Wednesday 12th November 2014 - Bad night, ill and lots of noise in hotel and from outside. Sickness sweats all night too, so not much sleep had.
Up for breakfast on the roof which was looking over the town, skyline dotted with lots of mosques. Nice. Bread and jam. Not so nice.
Walk down the street to cash machine.
Draining.
Pack up, pay and go.
Petrol station stop for water. Going to be a tough day, feel rotten. Just focus on turning the pedals.
Onto D100 again.
Massive continual rolling hills as far as I can see. Big hard shoulder to cycle on but traffic quite busy all day.
Big views across the countryside. Downs are slow due to headwind.
Decide to stop at 20km 40km 60km....just as a way to keep going, as I felt like death warmed up. Just need to keep turning the circles.
Pull over to let a wee old man in a tractor pass me on the uphill of the hard shoulder. He waves me on, but I wave him on and he laughes and waves. It was a slow old tractor, but I was going even slower. Car following tractor also passes.
Top of hill the tractor is gone, but the car has stopped. As I slowly approach, a man gets out of the car.
He starts talking to me in Turkish. No idea what he's saying, but as his car is blocking my path I have to stop, as well as just coming up a climb and feeling ill, I'm wrecked.
Keep telling the man I don't understand. He keeps pointing down the road, the way I've come from. He has no English at all.
Tell him I have to go and when the road is clear, cycle around his car and continue.
He passes me and I can see he's pulled in again up ahead. This time he's out of the car and totally blocking my way past.
He has a pen and paper and starts writing something down, in Turkish. Eh, no I still don't know what you're on about (although I do have a fair idea really). Keep repeating I don't understand and when there's a gap in traffic cycle round him, again.
Again he passes me and pulls in up ahead. This is on a long climb, I'm sick, I can't sprint off anywhere, there's only fields around me and cars and lorries whizzing past.
As I approach this time he stops me by putting his hand on my handle bars. Now I'm pissed off. I remove his hand. He keeps jabbering on. Then starts touching my arm.
Really?
Removed his dirty hands off me, telling him I don't know what he's saying and I have to go. Holds my handle bars again, then makes kissing motions and thrusting actions.
I refrain from vomiting all over is his face, then say 'Eh, NO!' whilst pulling my most disgusted face, throw his hand off my bars and cycle on.
Think he may have also been a few sandwiches short of a picnic too.
Anyway, car registration was 59 HP 027 and this happened on the D100 a few km before Luleburgaz, if any other girls are cycling alone that way, keep your eyes peeled.
So coming into Luleburgaz and I know its going to get dark soon. But I really want to make Çorlu. Should I just stop at a hotel here encase creepy man is following me.
Decide to just keep going. I didn't have the feeling he was about any more.
Slow going and totally drained, but keep pushing on.
Dark, put lights on, then do 4 hours along the side of the D100, which is now getting busier.
Coming into Çorlu there's lots of industrial type places along the road. Big dogs hiding in the grass jump out and bark at me in the dark. At this stage I find it a little amusing.
Never ending.
Into town and its another slow 10km until the hotel I want to stay at out the other side.
People (men) in the hotel are a bit leery, but as its been a long and tiring day, I'm taking no shit from them. Once they realise this, they're pleasant enough.
Burger King across the road is closed, grr.
Shivers and sweats now, not nice. Just decide to go to bed.
Wash the black diesel fume grime off my face and ears, blow it out of my nose and cough it up. Definitely was sucking diesel today, literally. Yuck.
Day 75 - 12.11.14
Edirne to Çorlu, Turkey
8h 22min cycling
129.2km
3600 calories
1383 metres asc
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