- ODO 4056
- Location Çameli
- Weather 18-29 showers in the afternoon
I left this morning, setting my alarm for 6am, but being awoken at five by the call to prayer from the mosque and the local chickens. I checked the bike and kit before rearranging the room and desk back to where the were when I arrived. Unplugging the ethernet cable I’d run in order to be able to work reliably. Then left with a handshake and a wave to the Airbnb host and the German woman who lived above and owned the building. With the lack of sleep, nerves and stress I always seem to fell in the last night sleep before I felt terrible and I could feel it entire day as I climbed from sea level all the way up to 1400m pass. The same pass I had descended two weeks before. Feeling low I relied on podcasts and audiobooks to get me up the hill. Stopping briefly only for a lunch break I cooked pasta in the middle of the day – rather than the evening for the first time and slept roughly for an hour disturbed by bugs and the moving sun.
Continuing in the afternoon I had no more energy and the hills continued too. I was in a small town just before sunset to get extra snacks to improve my energy and I saw a sign announcing a Paragliding World Cup competition. I can’t believe I missed it!
In the afternoon the temperature cooled but clouds grew from the north first blotting out the sun in patches and then building to a grey moody layer which encompass the entire sky. Thunder shot down, glancing off the minarets of nearby mosques, which boomed and rolled over me. I put on my jacket for the first time since Belgium and carried on in the rain the temperature dropping below 20 degrees for the first time since entering this part of the world. The sunset quickly with the fixed cloud cover and I barely had time to put my tent up in the dark and and sit to eat my cold lunch, dry bread, cheese and squashed tomato.
Tonight I’ll try and recapture some sleep I’ve missed from the nights before.