We spent the rest day in our room sleeping, reading and writing and didn’t go out until in the late afternoon. Last time we did an unplanned stop like this was in Elhovo in Bulgaria. The similarity between Elhovo and Vezirköprü is that both are small provincial towns not really famous for anything, but still very representative for ordinary towns in each country. There are no must see’s which makes it a lot easier to just use the rest day for resting.

The hotel had a very nice breakfast buffet. Not big, but good and only lacking one thing….. coffee…… But hotels without coffee is not a problem for us who carry our own kitchen and supply of instant coffee. We simply lit our own stove in the bathroom to heat some water to make the coffee needed for making our restday complete.

Although possible, we didn’t relly want to cook our dinner in the bathroom and in the late afternoon we went out to find something to eat. When we passed a barber shop I decided I might as well get shaved. We went in and as usual it was assumed that Wej is from Japan while I tried to tell that I am from Sweden. The guys in the shop were very interested in what brought a Japanese and a Swiss tourist to their little town….. 😉

Within in a minute we were asked if we would like some tea which we gratefully accepted. They then sent a runner to a nearby shop to get the the tea and when he got back my face was already covered in a thick layer of white foam which made the drinking process a bit hard.

The remaining distance to the port city of Samsun was 115 km and with a total climb of 1500 meters. It was too much for one day but not enough for two full days either so we decided to start late and ride slowly and do it in two shorter days instead. The hills were not steep and we were much more worried about the dark clouds in the horizon than the hill itself. It soon started to rain and we had to stop to put on our rain jackets.

Our plan was to camp but since the there were dark grey, almost black clouds on the sky, we decided to go into the next town to see if we could find any cheap place to stay at. If not, we would camp as planned. The town (Havza) we had entered has many termal baths and thus a large number of hotels and guesthouses. We were soon checked in at one of the guesthouses and this was our cheapest paid accomodation so far since leaving Sweden. We paid 30 TL (115 SEK, 13 €) together and just as we had locked the bikes it started to rain heavily. A very good timing 🙂

We seem to have entered a period of being lazy and the following morning we didn’t manage to start cycling until 11 AM. With 85 km to go and more than 800 meters to climb it looked like it could be a long day after all. After only a few kilometers we entered a big two lane motorway with a wide shoulder. It was good because we could cycle safely and quickly but that kind of road is a real bore to ride a bicycle on.

After a while it was time for lunch. We found a gas station with a restaurant that had tables outside allowing us to keep an eye on our bikes and while eating we could watch two guys cleaning trucks. They had made their own brushes with connected water hose. I guess it works just as well as a ready made ones.

Soon we were on our way again and after having reached the pass at 860 meters we could look forward to a 45 km long downhill ride 🙂 It was a bit chilly but when climbing we never felt it was a problem, but we got cold as soon as we started the fast descent. We stopped to put on more clothes at a truck weighing station and were soon invited inside for tea.

All trucks passing on the highway need to be weighed and the system is completely automatic. The trucks drive slowly over the scales while a camera scans their registraion plates. The staff at the station only monitors the system and if there is a violator they will check the driver’s license and send a report to the police who will issue a fine.

As soon as we left the weighing station it started to rain lightly. We kept rolling but didn’t let the speed get too high due to the wet road surface and poorer breaking ability. After a while the rain got more intense and we got soaking wet, but not really cold. At one of the few flat sections a car passed us, then stopped and a guy came out and wanted to help us. He felt pity for us and insisted to load us, our bikes and our luggage into his little car. We weren’t cold and we have been through worse conditions than this so we declined his kind offer and kept rolling towards the coastal city of Samsun.

A navigational error took us on a detour away from the city centre of Samsun and once we managed to find our way to the area where all the hotels are, it had already got dark. The first hotel we found was full, but the receptionist called to another hotel for us.

The room we got at the second hotel was on the topfloor and had a giant balcony which is larger than the room itself. It also has a fire place and a wonderful view of the Black Sea and Samsun’s harbour and city center. Although a bit expensive, we quickly saw the opportunity the balcony provided us with. We could easily lit our stove there and cook our dinner and thereby save some of the cost for the accomodation.