Day 438 – EU – Greece/Turkey [Provatonas to Kesan]

16/06/21

38km

  From Provatonas (Greece) to Kesan (Turkey)

Europe

A last minute change of route to the only open checkpoint and a bit of a sweat!

My graal today!

Yesterday’s change of plan was perfectly timed. Last minute but efficient! I am so glad the timing was just what I needed to reroute the itinerary, change my hotels at no cost and head towards the only open land border checkpoint between Greece and Turkey. I made the mistake of relying on press readings and did not check further. Yes: “border” between Greece and Turkey is open, but: only 1 of the 2 existing checkpoints is in operation. The art of catching a mistake just at the right time!

The town of Kesan on the Turkish side

I left this morning very anxious. Vaggelis, my host, drove me to the junction with the motorway to the border, a point I ran past yesterday (9km south of Provatonas). From this point, there were 7.5km to run the border checkpoint. I know I am not supposed to run on the motorway but I tried my luck. At a pace of 5:52/km, this is the fastest I have run so far in the world run. I tried really hard to get to the checkpoint without getting caught! Only about 10 cars drove past me, I counted them all. It’s fair to say it was not busy at all. Once at the border though, things got trickier.

Let me check Google Translate…

The Greek police officer who checked my passport said: “Passport ok – but I can’t let you through. The bridge over the river that goes to the Turkish side is not allowed by foot. The military is guarding it and they will arrest you if you try”. Oh dammit… That’s when someone’s misfortune turned into my luck. I spotted a taxi driver unloading the luggage of a passenger whose passport had expired. I jumped at the opportunity and asked if he wouldn’t mind simply driving me over the bridge (about 100m). We checked with the police officer and we were let through. Pfffeeew!!

Cultural and environmental change

Once on the Turkish side there were endless controls and I had to show several times to various officers the contents of BoB the stroller. A minor impediment. It was raining today and it was an omen. Cautious not to offend anyone at the checkpoint, I had my legs covered in my tights and shorts. I was also wearing a long sleeve shirt. When the weather gets hotter though I will have to go back to my short & tshirt. I think it’s okay as long as I cover up when I stop by small villages.

Turkey seems to be the only country in continental Europe not to use the word “stop” on its stop signs. I took a snap of it – it’s still fairly clear what it means!

I feel tired this afternoon, probably the effect of the stress about being let into Turkey. I can relax now – and hopefully, only 10 days to go till Istanbul! [my Garmin and Strava recordings are in 2 parts today – the bit in the middle is the 100m or so between the Greek and Turkish checkpoints where I turned my GPS was off because I was not running].

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: