Tag: Turkey
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Self Sabotage – Ben Around the World Podcast: Episode 3
Ben and Dan catchup from London to Tbilisi. Talking cycling, music and anything else that comes up.
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 50 – 24th September 2018
ODO 5877km Location Lake Cisor Weather 11-24 Today I’ve felt very down on Turkey and Kurds. After the stone throwing incident yesterday – this morning a young man shoots a cap gun out of the window as they pass. I’m so used to this now. Kids shout as I pass but I keep headphones in…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 49 – 23th September 2018
ODO 5781km Location Digor Weather 11-29 Light showers Having stones thrown at you isn’t fun. I’d just stopped st a small town petrol station to top up my water bottles and chatted in my few words of Turkish and there’s of English. Pointing at the map and wondering if the border crossing I’d chosen would…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 48 – 21th September 2018
ODO 5636 Location Dogubayazit Weather 8-25 Strong head wind The sight of the dark stone of Mount Ararat – the highest peak in Turkey – stirred in me a deep fear and excitement. A tightening of the sphincter I’ve only ever experienced by looking down in deep clear water to see I’m floating tens of…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 44 – 17th September 2018
ODO 5078km Location Up a mountain near Kasaplar Weather 11-26 gusty headwind As I broke through the 5000km mark the mountains began. Just as they did with approaching Istanbul. Small undulations in the road. 20m up. 20m down. Then they grew to sweeping mountain climbs as the wind picked up to resist and buffer my…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 37 – 9th September 2018
ODO 4185km Location Burdur Weather 14-25 narrowly avoided showers in the afternoon After a restless night, woken by nearby explosions from marble mining and grunts of frolicking wild boar I begrudgingly crawled from my damp tent. I had no real appetite and a banging headache. Regardless I packed up my kit and wheeled my bike…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 36 – 8th September 2018
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…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 35 – 20th August 2018
ODO 3961 Location Oludeniz Weather 21-34 Humid by the coast My final campsite for this leg was the most stunning so far. A small forest track 1100m high overlooked a wide valley. The sun slipped in shafts through broken cloud picking out the blue crystal of a mosques minarets in a town laying in trees…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 33 – 18th August 2018
ODO 3751km Location Pamukkale Weather 28-37 in the valley Turkey is a fractal. However large or small the terrain the surface of the earth roles in a wavelike undulation of grass or mud or trees. I started the day at 900m but gradually descended all day. It’s days like these where you feel like you’re…
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Ben Around the World Diary – Day 30 – 14th August 2018
ODO 3551km Location Küloü Weather 25-37 Overnight I was a mess. I went to the toilet 3/4 times in the night and had no consistent sleep. From 9pm to 7am I lay on a thorn deflated air mattress listening to my intestines churn. By the morning I couldn’t even think of riding far. I pushed…