I smell pretty terrıble but I’ve got a fishing boat to go and sleep
on tonight, and I just bought a new blanket which I hope will keep me
warm as the nights have been uncomfortably chilly recently. Normally
camping is a perfectly fine option for our sleeping arrangements, but
I’ve been more dubious recently as I’ve been cold in my thin sleeping
bag, no matter what combination of clothing, headwear etc that I adorn.
This is important because we don’t have the guarantee of a comfortable
bed to sleep in each night but it is nice to know that I will be warm.
Luckily the Turkish are living up to their reputation of hospitality.
Almost every day we have either had a warm place to sleep, been fed
incredibly tasty food, and always offered chai.
Many of the towns we come across along the Black Sea Coastline are
busy with tourists in the summer but in the winter they are a lot
quieter with most hotels and restaurant closed up. The atmosphere is
relaxed and people are genuinely interested and wonder why we didn’t
visit in the summer. I usually say, we started cycling in the summer,
but its a long way and we didn’t go fast enough.
Last week we cycled into a small village and took refuge from the
bitter cold in a tea shop. Darkness closed in, as it tends to rather
quickly these days, and we required somewhere to bed down for the night
hopefully somewhere warmer than the previous night. It had snowed and
as a last resort we had slept in a bus shelter! It seemed a good idea
to head to the beach to find a shelter to camp under. As we cycled
along the sea front, we spoke to a man who was standing outside what
looked like a closed restaurant. We told him what we were doing, and he
invited us in. With very little conversation exchanged, we were fed and
given a free room for the night. We met his wife and they told us about
their children who were at university in Istanbul and Cyprus. We were
relieved to have come across such wonderful people, and incredibly
grateful for their generousity. It was an excellent opportunity to
recharge our batteries and have a well earned hot shower!
We have been sheltering from the cold and wet weather in the
ubiquitous tea shops. Many old men we meet have spoken German because
they previously either visited or worked there. I have been using this
opportunity to try and brush up on my language skills. Earlier this
week, after trying to cycle through relentless rain and getting utterly
saturated, we sat by a soba to dry off and I decided I would try to
note down as many German words I could remember from when I studied it
at school. I was quite impressed to be able to remember 200 words in
one sitting. I have been employing these words on occasion however my
grammar needs improving immensely. There are some good language
resources on the BBC website and I found a page of basic grammar on the Tiscali website which I have put onto my PDA to look at.
On the subject of technology, I bought a wonderful new camera before
I started this trip. It is a Nikon D40x and I bought a very shiny Nikon
AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5 – 5.6 G ED lens to go with it. Yes, I have
no idea what all those suffixes mean (yet) either. It wasn’t cheap, it
was by far my biggest outlay on equipment for the trip, but I am glad I
did, and I’m really enjoying using it now. The long zoom range allows
me a wider range of composition possibilities and means I can snap
images that might be difficult without it. For example earlier today a
fisherman was sorting out his net on a boat. It would have been
difficult for me to get close enough to frame the composition as I
desired without needing a wetsuit. 
I read recently in a Photography supplement that came with the Guardian
newspaper that it is better to get closer to a subject rather than use
the zoom if possible because it gives a more intimate image. I am
inclined to agree. In addition, if you have to get
physically closer to the subject matter, this is likely to provoke a
reaction, and possibly an interesting meeting.
