Thursday, July 2, 2009. Day 14

Stats:
Trip Total: 1,010.13
Day Total: 116
Avg: 16.0
Tm: 7 hrs
I got up as early as I could. I was the first one to have breakfast and the personnel were nice and helpful. They advized me on where they thought I could find a hotel to spend the night. The highway I'll be following goes through the mountains where there are a couple of villages but no big towns big enough to support a hotel. Had I chosen the coastal road to Antaliya, I would have added another 120 kms to my trip, so I opted out.

I was on the road prepared for 52 kms of steep uphill that will take me to 1500 meters. Morale and mental attitude are very important. I was really pumped up and did, looking at it in retrospect, really well. I quote a couple of pictures to show you the landscape and the road

After stopping a thousand times and drinking tons of water (had to go to people's houses and ask for refills) at the 26th km according to my odometer I reached Karabel

and a picture of the really beautiful scenery

So I had another 26 kms of uphill. As I looked on my map, though, I saw Karabel lying at the end of the climb. This could not be so. Still, it turned out it was. As it appears, yesterday when Aykut said 52 kms, he meant from Fethiye, and not from Kemer as I had understood. This was a windfall gift. I felt as if I was already at my destination, despite the 90 remaining kms I had to bike.

From that point till Korkuteli, the next big town, there are only minor uphills. Basically is is a plateau. The area is sparsely populated with a few clusters of houses here and there that do not even qualify for a village. What impressed me was that almost all the houses were really beautiful and new. As if they were people's second homes, even though they belonged to local farmers. Take a look at the picture below. Double click on it and inspect the houses.

When I arrived at Bençiler I saw that it was nothing more than a big village catering to buses that stopped on their way to the major towns. No hotel there. I would have to bike till Korkuteli. I started worrying. It was getting late and I was not at all sure I could make it before the night fell. Camping out in the mountains was not an option after I had shipped back my sleeping bag. So I had to make it. The ride was exquisite. It is an 80 km stretch of beautiful valleys. At the end I was handed another unexpected gift. Ten kms of happiness. Actually, the last ten kms were downhill. So I got to Korkuteli in time and before the night fell. Found a hotel easily, the Belediye hotel. Before I close I must mention that the drivers were really nice. Twice people stopped and offered me and Spithas a ride to Korkuteli, which despite the predicament I was in, I respectifully declined.

See you tomorrow