- ODO 4569km
- Location 10km short of Askaray
- Weather 8-25 Clear and bright.
It happened. Rolling out of my muddy campsite in a field exhausted from a bad damp night I noticed my bike was riding badly. I could feel every bump on the muddy trail. There it was. My first puncture of the whole trip. I slapped the bags to the ground and pulled of the wheel. Sliding the inner tube from inside while still attached to the rim. I couldn’t find a hole so I swapped the tube for my spare. The next lucky hotel or hostel I stay in will get that in the sink.
Today I’ve been the most tired of the leg so far. Despite my mood the locals in this flat, exposed farming region are the most friendly yet. In each town someone rides up on a moped to offer me a stop for chai or a lorry driver waves me in, palm down. Sometimes I stop. Sometimes I wave and continue. I’m a couple of days away from my day stopped on Cappadocia and I’m in need of a rest and a good wash before the mountains to come. My thoughts are groggy and my lips are chapped as the nearby mountains.