Malkara to Inecik – 25th August
Distance: 37.0 km – Elevation +410 m -460 m
Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 34 degrees
I had a long day planned so I had set the alarm for an early start. There was no need to have done so because at 5.30 am the call to prayer from the nearby mosque was so loud it probably woke the whole town! The street lights were on as I made my way out of town as the friendly town dogs were just starting their morning search for food.
I had again decided to take the state road to the first potential bed for the night 38 kilometres ahead. I made good progress covering 15 kilometres in the first 3 hours. I passed by the small village community of Aheivren where it seemed everyone was a melon seller. Melon full tractors and carts lined each side of the road for some distance. I stopped in the local tea house and enjoyed a reviving glass of tea and conversation with the elderly men. After the tea break and as I walked past the last of the melon sellers, three men sitting around a table enjoying a watermelon invited me to join them. It was the best watermelon I had ever tasted! Later just before reaching Yenice I stopped for lunch in a filling station with an attached self service cafe which is clearly used by passing coaches. Fortunately I arrived at a time in between coach arrivals and I was at that time the only customer.
I am still walking through sunflower country where it seems seeds and oiĺ are the major source of income for this part of Turkey. It was a long hot but enjoyable day and I found a bed ( the last) in a roadside hotel just past the village of Inecik for 18 euros including breakfast and tomorrow I have an easy walk to the sea. The route I am following through this part of Turkey, follows the same route the Romans took on the Via Egnatia to Byzantium.
