Nearly there...

I'm just a few km short of Istanbul, using a motorway services to get wifi.  I haven't decided whether to stop in Istanbul or to cross the Bosphorus into Asia later today - probably the latter.

Yesterday's ride took me southwest from Burgos into the deserted south of Bulgaria

where I was able to take this photo especially for O

then hit the Turkey border in the late afternoon.  There was a queue of lorries but I was the only "car" so I had the lane to myself.  Bought the necessary visa and there were several checkpoints after that: passport, customs, vehicle permit, and one to check everything.  There are stories of motorcyclists being forced to buy insurance at the border but they were happy with the Green card I'd brought from the UK, so it was straight into Islamic territory.

I headed to Edirne where there was a very pleasant camping just outside the town to the southeast.

The other inhabitants were all Italians in motor homes.  I enjoyed my first Turkish sunset while sipping camomile tea.

Got a good night's sleep, hurrah!, and an early start this morning.  I'm on the motorway about 50km west of Istanbul and stopped to get a break.  It's a sunny but very windy day.  Despite the long sleep I still feel tired.  I suppose that after 2,300 miles of more or less non-stop riding that's inevitable.  Bought a map of Turkey this morning and will plan ahead.  I think the key factor is to get a definite booking on a ferry from Rhodes to Athens so I know when I have to be there and then work backwards to see how far east I can get before turning for the Mediterranean.

More anon...