Having cycled about 3500 km in Turkey alone (and easily another 1000 or so just commuting and sightseeing in the cities) I would say that my last 500 km along the Black Sea were the least exciting: mostly flat riding on straight roads along an unimpressive coastline, hills to the right, calm sea to the left.
I am very keen to get to Georgia soon, but as luck would have it my body decides to hold me back and come down with a cold instead (my 3rd one in Turkey!), just 2 days after a hiking trip with my couchsurfing host in Ordu. I have no energy and I have to put in 3 involuntary rest days in Akcabaat, a few km short of Trabzon.
Key decisions pt. 3
It is already dark and I have just refilled my Whisperlite's fuel bottle at a gas station so I can cook myself a healthy dinner later. All gas stations in Turkey are serviced, and during my brief encounter with the staff I tell them I'm heading in direction of Rize.
About 5 minutes later, I'm just back on the highway, a car approaches me, honking madly.
"This guy surely is a cycling enthusiast" I think to myself, preparing to smile and wave at him, as usual.
Much to my surprise, the driver has his window open with an item all too familiar dangling from his finger: it's my bicycle lock keys! I didnt' even realize I lost them.
"Teşekkürler ederim! Where did you find these??"
"Petrol, petrol" he yells and pulls away seconds later, leaving me rather baffled.
Given that this was my last set of keys (the other pair is somewhere in France or Switzerland, I think) I consider I'm really quite lucky tonight.
Impressions from the rrrrrrrroooooaddd....
Via Rize, Ardesen I continue my trip along the Black sea. It is not easy to find camping spots here: there's just no space. I mostly resort to couchsurfing, and my last host in Turkey even drives from the neighboring town some 50 km away to pick me up (and return me to my bike the next morning).
I'm now about 120 km away from Georgia but the cycling is so easy that after 3 hours I realize I can actually reach Batumi that day.
A last stop in Turkey for food where I spend all but 40 Turkish Lira and minutes later I pass the border. Actually I almost cycle past the Turkish border (as always, nothing is simple here) and have to go back to the second checkpoint to get my exit stamp before I can leave.
And What a change that is, driving on the other side!
First of all, there's a lot more powerful cars on the road (and a lot more idiots who don't know how to use the horsepower responsibly). Also, people look different. The headscarves have disappeared.
The first few kilometers towards Batumi are a bit depressing though: houses look quite run-down and the main street has big pot holes in it which I carefully have to ride around.
Not knowing yet where to stay for the night I reach Batumi around 19:30 local time (I'm now 3 hours ahead of CET) and promptly bump into a group of 4 cyclists coming from the opposite direction.
Turns out they will be staying in an AirBnB with one of their friends who got to Batumi a few days before, and I'm promptly invited to join for the night.
The studio apartment where we will be staying is located on the 18th floor of a high riser at the edge of the city. Most interesting is the elevator of the building: you have to pay a fee of 10 Tetri (=0.03 EUR) to use it! One of the 2 elevators is broken, and the elevator only fits at most 1 cyclist with gear + bicycle at a time. It takes more than 30 minutes until all of us have gotten up... and meanwhile, a small line-up of other tenants forms behind us...
The apartment itself is a bit crowded with 6 people but I'm more than happy to meet other cyclists and put my mattress on the floor for a night.
The group consists of 3 Australians, 1 British and 1 American cyclists who have just made their way from Tbilisi and they have a lot of miles under their belt and stories to tell...