By Ahmet Abdulaziz …
As you know Abdulhalim Akçay, a cyclist, is presently touring Turkey on his bicycle. He intends to complete his tour, covering 81 provinces and 800 districts in a two year period. Cyprusscene.com is following him on a day to day basis.
Hereunder is a summary of his ongoing adventure from 27th February to 5th March 2019.
91st day (27/02/2019)
He started off from Beyağaç towards Kavaklıdre. On the way he passed through Karacaören. There was no traffic on the road, but it was difficult to keep on pushing the cycle for long. The weather had changed suddenly and was too cold. There was repair work going on the road. He had a wonderful lunch along with the labourers. The night had fallen but he was still 50km away from Kavaklıdere. He spent night in his tent next to a petrol station on the road out of Gazeller village.
92nd day (28/02/2019)
After spending night in his tent he set off for TAŞLI village, at around 10.30 am. The village was at a distance of about 10-15km, however the road was full of zig zags. From there onwards he went towards Avcılar village. There was military control on the road, however he was cleared off by the officials. The weather was quite cold. He moved further to reach Menteşe village, where he spent the night .
93rd day (01/03/2019)
He moved out early from Menteşe village towards Kavaklıdere. The road was easy, yet there were ups and downs. Kavaklıdere is a lovely place. At lunch he was offered a special local dish KESKE, which he enjoyed eating. Next stop was BOZDOĞAN village, where the local Municipality provided him with a place for a night’s stay.
94th day (02/03/2019)
Starting off in morning. a couple of local residents helped him and provided eatables and water. He went to the local weekly market, where people welcomed him. He toured the local museum. The next stop was at Sultanhisar, where he reached by the end of the day. Unfortunately two of the petrol stations did not allow him to fix his tent there. However the third one allowed and he spent the night in his tent.
95th day (03/03/2019)
Next morning he visited the archeological remains of NYSA, which were at a distance of about 3 km from there. Next he went to SALAVATLI village after pedalling for more than one and a half hours, only to find out that he was not planned to go there. However, it was a lovely place, where a very old lady narrated to him stories about the past of that area. The next stop was AYDIN village, where he was offered a lovely lunch by one fellow. There he met some other lovers of cycling.. Mr. Ramazan, the owner of a local cafe which is the centre of cycle lovers, arranged for his dinner and allowed him a night’s stay in his house.
96th day (04/03/2019)
It was wonderful to spend some time with cycling lovers of the area, however he went off after having a nice breakfast at the house of Mr. Ramazan. He toured the remains of the ancient city in the ÜÇGÖZLER area. The next stop was INCIRLOVA district, where he spent a nice time in the warm showers. Mr. Celal Göbekçı took him as guest in his house.
97th day (05/03/2019)
He started off after a breakfast in the house of Mr. Celal Göbekçi., towards the KOÇARLI district. The weather was cold in the morning but later on became hotter. He did not stay long in Koçarli and moved up towards the GERMENCIK district. Balatcik was a small place where he had his lunch and spent some time meeting the local people, who showed their interest in his adventure. He continued further towards ŞİRİNCE. The road was very dangerous as it was broken from place to place. His bicycle slipped at one place and he fell down. The tyre went flat and spokes were broken. There was no way out but to repair the bicycle. It took much time. He managed to reach the SELÇUK district and spent night there.
