Forgotten Turkish videos 11 – 16

Video 11

Video 12

Video 13 –

Video 14 =

Video 15 –

Video 16 –

Forgotten Turkish videos – 6 to 10

5 more forgotten Turkish videos

Video 6 –

Video 7-

Video 8

Video 9 –

Video 10 –

16 Forgotten Turkish videos

For those that followed this blog.

I was unable to  upload 16  videos taken in Turkey as the authorities in Turkey  blocked Youtube and when I returned I forgot to upload the videos. I have only just remembered and have uploaded the first 5 videos here.

Video 1 –

Video 2

 

Video 3 –

Video 4 –

Video 5 –

 

The Final Blog

Fri Mar 6th Franksten to Melbourne – 43 mls. Grand total 15649 mls. 

Another cold wet and windy start as I cycled along the coast rode into Melbourne. As I arrived in the city I cycled past Albert Park where the F1 Grand Prix is about to take place. I couldnt resist a quick detour into the park and along the start finish line. I was just about to complete a lap when I noticed my back wheel was buckled -another spoke had broken. I limped into the main centre of the city and found two bike shops neither of which could help. One of the shops gave me the number of a bike shop about 4mls away. I rang them and as luck would have it they had a new heavy duty wheel. I just had to nurse the bike there. When I arrived they got straight on the case and within an hour I was  on the road back into Melbourne.  I met my daughter at her offices and had a couple of beers with her work colleagues before cycling back to her apartment.

This now the end of Justpoppingoutforacycleride.  I would like to thank you for following my adventure.  I hope you found the blogs  and videos entertaining. I would also like to thank all of you who sent me congratulations messages and those who have made a donation to SOS Childrens Villages.  I know the contributions will be gratefully received by the charity.  I will be travelling back to the UK on March 19/20 and will see many of you then when I can thank you personally.  But for now its goodbye.’

Final video blog:-http://youtu.be/c0cBT92yPL0

Penultimate blog

Thur Mar 5th- Drouin to Franksten – 66 mls. R/T 15, 606 mls. 31 mls to go ( final recalculation) 

After a lovely sunny afternoon the weather changed last night to a very windy, cold and wet night. In the morning I packed up my soggy tent…again  and set off to Franksten. I chose Franksten as it was on the coast just south of Melbourne and I can cycle up the coast road tomorrow for the final day.

They say the Melbourne area can experience 4 seasons in one day. Today started as winter – very very cold and with yet another strong headwind.  Later in the morning (after I had warmed up with a coffee stop) it became autumn- cold, windy  with heavy rain showers. By lunchtime it was spring like – cold and windy. At around 5pm I had reached Franksten and was still waiting for summer!!.

Franksten was further than I thought but I now have only 31 miles (no really) to reach Cathryns office and the end.

Final blog tomorrow.

http://youtu.be/biDnra7hbvU

T minus 51 miles

Wed Mar 4th Taralgon to Drouin – 42 mls. R/T 15540 mls. 51 mls to go.
Set off from Taralgon into a really stiff headwind. It wasn’t as flat as I had been led to believe – bloody Aussies dont know the meaning of hills. Decided to stop at Drouin around 3.30pm. Found a camp spot judt outside of town. Pitched tent and rode back in for a steak wine, beer etc. The wind finally dropped and it was a nice evening hic!  My plan is to cycle to the coast, park up and have a swim and stay the night. It will then be a short cycle into Melbourne on Fri to meet my daughter at het office around 5.30pm

Dinner tonight – fillet steak med/rare with gourmet salad and a bottle of red wine. The 2 beers disappeared earlier hic!

A personal appeal on behalf of SOS Children’s Villages

As I come to the end of my cycle ride from Newport in Essex England to Melbourne Victoria Australia I would like to thank you for following my blogs (only 2 0r 3 more blogs) and to  make  a personal appeal to all those that have been following my adventure. I have cycled over 15,500 miles ( c 25,000kms+). In doing so I have visited 6 SOS Childrens Villages in 5 countries – Croatia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Laos x2 and Indonesia. When I started the trip I knew only what I had read on the SOS Childrens Village web site. I fully expected the quality and standard of care of the children would differ greatly in each country and in each village. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency of care in every village I visited. The houses were modern and well equipped.  The staff, especially the ‘mothers’ of each house, looked after the children with as much love and care as if they were their own. The children were taught respect and responsibility. Respect for themselves, the staff and the other children. And responsibility for themselves, the other children and their houses and village.  All the children had either lost their parents, been abandoned by either or both parents or  been in an abusive environment.  The children I met were happy, content and very polite to me and the staff. I saw no vandalism, graffiti or any unsocial behaviour. I believe the children in an SOS Childrens village grow up to be well rounded adults and I have been immensely impressed by the SOS Childrens Village charity and the work they do. I urge you to support them. I have done the hard job of cycling to Australia. All I ask of you is the easier task of putting your hand in your pocket and donating any amount however small. I know that it will be appreciated by the charity and especially the children. Please go to:-

https://www.justgiving.com/jpr59/

Thank you.

Jeremy.

Donations can be made from anywhere in the world, in one of eight different currencies as long as you have a credit or debit card. Although for UK charities we currently only process donations in pounds sterling (£GBP), you can now give in one of eight different currencies: GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, HKD, SGD, AUD and AED. To do this, select your chosen currency from the drop down menu in ‘Step 1’ of the donation process. You can then choose the amount you’d like to donate. If you’re donating in a currency that’s not currently listed in our drop down menu, you’ll need to work out how much you want to donate in this currency. Here’s one of the many currency conversion websites that can help: www.xe.com/ucc Your bank or Credit Card Company may charge extra fees for international transactions

If you haven’t seen one of my videos of the SOS Cildren’s Villages here are the 6 links :-

SOS Lekenik Croatia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gedVPJFFua8

SOS Tblisi Georgia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bemGgGj3WSc

SOS Ganja Azerbaijan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSeeDrZk00

SOS Luang Prabang Laos – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m5qvg8YxAc

SOS Vientiane Laos  – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B4ctk2ito

SOS Semerang Java Indonesia – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwIoh7MaLSc

 

SOS Childrens Village :-

Our Vision

Every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security.

Our Mission

We build families for children in need, we help them shape their own futures, and we share in the development of their communities.

Our Values

Courage – We take action.  Commitment – We keep our promises.
Trust – We believe in each other.  Accountability – We are reliable partners.

https://www.justgiving.com/jpr59/

 

Less tan 100 miles to go

Tues Mar 3rd – Bairnsdale to Taralgon – 87 mls. R/T 15498 mls. 93 mls to go.

Last night my nearest eatery was an Indian curry house within walking distance of my tent.  I hadnt had an Indian since leaving England and I fancied a nice chicken patia.

I walked in and had the pick of the tables. I chose one by the window so I could watch the world go by…well mainly large trucks. I looked at the menu.it reminded me of Indian restaurants in England back in the 80’s – meat madras; meat vindaloo, chicken tikka masala. I asked if they could rustle me up a chicken patia. The waitress looked at me blankly and then said they only had chicken tikka massala. I then asked if they had chicken jalfrezi. She pointed to the back of the menu  where there was a vegetable jalfrezi. Could they add chicken I enquired. She disappeared to the kitchen and came back. They could add chicken. I then asked for a peshwari naan. She nodded and said they didnt do peahwari naan. The menu had naan with cheddar cheese. This must be their equivalent of Welsh Rarebit.

After 20 mins it arrived. I have never had a jalfrezi with carrots and green beans but it was surprisingly tasty as was the cheesy naan.

Today was a long cycle along the main highway. I was going to stop at Rosedale but there wasn’t much there so carried on. Having reached Taralgon I now have less than 100 miles to reach Melbourne.  I have arranged with my daughter Cathryn to arrive on Friday evening at her office in the CBD district. That will signal the end of my trip.

No video blog – road was too boring

Two days cycling along a disused rail track

Sun Mar 1st – Orbost to Nowa Nowa – 47 mls. R/T 15371 mls. 169mls to go.

It was a very wet and windy night and after I packed up a soggy tent I cycled from Orbost to Marlo on the coast. I had planned to stay with a Warmshower.org host but I was two days early. I thought if the weather and Marlo was nice I would stay. Unfortunately on both counts it was miserable. I rode back to Orbost and joined the disused rail track to Nowa Nowa (so good they named it twice perhaps?) I arrived to find one shop, a pub and a camp site. The camp site was small but pleasant and right next to the top of Lake Tyes. I was told there were thermals in the middle which kept the water at c26º. I pitched my tent and went for a swim and sure enough I could feel the warm water beneath me. In the evening there were 3 other campers ( 2 girls from Newfoundland and a German cyclist) and we sat round a fire drinking beer. The German cyclist pitched his tent right next to mine which would have been fine accept he snored! Loudly!!

Mon Mar 2nd – Nowa Nowa to Bairnsdale – 40 mls. R/T 15411mls. 180 mls to go (recalculated)

It was a lovely warm morning as I rejoined the rail track. It was a really nice ride along a sand/gravel surface which for the most part was firm and easy to cycle along with NO hills! There was only one worrying moment when I saw a large c4ft long black snake by the side of the track. Fortunately by the time I got closer it had slithered away.  I arrived in Bairnsdale around 1pm. The forecast was for a warm sunny afternoon so I found a camp site with a nice pool and chilled. I am constantly amazed at the lack of wifi in Australia. Today I tried to upload my blog. The camp site wifi didnt work. The local MacDonalds was so slow it was unbelievable. The local library wifi was even slower. Its 7.35pm and I am sitting on a bench outside a ‘Target’ clothes shop as they have the fastest wifi in Bairnsdale

Video blog :-  http://youtu.be/JeMkzI366DQ

“Its all downhill” – Australian for “Its mostly uphill”.

Fri Feb 27 – Bombala to Orbost – 106 mls. R/T 15324 mls. 216 mls to go.

Last night we camped down by the river.  There was a gas BBQ so we went into town and picked up two large (500g+) rump steaks, a 12 pack of beers and a bottle of red wine. We found some dryish wood and a container to have a fire – once the sun sets it cools off rapidly.  By 7pm we started the bbq. Unfortunately we realised that all we had was the steaks.We had forgotton to buy salad or any veg. We did have one onion. So dinner was steak and fried onion.  As night fell I lit the fire. The wood was not as dry as I hoped and it merely smouldered. I then spotted a wooden pallett leaning up against a wall – perfect. We ripped a few planks off and the fire burst into life. As we drank the wine ( the beer had been quickly drunk earlier) and ate some cheese we were joined by Stuart,  a Pom who had lived in Oz for 40 years and was caravaning with his wife ( she had gone to bed). It turned into another very pleasant evening.

In the morning it was very foggy as we packed up and went into the town for a coffee and pie. 3 Australian guys in the cafe all said once I got to Delegate it would be downhill all the way to Orbost.After saying goodbye and good luck to Simon I cycled out of Bombala along a very foggy, but luckily, quiet road. I reached Delegate and went into the only shop to buy a drink.  As I came  out another Aussie told me “No worries mate. Its all downhill to Orbost”.  With a cheery wave from me I set off looking forward to a nice downhill run. Now I dont know which part of ‘down’ and ‘hill’ Australians find difficult to understand because the road was far from downhill all the way! In fact there were several long climbs. After about ç50 mls I reached Bonang where I saw a general store. My plan was to buy some food and water etc and then find a camp spot further down the road. The shop had closed down some time ago. I cycled to the next place – Goongerah but there was no shop there. With no food and little water I decided I would have to cycle all the way to Orbost. It was now 3pm. The road did have some nice downhill stretches but it was also a gravel and rutted road in places and this slowed me down. By 5pm I had not eaten since the pie in Bombala and my water was running out. There had been very few cars pass me in the 9hrs I had been cycling.  Just then a small car went passed and stopped. A guy got out and asked if I wanted and food and drink. I accepted his kind offer even though it turned out he only had a small can of tuna and c100ml of water.  It was nice of him to stop though and it gave me a short break out of the saddle. I carried on and by 7pm was entering the town of Orbost. It was past Tinnie O’clock so in order of priority I stopped first at the local bar for a cool welcoming beer, then popped into a supermarket for some food and finally found the local camp site. I was shattered. Dinner, shower and Zzzzzz followed.

The forecast for Sat is warm c30º dropping to 19º on Sunday so will stay in Orbost today and cycle south tomorrow.

Video blog :-  http://youtu.be/qOpUIIIlvOY