- ODO 3581km
- Location Otel Çerkin Simav
- Weather 25-35
After a full nights sleep fed from the convenient store the night before I woke to a heavy dew fall. While the temperature gets to 37 in the afternoon the valleys get pretty cold by the morning. The road eased up and flattened into a busy highway as I rolled the last 30km into Simav. A bustling town on the highway. I booked right in for two full nights to recover for the mountains ahead and exploded my kit all over the hotel room, using the shower to wash my clothes and stove and set out to fix some more punctures in my Thermarest.
Walking into town I poked my head into a few restaurants with menus of exclusively meat. Then I found a busy cafe on the square and sat down pointing to a few bits in the window. My Englishness attracted attention of the waiters and I was soon explaining my story and gained a few more Facebook friends to boot. While I was sitting at my table for four an older gentleman came to sit right next to me and reached into grab some Ekmek (bread). The waiters came out and took orders reverently for a beef stew and rice with beans. As I sat, several people came up to shake his hand and speak show their respects. To me he paid no attention. I left with a tip and a “Tesekur” and went to drop my postcards from Istanbul off at the post office. I’m not convinced they will arrive.
Now I’m planning to get a haircut, recoup, eat lots of food and adjust my whole calendar to account for the hills and this delay.
