Getting through the border was an issue though with no fewer than 4 posts requiring to see one's passport at Turkey end. Also had to buy a visa at £10 or €15 so used £s, it being the second visa purchased for Turkey this year.
About 1 and 3 kms from the border there are a couple of hotels along the main road and I enquired at the 2nd one to be told that the asking price was €20 because there is demand from students this time of the year. A chap at the border said I could pay 10 Lira or
about €5.
However, if you turn left at traffic lights and go into Ipsala town, there is the Sebat Hotel where I have a basic room with two beds for 15 Lira which is fine. Again wifi is available and a hot shower. One needs to ask for a towel.
When I arrived at the hotel it was already dark at around 7pm. This morning, whilst I was up and decamped quite early, I rode back into town and found the hotel with wifi so did not get away again till after 12 then stopped for another coffee and sausage roll before I really got going around 1pm.
Touching wood, I have travelled without puntures all the way from Barcellona, but this afternoon I picked up one in each wheel. Passing a coachat the roadside, I noticed the passengers returning from a sand track and curiosity got the better of me so I stopped to see what the attraction was. There is an ancient Roman road which crossed to Turkey and over what is now Macedonia where I have been through. This road details of which to follow dates back to before Christ and was apparently the first Roman road to have been built beyond Rome or Italy at the time.
All very interesting but must also be a thorny track by now, two punctures later. I managed to find the rear one but could not the front, so had to remove the wheel and tube and dip into water.
I have been mostly cheesed off with the constant rubbish and debris along the roads fron careless passing motorists/litterbugs. However I did find a large plastic bottle with lid which I was able to convert into a tube dipping bath in a puddle I found off the main road. Puncture located and repaired I moved on but still have a slow leak in the front tyre which I will need to sort out in the morning. All that messing about, delayed me by about an hour and more so must try and get a good distance tomorrow hopefully.
All for now,
S.
been lucky with
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