![\"The](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/image2.jpg\")
<\/a>The hill to climb before arriving to Zonguldak and our friends<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
It was a nice sunshine when we left Alapli but only 6-7 km along the way towards Eregli we cycled into a dense fog and when we arrived in Eregli it was even a bit cold. At the outskirts of that city we passed some big shipyards but the work seemed to have ceased at two container ships. Nobody was working on them and we later got the explanation why – the financial crisis and problems with the banks.
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![\"Turkey](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/DSC05134.jpg\")
<\/a>Turkey may have avoided much of the financial crisis, but not the owner of these two ships that no work is done on any longer.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
Wej had not completely recovered from her sore throat and a few times I got a stinging feeling in the central part of my right calf which I had injured severely last year. The chilly weather and our physical conditions made us move forward with great caution. <\/p>\n
The climb started right after we passed the city of Eregli. It was not steep, only 5 % on average, but it was almost 10 km long. We rode up very slowly and didn\u2019t stop a single time until we reached the pass. Climbing 500 meters in one long go is much more fun and challenging than doing five climbs of 100 meters that once you have passed the pass immediately takes you down to where you started. Those small climbs are both physically and mentally de-motivating.
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![\"Trying](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_3039.jpg\")
<\/a>Trying the famous strawberries from Ereglie<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
Eregli is famous for having Turkey\u2019s best strawberries and we passed numerous small stalls where the local\u2019s sell these red delights. Even if we really wanted to buy some we kept going since we didn\u2019t want to break the momentum we finally had gained, but we stopped at the first stall after the top. The strawberries were more expensive than we expected but they tasted great.<\/p>\n
When we got up on the hill we suddenly had the fog below us. It was sunshine and a nice temperature as we cycled up and down the small hills on top of the mountain. The descent from the mountain was a bit difficult since the surface was not in the best condition and there was a lot of traffic. Road constructions was going on at several places and it was sometimes very dusty.
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![\"Road](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_3046.jpg\")
<\/a>Road blocked by truck<\/p><\/div>
\nWhen we came racing down a slope we saw a truck parked across the road. It looked strange and when we got closer a police man walked up to us and raised his hand to show us to stop. Yesterday the police escorted us, so we wondered why they stopped us now.<\/p>\n
Once we had stopped they put up cones across the road and a sign telling \u201dtraffic control\u201d. We couldn\u2019t understand why they would want to include us in their traffic control, but we had to stop. Nothing happened and soon more cars stopped behind us and a short while later we got the explanation by a police officer who could speak good English. He told us that the construction workers were going to blow up a big rock and that we had to wait about 20 minutes.
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![\"Talking](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_3047.jpg\")
<\/a>Talking to the police officer while waiting<\/p><\/div>
\nWe chatted with the police officer when a loud \u201dbooom\u201d echoed between the mountains and a huge dust cloud raised from the valley in front of us. We were first in the line but we decided to let all cars pass before we started to cycle again. I had parked my bike at the side of the road and when it was time for us to roll I saw that my front tyre had got flat \ud83d\ude41 \ud83d\ude41 \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n
I had probably parked on something sharp and there was nothing to do than change to a new innertube. If I had seen what had happened I could have done it while waiting for that explosion.
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![\"Changing](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/image3.jpg\")
<\/a>All other cars in the que is gone and we are left alone to fix my second flat tyre \ud83d\ude41<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
Finally we could continue our descent down from the sunny mountain and into the foggy coastline. We had agreed with \u00d6zlem that we would send her a message when we approached town. Soon we got contact and she and her husband Volkan came to meet us by car.<\/p>\n
Volkan told us to put bikes and panniers into the car. I asked how far away they lived and I think I heard him say 200 meters but I thought he meant 2000 meters. We loaded everything into the car and drove up some very very steep hills and I think their house is 200 meters above where we met so Volkan was right after all.
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![\"Raki](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/DSC05185.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Cheers](\"http:\/\/cyclinghome.nu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/image1.jpg\")
<\/a>