find a route around the big lake. Sounds relatively simple? In fact, it takes a little while to figure it out and when we do it appears the route chosen is blocked by road works. A quick chat to a local and he convinces us its fine to just ride through the piles of boulders and soil. Slash leads the way and before long we are standing on the pegs and having a good laugh. Some of the road was actually still in quite good nick and gave us some good technical twisites with bumps, humps and lumps. The lake seems to go on forever and is a perfect backdrop for the ride.
We pass through some tiny little villages and hamlets getting waves spontaneously on occasion but always when we give a wave first. In a little quaint one it seems they've developed a donkey based culture and soon we're following a donkey being led down the road by a man sat in the boot of a car. The backdrop for this is some very impressive snow capped mountain ranges.
Slash has more boot based drama and the gaffa tape is called into service once again.
The afternoon is a bit of a struggle as we're feeling a bit tired and the sun is beating down us. It reaches 31 degrees at one point and is really unpleasant unless you're moving at speeds of 50mph or more. The down side of this is that local speed limits don't factor in the need to go quick to stay cool. We're pulled over for the 2nd time by the traffic police. This time it's a honeypot sting operation as they are getting you as you decelerate from 120kmph to 50kmph. Hawk has to take one for the team and is given a 184 Turkish lira fine. This has to be paid at a bank so we set off to clear his name. Its Friday and will be the last chance to pay before the weekend as we cross over to Greece on Sunday. The town is sweltering and not the place to be. Turns out the fine can't be paid as " the system" hasn't processed it yet. Here's hoping we can scarper over the weekend!
Some of the roads are suffering in the heat and sections have gone a little fluid. When the sun is in your eyes ( we're mostly heading west now) its hard to make out the lane markings or changes to the surface.
Our intention was to try and get to Izmir but we've run out of time with the various jollies from the day so we aim for Alasehir. Its not somewhere you'd of heard of but its convenient. The usual "let's find a hotel" game starts but tonight going down a narrow side street Slash gets bumped by a local van driver and it damages a pannier. Its a tense situation and Slash is justifiably miffed! The driver is a young lad but was just not paying enough attention. Some angry words are sent in his direction and Slash tells him to get lost. Its a tricky one to call as it could've ended up with police, statements, insurance and a whole world of drama. We're fairly sure his pannier will survive but for now its "gaffa tape time"
The town doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment for weary travellers so its time for food, followed by bed! Apparently a King size pizza in Turkey equates to 2 * 10" and the restaurant waitress has a laugh at our expense as the food mountain grows.
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