We're in Asia

 Left Istanbul predictably late, and were taken to the ferry by Hadi from the Club. They were so nice to us and it was sad to leave, but it was definitely time to move on, so we did. Bikes have a few simple mods, like the spokes being cable tied together for strength.

 It was weird being on a ferry to Asia , especially as we are still in the same country, but that's what happens here. Turkey is the same place  but straddles two landmasses.

 How do these things get worked  out like that in the first place? But a short trip across the Bosphorus and we were on the same continent as a our final destination. Still got alot of kms to go though - about 16000 of them.

The traffic thinned as we left Istanbul and the driving got better - marginally. Bashed the motorways today to pack in some miles  but the weather wasn't great. Low cloud and cool, and we eventually got quite cold and sleepy so stopped for lunch at a truck stop.

The lovely man there was so sweet. Not a word of English and we only had to words of Turkish - please and thank you - which are not that helpful without the bits in between. But somehow we ate well and he insisted on bringing everything to the table for us.

Got  pulled over by the police again today but sent on our way almost immediately when they realised we were two foreign women,. Not sure if it was the foreign or the women bit that saved us, but we were off like two scalded cats before they changed their minds.

We also met some really cool people in petrol; stations today. Workmen in trucks and petrol station staff, all of whom wanted to chat to us about bikes, where we'd come from, where we were going, and what we did when not riding bikes. Nice people, all of them, and they all wanted to buys us teas and coffees which we had to decline as we would never have got anywhere. these blokes were all called Mustapha and gave us a souvenir towel each, with the name of their petrol station printed on them.

 In reality though, we stopped short of where we were aiming for anyway because we were both very tired and agreed to stop riding as near to 1800hrs as possible. But we stopped a just before that because we were riding towards the mountains and a rain storm.

So we're now in a nice hotel in  Dozce and have resolved to get up and out early tomorrow to make up the lost miles. Maybe.

Last day in Istanbul today

We're planning on leaving in the morning. Had some great news today - the Georgia/Russia landborder opened to non Georgian/ CIS citizens about a month ago, which means we should be able to cross that way. That will save us about £400.00 and a night on a ropey old ferry across the Black Sea. So lets hope they don't shut it again before we get there.

Ed (March) arrived last night on his C90 he's ridden from Malaysia. Its now in tatters next to ours in the Club, but will be sorted soon. too.Poor bloke. He'd been here all of 10 mins and we made him take his clothes off so that we could wash them in the washing machine in the apartment. Fed him, then sent him back to his accommodation in his shorts and one cleanish teeshirt.But he came back for more tonight, albeit this time fully clothed. Note the exquisite crockery we're using.

Wandered about the city again, went into San Sophia church which is an amazing place. Really old and ornate inside.

Then came back and skyped Bikesure who are mucking about with our bike insurance. Walked miles again, then hopped on the tram. But not before we'd seen this random bloke pushing a pile of carpets down the tram tracks. Probably because he could.

Really not happy with them at all but they were all sweetness and light and said it was all fine - it had been a mistake their end. So I made them confirm that on email just to be sure.

Saw this sign too - thought for  moment it was a Turkish Bikesure but it wasn't - it's one of the biggest electrical companies in the country.

Finished fixing the bikes too. The lovely blokes here have made us some little racks to lodge our fuel cans on too, and short of loading up, we're all ready to go. We'll be heading east across northern Turkey and plan on taking four days to get there.

Three days in Istanbul

Istanbul Three days worth and pics to follow very shortly! Like in about 15 mins

We're here at long last. Had a great today – warm and sunny all the way but very windy, which was a bit rough on the neck and back muscles. Did a bit of main road but mostly local stuff through small towns and villages off the beaten track. It is such a good way to see the country and ride some awesome twisties along the coast. Had lunch in an olive grove overlooking the Sea of Marmara.

There seems to be some sort of National celebration going on – lots of vehicles with flags, bands and parties in many communities, soldiers on the road. Its something to do with young people and National Service., but not sure exactly what. Came face to face with some tanks going the other way in the middle of nowhere, which was a bit odd. Don't think the place has been invaded though.

Also turns out there was a minor earthquake here last night. I slept through the whole thing but Nadine was shaken awake. I think they're quite common in Turkey though.

Met this little fella crossing the road. He got a bit of a wiggle on and made it safely though. Really pretty markings but sharp toenails.

Had the maddest ride of the trip so far into Istanbul. Arrived in the evening and the traffic was insanely mad with nose to tail traffic all going at full pelt, swapping lanes and ignoring all traffic signs. There must be rules of the road but goodness knows what they are. Even had people hanging out of vehicle windows as the sped past, yelling 'welcome' and ' where are you from'. Full on wacky races gone bonkers. Loved it, and a real rush to ride.

Made it to the Istanbul Bike Club where we hooked up with Iain , Debz and Will who had arrived yesterday. It was great to see them again, particularly after missing them in Bulgaria. Dazzer and Leigh are also here ( Adv riders). Had a nice welcome from Mehmet and the riders here. Very nice people and exceptionally welcoming. Rode our bikes right in through the front door of the club and parked them inside; can't get much more secure than that, and the timing was great because about ten minutes after we got here and the heavens opened with a major hail storm. Pellets of ice the size of marbles bombarded the ground and that would have been very uncomfortable to ride in.

Our passports with the visas for The Stans were waiting for us, as were some bits we'd had sent down from London. We're staying in a two bedroom rooftop apartment right opposite the Club, and overlooking the city. It's a really nice place and belongs to the parents of one of the blokes in the moto club. I'd be happy to live here full time – very nice place.

The tourist thing and some serious bike farkling is on the cards for the next few days,in readiness for Russia and The Stans. Need to do proper clutch adjusting and fix the exhaust if possible, but the bike have been surprisingly reliable to date. Fingers crossed they stay that way but they should do as long as we keep them happy and keep an eye on them.

Farkle Fest

Spent all day today fiddling with the bikes. Sorted Nads' first. Mended the indicators which had given up the ghost, did the chain, both brakes, and topped up the oil, but otherwise it was fine. Then we started on mine. Oh dear. We already knew about the broken stud in the exhaust and one of the blokes ( a mechanic) said he will sort that for us tomorrow. But Just as the rear wheel went back on after checking the brakes shoes, two broken spokes appeared. Don't know how that happened and I certainly didn't feel them pop when riding but it must have been in the last few days.

What a bugger that was to fix. We'd got spare spokes but we had to take several good ones out in order to fit the new ones in. That was a fag and a half but luckily, Iain was still here and showed us how to do it. But it even foxed him for a while.

The lovely Mehmet kept us supplied with tea and snacks as we worked though. They are such nice people here and really great guys.

Managed to take a walk up through the market. Its a once a week job and the whole area is taken over with all sorts of stuff. We were the only westerners there and people were again lovely to us, chatting, inviting us to take photos and generally showing us stuff.

It was one of the Club blokes' birthdays today, so of course there was a party, involving lots of birthday cake and snacks. Another pleasant evening just hanging around, chatting and doing nothing in particular.

Istanbul Tour

Iain , Debz, Darren, Leigh and Will all left this morning, bound for inner Turkey. It was hard to see them go, but we will (hopefully) catch up with them again in about a week at the Georgian border.

Spent the rest of the day wandering around Istanbul with Mehmet who gave us the most fantastic tour of the place. Into the Bazaars, the Blue Mosque, the water Bascilica, San Sophia church, the bridge over the sea, and then down some back street where we ate traditional turkish food, which was exceptionally good.

I had forgotten how much city walking makes your feet ache, but I soon remembered. Well worth the effort though, and even better that Mehmet knows the place so well and was eager to take us to interesting places. That made it even better because he was able to tell us interesting little snippets about various things that we would never have found out ourselves. Things like the tale behind the most expensive mosque in the city – the architect was a famous man who took ages building. He waited eight years for the floor to settle properly before carrying on. A neighbouring Sultan wrongly assumed that the city had run out of money and so sent jewels to help him out, but the architect was so angry and offended by the slur on his professionalism that he tipped the gems into the brick mix and used it in the walls. Now when the sun sets over the Bosphorous, it shines on the walls and the jewels can be seen clearly (true story apparently).

Or the story about the golden head of the three intertwined serpents having been nicked by Bulgarian soldiers billeted in the city.

 Or the promenade on the palace , built for favourite daughter of the Sultan who wanted something different for her, so the architect designed something from which she could watch the sun rise between the minarets of one mosque at prayer time, and set between those of another at evening prayers. Or even the fact that in the Blue Mosque, the joins between stones were finished by egg albumen to ensure a lasting sheen and protect the stone surface.

Stopped for tea just beyond the Blue Mosque where by chance, we met Wayne, bother Shaun and their dad John. Has a good old jaw with , and they were very cool – Wayne now lives in Istanbul by Shaun and John restore old Brit bikes back in Portsmouth. We only met them because Nadine blasphemed a bit too loudly and was overheard by Wayne who was sitting just behind us.

Its funny the things you notice about other cities that you don't even notice about the place where yoyu live. Like these coppers doing their thing, two up on bikes. Apparently they are doubled up always, one to do the talking, the otrher to watch their backs. Pretty cool on bikes though.

Or this young lad dressed up like some mad fairy talke sultan. Its actually a circumcision party , although I'm not sure if he knew what was in store for him. But I reckon he'll be adopting that pose quite a bit over the next few days. But maybe it's worth it for all the presents he will receive.

We've had an excellent day today

Indeed we have. Breakfast was a bit suspect but turned out Ok in the end. Fresh bread, about 16 jams, an egg, and some cheese. And Nescafe. Why do that do that here when they have the best coffee ever?

So what did we do? Well we spent the morning poking about the various ANZAC memorials on the Gallipoli peninsula.Again, it's now a really peaceful place and hard to believe that such a bitter battle was fought here. But it was, and that's what all the stuff is for.

 Riding with the scoots unloaded is very good. They are so light an flickable that it just makes you want to ride them into inaccessible places, which I tried this morning but fell off and broke the one remaining mirror. The ground was just too soft after a landslide.

But at least I didn't do this.

 We spent the next 10 mins pulling it out of 30cms of mud. Couldn't have done that with a  bigger bike. Got a bit muddy ourselves too,esp the  boots.

Went past this place on the way to the port. Shame we didn't spot this as we would definitely have stayed here instead of in town.(look second bottom on the sign)

Then caught the ferry across The Dardenalles. to Asia.

Looking back towards Europe from Asia

Only cost two quid each, and we met a gang of Goldwing riding Austrians on board,. They were really cool, good blokes , and seemed very amused with what we're up to.

 
However, they understood that not everybody can ride a golden Chinese scoot.

Spent the afternoon in Troy but never did catch up with Helen. However, her horse was nearby.

 Did the whole Troy thing just because we felt we should, but its essentially a pile of rocks and stones linked to one of Homer's Iliad poems.  But evidence suggests that there was such a place, or in fact, archaeologists have discovered nine ( yes nine) previous cities on the same site. But according to the same blokes, various artifacts suggests that it did actually exist afterall.

But we think its a lie. There was no such thing as the Trojan horse. It was cats that caused Troy to fall. Look.

That's it. Off to Istanbul tomorrow to do battle with the traffic.

We've done heaps today.......

....including sorting out the bikes properly this morning before we left. Mine wouldn't start though,and Nadine had to push me round the hotel car park so that I could bump it. Still wouldn't start though, by which time we were both dripping with sweat. Then I remembered that I'd leant over the bars to check a strap .....and knocked the kill switch. (Note to self - don't do that again as it makes Nadine swear - alot - and call me rude names) But the exercise can only have done her good.

 So after that, we got back on the motorway and headed for Turkey, a 140kms away. Like yesterday, the roads were virtually empty, and we ate the miles.

Waved at a cyclist pedalling along the hard shoulder and later met him at a rest stop. Turned out to be German, also on way to Turkey, and using up the overtime he'd accrued of late; all 800 hours of it. Said he hadn't flown because that would only use up 4 hours each way, and even with the holiday bit, he'd still have time left which he didn't want to give to his employer. So a bit of hardcore cycling won the day.

Reached the border early afternoon after a lunch stop. Took us two hours to negotiate the five gates and I had to buy a visa to get in but Nadine didn't. The man told me it was 50 Euros which annoyed me somewhat, but then he said. " oh no, I mean 15. Sorry. I get English numbers muddled sometimes". I bet he does. Especially around birthdays and Christmas time I suspect.

The next Turkish Customs man wanted to know how I knew " the other human who has just passed through?" .  " What do you mean - human being?" " That woman on the bike like yours......oh no, not Human, I mean German". ( she's got a German passport)

That really made me laugh, especially after the visa episode and the crap she gave me, but the man was deadly serious. It must have been muddle day for Turkish Customs today.

Then we met Ronnie and his mate in no man's land. Turns out they're on their way back to the UK after working on the new Bond movie in Turkey, and in their truck, they had all the Bond bikes neatly stashed, which they showed us. Well cool, and we'll definitely be seeing that when it comes out (the bikes are in the opening sequence apparently)

The Bond bike......

The 'other'Bond bikes........

We eventually got into Turkey, and very nice it is too.

Wide open spaces, long, straight potholey roads, and no traffic. Great stuff. Oh and shepherds grazing their cows and sheep on central reservations and verges.

We managed all of 10 kms before getting pulled by the Old Bill in a road block. It was a proper block the road, point and wave us to the side job, but it turned out to be  just a document check, which we passed with flying colours, having just been made to buy some insurance at the border. Phew. Didn't take any photos there though, just in case. I think that the two big GS's who got waved in at the same time got a bit more of a thorough going over though.

Carried on towards Canakkale. had another really good run despite a rain storm,rode down to the Galipoli peninsular,  passed through Gallipoli ( known here as ' Gelibolou') and stopped for two nights at  Eceabat, just across the Dardenelles from Asia. Got a good hotel ( cheap) right across from the ferry and tomorrow we're off to Troy and Gallipoli.It will be good to ride the bikes with no luggage for a change.

Blasted across Greece today

Guess what? Yep we were late leaving again this morning although we thought we were doing pretty well. Only trouble was the clocks had gone forward an hour and we didn't realise. So our 0930 was in fact the rest of Greece's 1030. But we made up for it by packing in the miles on motorways and now we're in Xanthi, about 140kms from the Turkish border.

This Greek wifi is not good - very poor signal for the third night in a row, and pix are taking ages to upload. Will try after we've eaten tonight.

Actually, it made a nice change to fang it along fast roads. This is obviously what the Greeks have been spending European money on - building luvverly wide fast unused highways, just built for blatting.So it would have been rude not to test them out.

Bikes went really well today as well. If you go fast enough, you can't hear the rattles and nothing has the chance to fall off, so we've still got everything we set off with this morning.Got to do oil, chain and tyres tomorrow.

Saw a tortoise crossing the motorway. Didn't fancy his chances much as plenty of hedgehogs en route had tried and so failed. Also some big heron/stork things were hanging as we sped past. Top speed today was off the clock ( ok, going down hill) at 90kph. Woohoo.

Plan is to head for Galipolli, then Troy, then up to Istanbul for Tuesday.

Finally made it to Greece

(Still got a prehistoric wifi signal and pics won't upload, so will do them asap)

Crossed the border about lunchtime. Had a good dry ride, albeit a bit cold in themountains, but not a drop of rain.

Set off from the hotel late again but that was due to fixing the exhaust and clutch on my bike, plus the lights. Then we were beseiged by quaint Romany children who wanted to exchange polite cultural information. They were sent on their way several times, but kept coming back and were a bit of a pain in the backside.

Crossed the border just west of Bilisht. Picked that place deliberately for the nameand had no trouble at all and it took us about 20 minutes. No EU signs on the Greek side though - we think they might have sold them to try and raise a bit of cash.

Greece feels immediately different to Abania and this was evident as soon as we crossed the border. The drivers are calmer, as are the people, and even the surroundings are different and prettier. Had a  great ride down through the mountains and then onto Edressa, where we currently are. Its about 50 miles short of Thessaloniki. Another ok hotel, 35 Euros for both of us with free off street parking. Right in the town too, so that is good.

Not sure what I think about Albania. I'm glad we rode through it though but don't know that I would put it on a destination list. Maybe I need to come back once more to help me make my mind up. Won't miss the mad drivers though. Scary nutters, all of them.

Has a marvellous ride today through Greece. Great open empty roads and  lots of twisties. A man in a petrol station who really did look like Demis Roussos ( only not dead)  insieted on taking our pictures when he discovered where we were heading.  " I must have picture of crazy womans on bikes". It seemed to make his day so that's our good deed for the day over and done with.


Had a light snack for dinner, and the lovely man brought us some cherries, which was an unexpected surprise and one one of our five for the day. Must stay healthy on the road!

On the bike front, the roaring Harley is no more but the rattle is back. The clutch is better but not perfect, and my lights work perfectly.!!Yipee.Both of us dropped our bikes today but again, nothing serious and no damage.  I broke a mirror too so had to swap them over i order to have a sporting chance of spotting how many maniacs were zooming uo behind me.

The ride through Albania

(Can't do pictures today -rubbish  but free internet connection. Will post asap)

Had a mad day today and saw some weird things. Rode down to Tirana. Left the hotel later than we'd planned but that seems to be the way it is everyday, but then this is not a race but a ride, so it doesn't matter. Two German bikers stayed at the same hotel last night, and we all met in the garage this morning. Nice guys, from Bavaria, and very amused by our trip.

There was bedlam outside the hotel. Everything and everybody everywhere but that is clearly just the way that town runs. The road was up, there were channels and holes in it but it was still in use and one woman was even riding her pedal cycle along a freshly dug trench. Maybe that was safer than the road. But nobody bats an eyelid at any of this; they just stare and point at us.

First weird thing I saw this morning was a giant fish, freshly caught, in a standard fish tank like you get at home. It was only about 10 cms longer than the actual fish and the poor thing was obviously temporarily housed there pending its execution.

The road to Tirana wasn't too bad but it rained quite a bit, probably because of the surrounding mountains. Passed a woman walking a cow on a lead, a dog sitting in the middle of the carriageway at a roundabout, a man with such a big load of freshly cut grass on the back of his motorcycle that it looked like a moving haystack, and a horse standing on the back of a flat bed truck, tethered only by a halter, and travelling at about 40mph. It didn't seem bothered though, and looked like it did that everyday.

Tirana was interesting. It was a free for all with the traffic, with people riding and driving wherever they wanted. My rear light, brake lights and right indicators stopped working so I fitted right in because nobody there uses them anyway.

Also noticed a very high number of British registered cars – but very local looking drivers. The vehicles also looked local and bore local stickers, so its probable that they had been pinched off the streets of the UK. Definitely not bona fide imports!

A cool Albanian word is " shitet " which despite what is sounds like, is actually Albanian for  "sale" or " for sale" etc. But it also serves as a good indicator of some of the stuff we saw.

Spent the afternoon riding in the mountains, literally with our heads in the clouds. Many hairpins, mad drivers and worrying gaps in the barriers where somebody had taken a shortcut to the bottom, and then zero visiblity due to cloud at the top. But the locals were still flying along on the wrong side of the road and high speed, and local vendors kept stepping out of the murk at the approach of engines to try and flog us all sorts. It was a bit like one of those old fashioned ghost trains; go round a corner and dodge the scary thing that suddenly jumps out.

Later on we rode as far as Podrodec an stopped on the lake opposite Macedonia. It is very cold and blustery here because the wind is coming off the Macedonian mountains, and blowing icy wind all the way across the lake. But we've got a nice hotel right on the shore – 30 Euros for both of us with breakfast included. Can't grumble at that price and I think we are the only guests.

To get here, we again had to ride through hills on roads that had masses of diesel spilled on it. Not good anyway, but especially in the wet, as Nadine found out. A bit of fishtailing and a front wheel slide but she stayed rubberside down so that was OK. But both of us are grateful for the recent rough off road experience we had across Africa.

The towns on the way here are surprising too. Lots of what look like brick works line the road but most seem to be derelict. Not sure why but there doesn't seem to be much work about. There is some farming activity but they've clearly had better days here and many bars and restaurants have closed down and are now derelict. Shame because there is clearly a thriving local population.

Through this bit of Albania, there are many small round topped concrete bunkers. Apparently, former dictator Enver Hoxha was a bit on the paranoid side, and ordered the construction of 750000 bunkers, or one to everyy four Albanians. They dot the landscape, now in varying stages of disrepair. Not sure how useful they would hav been though, given the four minute warning and the fact that it takes bloody ages to get anywhere in Albania.

As for the bikes, mine now needs a clutch fixing session, the rear lights sorting and the brakes tightening. Nadine's is fine, although hers does run a bit rich and tends to run out quicker than mine. Think we'll do that first thing as we leave here this morning.

Useless snippet of information just added by Nadine – Albanian has 27 words for moustache and 27 for eyebrows. I am so glad we found that out.

No WiFi tonight so another brief update via texts...The Gals have reached the lakeside town of Pogradec on the southern edge of Lake Ohrid in Albania.  Their view across the water is to Macedonia. They've stuck lucky with a nice hotel for the night for just 30 Euros for both of them B&B.  Quite a tough ride for them through today with a mountain stage negotiated through low cloud cover.  The sight of the day was a horse coming towards them in traffic stood up on the back of a flatbed lorry!! They'll be into Greece tomorrow edging ever nearer to Istanbul - another 3-4 days ridng away...

Two more countries today

Woke to a beautiful morning in Dubrovnik (Croatia) – and no sign at all of the annoying youths of last night. What could be better?

Up and out quickly and down the road for the 2500km oil change on the bit of waste ground spotted last night. Did that OK but then managed to shear one of the exhaust nuts off so had to fix the whole exhaust mounting with a super large jubilee clip and a piece of wire. It held it in place, but the bike is now louder than a Harley.

Rode to Montenegro and encountered more roadworks en route which was great, as once again, they don't bother shutting the road, but you just carry on and take your chance with the rough and unmade surfaces as well as the working machinery. Can't imaging that happening in the UK but it was fun and a good bit of off roading, despite the fact that we hadn't actually left the road at all.

The mountain scenery is just spectacular, which is more than can be said for the driving which is bloody awful. They seem to have no idea at all – one bloke overtook us this afternoon on the wrong side of the road, on a bend and in a tunnel. Needless to say, he met a vehicle coming the other way and so cut in front of Nadine. You really have to have your wits about you at all times, and luckily, she did.

Crossed the border at about midday and immediately got pulled by the police and made to buy insurance.

 It only cost 10 Euros but that is for 2 weeks, which if you work it out, is quite expensive, but it was better and less time consuming than being arrested. They were actually quite nice to us, especially once the spotted my IPA badge and said “ ahhh, IPA” before taking 10 euros from each of us.

Crossed the Bay of Kotor on the ferry rather than drive right round the coast. That saved us a bit of time and was a nice change.

 Its only a small passenger ferry, but once again, when getting off, somebody tried to overtake me on the ramp. He lost.

Continued down the Adriatic coast road which at every turn, is another scene from a Bond movie. It almost looks CGI'd, with snow capped mountains, sun bleached rocks, clear blue sky and a few dark clouds over the mountain tops. It is actually quite distracting to drive because the scenery compels you to gawp at it.

Had a great ride up through the foothills towards the Albanian border. We were a bit worried it was too rural a road to be a permissible border crossing, something which got even worse when we reached more roadworks and ten miles of road in various stages of being made, complete with dogs, chickens, sheep and crapping cows all doing their thing as we approached. It really is very bizarre to ride in such conditions and dodging working diggers and cranes, but great fun.

Fortunately, we reached the border and were called to the front of the queue – via the pedestrian gate, which we were instructed to ride through. So we did.

 They took our passports but were more interested in our bikes, how fast they went and who made them than anything else. The Albanian police were even more interested and called us over for a chat which was just that – a chat, not an interrogation.

 Chief Albanian border bloke - note British Policeman badge on his lapel with which he was highly delighted.

Albania is noticeable more shabby and also more rural than Montenegro. You cross the border into farm land and a few scattered villages, plus loads and loads of Yamaha Town mate motorcycles which look very much like the original Honda C90s. The locals clearly noticed this too as they kept waving at us as we pottered past.

Holed up for the night in Skoder, a largish town about 10 miles over the Albanian border. The town is a bit wild and we decided that we would get the bikes off the street for the night rather than leave them anywhere accessible to passers by. So we chanced upon a posh hotel – 5 stars, secure garage, en suite room, nice restaurant, breakfast included. Set us back a mighty £70.00 for both of us – which turned out to be the best decision we've made all day as there is now a massive thunderstorm and lashing rain outside , which would not have been fun to camp in. Lots of crashing and banging and lightening going on, but for once, we're indoors, warm and dry. Luvverly.

We've also changed our route a bit too. We don't think we'll get to Bulgaria that soon because of the exhaust and because we still need to skirt around Kosovo and pay a massive insurance fee of 50 Euros each in Macedonia. So we're going to meet everybody in Istanbul instead.