Breakfast in Cide
We woke up on the beach in Cide, a decently large city, just outside of a large public park with paid toilets, a fountain, and a moon bounce. The families in campervans were still there and there was also another group of folks in a tent who must have arrived after we went to sleep. We made coffee and breakfast and enjoyed the calm of the morning. Today, our route would be 35,3 kilometers with a cumulative elevation gain of 840 meters. It would a fairly easy day comparatively. For this reason, we postponed our departure a bit longer and enjoyed a second cup of coffee while taking shade in a nearby gazebo.
We considered staying another night but the toilets were paid and it wasn’t our favorite camping spot, we had decided we could find better. By this point, we had a pretty good grasp of what was available in terms of wild camping spots and we knew this wasn’t the best. We filled up our water bottles and headed out.
Cycling to Kurucaşile
As I mentioned in the previous day’s post, Selim’s shortened chain didn’t allow him to shift into the lowest gear so he did a fair amount of walking. He was also concerned that his chain might break again so he was extra careful. We only had two more cycling days to reach Amasra, the city where we planned to take the bus to Istanbul, so he was hoping not to have to any more technical problems.
On this particular day, the views were especially picturesque as we passed Gideros Koyu, a gorgeous bay, about ten kilometers from Cide.
Arriving in Kurucaşile
We arrived to Kurucaşile and Selim was hankering for a tavuk durum. We went searching for one and ended up at a lokantası. It’s a type of restaurant that often, or perhaps always, has pre-made dishes of which you can choose between. There’s often a lot of home-style casseroles, rice dishes, soups, etc. The nice thing about it is that you can see what is on offer and also, that the selection changes each day.
Camping Just Outside of Kurucaşile
After lunch, we continued to cycle to a beach that Selim had picked out on the map ahead of time. It was a few kilometers outside of the town and down a very steep road. Before we descended all the way to the beach, we noticed a campground area with picnic tables in the forest and decided to stop there. There was one other family there already, eating lunch at the other table.
It turned out to a really nice spot, lots of shade and a beautiful view of the sea and coastline. The only downside was that the fountain with water was all the way up the hill. When the family was packing up to go, we just asked them if we could have their old five-liter plastic bottle. It appeared that they were just going to throw it out. They said yes and we had something to carry water down the hill so we’d have enough of a reserve for our kitchen.
We hung out at the campsite all afternoon and when it got dark, we cooked pasta with our groceries from our earlier supermarket run.
Gendarma Visit
After we had cleaned up after dinner and were getting ready to sleep, the Gendarma arrived. They looked hesitant to talk to us but finally came over and shared that this site was not for camping. Selim explained that we had been camping all along the Black Sea for a month now and we didn’t know this. We also only had our bikes so it would be difficult to leave in the middle of the night. They agreed to let us stay as long as we didn’t make a campfire. Forest fires were devastating various parts of Turkey and this was a huge concern. We assured them that we only had a gas stove and we were finished cooking for the night and furthermore, we don’t make campfires. Well this is what we tried to communicate but in Turkish all we said was “yok” meaning “there is none.”
A Second Visitor
That night, we received a second visitor! This one, much later in the night and much cuddlier. It was a kitten we would later name Blackberry. We knew her from earlier in the evening when we had given her and her mom milk. She must’ve been chilly outside or perhaps just curious because she came meowing to our tent. She was persistent. Selim let her in and she proceeded to make the tent hers for the rest of the night. We were happy to do so because we had actually heard coyotes during the night! The first time I had ever heard coyotes howling and it sounded very close! A bit scary to be honest.
She slept on our faces, our phones, our chests, our heads. She meowed to go out when she got bored and quickly regretted it and meowed to come back in. I started imagining how I would carry her on my bike and the type of paperwork I would need to transport her across borders. Turns out this was a bit too soon as in the morning, I remembered that she had a mom who came back to claim her. It was really fun having a baby kitten for a night though I think we were both surprised at how much a tiny furbaby could affect our sleep.
