Turkey leg. . .

"I know not how I seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with while the vast ocean of undiscovered truth lies before me."
(Google it if you're interested)

. . . .

Crossing the Turkey border on Friday into country number five I've found a rhythm to travelling. . The crossing itself was relatively easy. . About an hour of document checks and double check and triple checks, but at least they didn't want to unpack all my bags, which they did with a few cars. . The border guard baulked at my packing I think

Covering the miles is no problem. . It gives me time. . .Time to watch the scenery from rolling hills, mountainous regions, flat farmland or urban areas. Time to think clearly or time to just relax and enjoy the feel of riding my bike.

Camping is a ritual of unpacking and repacking.

My daily list of "needs" consists of three things. . . Fuel in the tank. . Somewhere to sleep and something to eat. . .life doesn't get much less complicated than that. It's become my eternal triangle.

Greece was a fabulous place to be, the Turkey I've seen so far has been very different. . As with Greece, away from the tourist areas life is not one long holiday town. . .and near the nether regions of country borders it's downright ugly.

I suffered culture shock on arrival but I think that's true whenever you enter a new country and I expect it will be bigger the further East I go.
But get away from the dirt and grime that seems to stick like shit to lines on a map or the shiny tourist hotpots and you find the real country. The real people and a true sense of what a country is.

Sat in a hotel room with a loud speaker calling the devoted to prayer competing with Arabian rhythms from a particularly loud stereo system, cars and bikes hooting at each other, the sound of ships in the harbour and smells of kebab and spices wafting in on the hot night air feels much more like a foreign country than any European travel ever can. .

Later than anticipated but I got new tyres today. . .actually one new tyre. . The front is still hardly worn after 7000km. . The rear was still serviceable. A real tribute to supposedly soft compound rain tyres and at £130 for the pair I can highly recommend them . .
Still now I'm equipped with offroad capability and feel I can deal with what comes next.

The culture shock has eased a little and I'm ready to take the next step along the way. .

I still can't upload video. . It's getting that I'm so far behind and I want to publish them in chronological order so they make sense, but it's become something of a task. . Now if I had a film crew with me. . . Hmm. . Maybe that would lose the effect of my out of focus or out of shot film production. . Being the director, camera man and subject means I get it wrong more often than I get it right, but that's part of the charm

I hope . . ?

So while the turkish nightlife kicks off this particular weary traveller is kicking back for tonight.  A hot day's riding, from watching a glorious sun rise this morning to an equally impressive sunset over the harbour is enough sensory input for one day in a journey that is a constant stream of experience.