Day 82 - Kirklareli to Kaynarca

 33.6 km - Total so far 4,274.30 km - Route pedalled.      Relive Video (with pictures)

Video of the day: Europe Day 82                         214 Left to pedal

We are safe and secure in the village of Kaynarca, Turkey.

I was pretty easy leaving Kirkareli as it was mostly downhill until we hit a big climb. It was a tough one and even the trucks had to use low gear. At the top, we did a left hand turn, leaving the main road behind snd settled down on a quiet country road.

We pulled into our first village looking to get our morning fix of chai. We spotted the place, lots of shade, many tables and a number of older gentleman sipping chai. We roll by, stop and lean our bikes against the stone wall. There is lots of chattering and as soon as we appear, move towards a table and sit, the chattering stops. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. The owner takes a step towards us and as I look at him I say “Iki çay” (2 chai). He smiles, leaves and returns with our chai. The chattering has resumed but is pretty subdued. A younger man stands up and asks: “Where you from?” Canada I tell all. A general AHHH is heard from the assembled and the chattering restarts as if we weren’t there. We could not pay for our chai, once again on the house. On departure, we got a big wave from all.

We were going to repeat the above at village number 3 but could not. The village looked deserted. We spotted the usual place but there was no one outside. Hélène got off her bike, walked up the two steps, opened the door and asked: “Is the anyone here?” No reply. At that very moment a car pulled up with two gentlemen inside. One came to talk to us in Turkish, we replied the usual. He went back to the car and got water bottles. He told us to follow him to a table. The second person in the car joined. A third person showed up out of nowhere and person one asked him for 3 chais. Then another person showed up. 

Person one turned out to be a veterinarian (vet) who travels often to Canada to visit firms that produce bovine sperm. He had a trip coming up in the next couple of weeks to Toronto and a side trip to Niagara Falls. We had a Google Translate chat. He too refused our money for the chai. 

We got back on the bikes, ran into a shepherd and met up again with our vet in Kaynarca who guided us to a restaurant for a quick bite. 

We finally made it to our lodging for tonight, a small A-frame cottage next to a pool. There were some issues at check-in. It was the business that wanted up front payment a few days ago. Again things were resolved in our favour.

Tomorrow we have a 60 kilometre day to Saray. We will have a few decisions to make since we are a bit ahead of schedule.