Mon 15 Sep 2025
A simple day. On the road by 0700. 2 hours and 200km to breakfast in Loba Café, Mersin – a remarkably good croissant filled with ham cheese and tomato.
Then another 1½ hours to my destination, the Pinar Motel in Adyincik. The road to here was interesting; it was a dual carriageway that largely followed the coast. The many long curves were spoiled by the rather poor road surface, but it was still a more fun ride than the earlier stint. This had taken me through several cities / large towns and the traffic was horrible.
Still I arrived in one piece to my 15m2 room. A nice view over the sea was it’s one saving grace; it had nothing else going for it.
Tue 16 Sep 2025
As I left the hotel today, there were 2 large bikes, still half-loaded beside mine. One was a BMW GS and the other a Yamaha Super Tenere, with licences in Russia.
I had been going for about an hour when I noticed that when I braked, the bike nodded its head, as if the braking pressure was fluctuating; my first thought was that the disk was badly warped. It started gradually, but then got quite bad.
Looking down, I thought the fixed part of the brake caliper, which is held in place by two sizeable bolts, had come loose, so, given the importance of the front brake, I pulled across the lane – I was stopped at traffic lights – and into a side road.
I wasn’t far wrong. A screw that holds Quickly I pulled over and discovered that a screw that is used to adjust the clearance between the pad and the disk had fallen out. It also holds the caliper mounting arm to the fork leg. I’ve read that some guys ride without this screw; I’m not sure how and I’m sure Honda put it there for a reason.
Anyway, luckily, the spring was still in place and I had a bolt of just the right size. All was put back as it should be, and 50 minutes after stopping, I was back on the road.
It was a good thing I had repaired the brake, because the next 65 kms were on one of the twistiest mountain roads I have ridden. The surface varied considerably and the bends went from wide sweeps to hairpins to ever-tightening turns around rocky outcrops. The road was narrow and as the only road going down the coast, was also used by trucks and buses.
I was happy to finish it in one piece, and rewarded myself with a nice breakfast in another cool café.
The final 130kms were along a strip of multi-storey hotels and tat shops, clearly aimed at the tourinst who were promenading in twos and threes in the best beach wear.
I was staying at the, rather quaint,Side Tuana Garden Home, which had looked, different, online. And it was. The bell on the desk said, “Ring for a kiss” so I did, and when the proprietress appeared I demanded my due; and got it! 😚
I was in a seaside spot. There were hotels shoved in everywhere, mostly modern, except for the Tuana Garden Home.
While uploading this video, I noticed that one of my videos from Saudi Arabia 2019, had had nearly half-a-million views!
I did say it was seaside, so of course I had to go to the beach, and there I found it, Paradise! The beach was completely covered by row upon row of umbrellas and sun-loungers, and the occupants were a long way from being beach babes and dudes.
As an aside, the term “beach babe” has disappeared from the internet, if it is ever was there. I googled, looking for the male equivalent and there was nothing! Wordreference.com said,
We could not find the full phrase you were looking for.
The entry for “beach” is displayed below.
“Dude” was given as a generic equivalent for “babe” by Quora, so I used that.
This is now the low season for tourism here, yet it was still busy. I’d hate to come in the high season.
After my swim, I took a wander round town and came across the Easy Rider Bar. It is owned by Esan, an ex-motard who suffered a stroke a couple of years ago. He was completely paralysed on his right side, but happily is much recovered.
Wed 17 Sep 2025
Up early and on my way after coffee and choc croissant.
More dual carriageway. Mostly empty for the first while and then the usual racetrack stuff. I decided to avoid a city centre by taking the ring road; this at first seemed and excellent decision, until the big road ended and I had to go cross-country to rejoin it elsewhere. This took me through the city outskirts which were semi-rural; it made for an interesting change, even if it was somewhat slow.
Once back on the highway, progress was good and then the temperature dropped about 10ºC! It was cold; and I don’t mean cold in comparison to what I had been used to. I mean it was like a chilly autumn morning at home. By the time I got to my breakfast stop, I was seriously considering unpacking my woolies.
Here, a town called Korkuteli, I found an open café, fortunately with a seat in the sun, and had a delicious toasted sandwich while I warmed up. A very nice lady I met, who assisted with translation, confirmed my thoughts on the temperature, “It’s always about 10º colder here that at the coast,” she said.
Defrosted, on excellent roads, I quickly made it to Denizli and the Aslan Luxury Concept. This offered a .very spacious two roomed apartment, comfortably, if frugally furnished. I took my lead from the locks on the door and parked the bike out of sight with the brake lock on.
Today was the 7th anniversary of my first ride on my rebuilt bike, back in Harare; where has the time gone? I also recalled that Sep 2020 was my target date for finishing the first leg of what became my personal Odyssey. Although, these last 2-3 weeks, I’ve been going faster than originally planned, I don’t think I’ll make it home before the end of the month.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 