Day 32: Havsa to Silivri/Erdine to Luleburgaz with 2,500 miles now covered

Bob made the sensible decision to spend the morning and early afternoon surveying the mosques and sights of antiquity in the city of Erdine.  Meanwhile, Mark escaped soon after 7am from his no star hotel with the cunning plan of beating the headwind - which to date has always arisen in the late morning.  But not today.  Because after passing the 4,000 Kms/2,500 miles point before 8 o'clock, half an hour later a ferocious and unrelenting headwind came back with a vengeance.  Locals informed him that it was coming directly off the Black Sea - now less than 50 miles to the east.

At least Route 100 is a recently upgraded dual carriageway with a substantial hard shoulder on which to cycle safely.  And there are frequent fuel stations with air conditioned shops selling water and fruit drinks.  However, 10 miles short of the city of Silivri the hard shoulder disappears and Mark found himself fighting with HGV's once again.  Indeed, one such lorry, its horn blaring, forced him off the road - a nightmare last experienced in Chile almost 20 years ago.

With the Muezzin (correction of yesterday's spelling) wailing from the minarets, Mark made it into Silivri - a coastal city on the Sea of Marma (the northern right-hand tip of the Mediterranean) just as the sun was setting.  Bob later texted to say that he too had done battle with the mighty headwind and had called it a day in the city of Luleburgaz - some 60 miles back along Route 100.

One of the great features of today's cycling has been the hundreds of roadside stalls selling fruit and vegetables - primarily watermelons and tomatoes.  Travelling through the city of Corlu, Mark had stumbled across its market - still in full swing in the late afternoon.  More than a dozen different types of melon were on sale, together with every other form of fruit and vegetable imaginable.  He counted ten different types of sultana and once again bought a juicy and enormous peach for the equivalent of 7p