Know your ferries

Today was one of those days that turned from Plan A, to B, to C...

The original plan was to avoid Istanbul and its traffic, and cross the Bosphorus River, north of the city, using a local ferry.
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A moments lapse of concentration and I missed a turn, and was getting sucked into Istanbul itself.  Found the first exit, and just happened to stop outside a big Harley Davidson dealer.  Thought I would buy another inner tube, but all they sold were bikes and expensive riding apparel !

They directed me to the Honda dealer that was on my way back to the ferry I was originally aiming for.  Once they said, "keep the sea on your right, and you can't miss it", I knew I would.
So, I did miss it, but found the ferry ... Guess what ? Passengers only ... how did I cock that up ? I'll blame the GPS, it routed me that way.

I then had no choice, Plan C... through the city and across the bridge.  I took a scenic way back into Istanbul so as not to retrace my steps, then in fairness the traffic was not as bad as I thought.

View of Istanbul

The GPS redeemed itself by taking me through without a missed turn, and then I was on the bridge ... but gridlock.  Again, after a few minutes a local came riding past straight up the side of the lorries on the hard shoulder .... so I followed him !  I'm sure I should have payed a toll, but somehow the opportunity never presented itself.

The rest of the morning was spent doing some fairly nice roads until my stomach signalled a lunch break was required, so this backwoods diner fitted the bill.

   

Shish Kebab was all I knew in Turkish, so that what I got.

Plus a customary cup of tea at the end.

Shooting on, the roads got steadily worse as I got closer to the sea, ending up with the last 25 km being just a dusty gravel road.  There is a massive pipeline project going on here, and as the site was deserted, I had a little "play".

Not quite the same as in the "Italian Job"

Got to Kerpe about 5 pm, and checked into my first "hostel" accommodation ... The Danube Surf House.  It conjures up images of a evening around a camp fire on the beach with a load of Turkish Surfer Dudes.

In reality, I was the only one there, the place was 10 mins from the beach, and at the end of a housing estate.  The owner, while pleasant enough, had a couple of tiny dogs that growled, yelped and whined, every time they spotted movement.  I asked about breakfast .... "oh, about 9, or 10 dude" (in a Turkish/French accent, but you get the idea).

9 beds in this "mixed" room

So the next morning, I had the last laugh ... and while he was still asleep on the outside sofa ... I set the dogs off !  Left at 8am, minus a breakfast.