Day 12 : Konya to Karapınar

What seemed to become a rather monotonous day with many flat kilometers, turned into a great day.

The route was flat, a bigger road. No spectectular surrounding, a lot of large-scale agriculture and stock farming. All the kebabs have to come from somewhere...

This region is definitely richer than the area in the mountains. Houses are mostly new, bigger and have a much higher standard, petrol stations have Starbucks and are very clean.

At the first stop in a village, some kids enjoyed their bikes.

And there is always someone asking where I'm from.

Next stop was for lunch. I went into one of these grocery shops to get some sweets and water. It was raining outside and the owner invited me for a çai and a coffee. He spoke a few words of English. After half an hour, the rain had stopped and I left with his telefoonnumber on a piece of paper - in case of emergency.

With dark threatening clouds in the sky, it was just a question of time when it would start raining again. Luckily, there was a petrol station when it began. The guy from the petrol station waved me inside, where it was warm. It was not only a petrol station, but also a place where they made etlietmek, a soort Turkish pizza. The guy was just preparing it. Always fascinating to watch.

I sat down and just waited, looking outside into the rain. Suddenly he put a plate with etlietmek in front of me. What can I say...

I still had 35 km to go and the chances to reach my destination without getting wet, were small. So I just started. After a few kilometers it began pouring again... 

Totally soaked, I just made speed. In one of these lay-bys, a lorry driver waved me over standing next to his huge lorry. He asked me if I needed a lift to whereever. He could strap the bike to the back of the lorry. Since it was only 15 more kilometers, I thought that was too much of a hassle to unload the bike. Everything was wet anyway. I thanked him for his offer and went off in the rain...

The unbelievable hospitality and helpfulness of these people made my day. The scenery, the streets didn't matter at all. I just cycled, happy to be here :-)