Dalyan – 5th April

The Aussies were leaving for their road trip early on Wednesday 5th April so I’d been invited to have breakfast with them before they set off. The Turkish people here, tend not to get up early for breakfast and I thought we might struggle to find somewhere open.
I went downstairs, as planned, at 8am, it had rained in the night and there were checks being done on the woodwork outside, which looked great. I also had to have a look at the improvements they had been working on last night. Greg drove us to Ekin around 8.30am where we were met by a rather large slobbering black dog, called Negro, who was super friendly. The owner asked us if we could wait for half an hour while he got set up and so we walked about a bit, taking some photos of the beautiful lake.
I wasn’t going to eat the Turkish breakfast for 2 reasons; 1, it often gives me a bad stomach and 2, I had Fat Club weigh-in at 3pm. I realised it would be considered rude to just watch Amanda and Greg eat so I decided to go for it. It was my first Turkish breakfast this year! Just as it was served, it started to rain and we had to move inside. The scenic views were now no longer picture perfect and we were lucky to have seen the lake views we did, before the rain came.
The breakfast was amazing and I really enjoyed it but I knew it would mean a gain on the scales. I ate cheese, jam, honey, bread, cheese rolls, olives, chips and 2 types of savoury gözleme (Turkish pancakes), washed down with Turkish tea and a fresh pomegranate juice. We couldn’t finish it all so Amanda packed 2 small Tupperware boxes up (that’s why I love her) and gave me one with the cheese in. The total bill came to 585 lira (£24) which, considering how much food is provided, was a bargain. Of course, before we even got back in the car, I had stomach issues. Back home we packed the car up with luggage, in the rain, then said our goodbyes. Even Kitler, the abandoned cat, came to say farewell.
I almost didn’t go to Fat Club because I knew it would be disappointing but I forced myself to find out how much damage a Turkish breakfast on weigh day could do.

At Fat club, the inevitable happened; I had gained weight! It was only 1.1kg (2.4lb) but that was enough to undo the previous losses and I only had myself to blame! A more sensible person might have then decided to rectify the bad result by being really good. However, as some of you could have predicted, that was not what happened and I got a lift up to Rehab bar with Carol. I ended up ordering a bottle of wine, as it works out a bit cheaper than having several glasses. I didn’t finish it all as I had to leave to meet Jamie and Ann at Aşkın’s bar. Tay wrote my name on it and said he’d save it for me.
When I arrived at Aşkın’s, Jamie and Ann were already there and had been joined by Mark and Pamela. I ordered a red wine and we all had a nice drink, it’s one of my favourite bars to sit and people watch usually. After a drink there we moved on to Sofra bar for a bit more refreshment.
By 10.30pm, I was leaving Sofra bar with Jamie to go to Umit’s birthday drinks at Sunset bar. Our friend Annie had invited us along and Pamela was already there, as was Yusuf the pharmacist and the flower girl. I had a glass of red wine, Jamie had a glass of white. We thought we were only there for 30 minutes, saying hello to Annie and her friends. Jamie and I do not remember dancing there, having more drinks or leaving but it turns out we were there 90 minutes and had 3 drinks.

We were back in Sofra by midnight, Mark had rejoined us too, and it turned in to quite a night – not that Jamie or I could remember much of it. The photos were a big help to work out the rest of the evening but it was a little concerning.

Photo credit – Greg Le Couteur

Dalyan – 3rd & 4th April

I had Yorkshire tea and a few strawberries for breakfast on Monday 3rd April. I started my second week of work at 9am and worked until 6pm, with an hour for lunch. At lunch time I had a vegetarian picnic style one, again, to save time and I snacked on a couple of bananas.
When I finished work, I met up with Jamie for a quick dog walk and then came back to make my dinner. I decided today was going to be a zero alcohol and zero meat day so I made garlic mushrooms with onion, leeks and quark with roasted pumpkin and sweet potato. I only had 12 syns today because I snaffled some chocolate but it did mean I was already at 219 syns for the week – weigh in was not going to be a good one, on Wednesday.

Tuesday 4th April was another day of work and I was enjoying it. I just had fruit for breakfast as I needed to be logged on to the laptop by 9am. The lira had gone up to 24.03 to the pound now so was very high. While working, I made myself sip lots of cucumber infused water in an effort to detox a bit before tomorrow’s weigh-in. I had a turkey, lettuce, spring onion, green pepper and cheese wholemeal wrap for lunch which was surprisingly filling. Our pool and garden maintenance company, Elite, had started to drain the filthy pool and the green slimy water was slowly disappearing. In the afternoon a massive rain storm came and I was expecting loss of power, but I was fine. After work, I made a simple noodle dish with garlic, courgettes and mushrooms. I was doing so well to resist chocolate or booze but fell at the final hurdle as I settled down to watch a bit of Netflix. This week I’d had 239 syns (89 were on alcohol), 4 meat free days, 4 alcohol free days and 7 days of exercise. I had a feeling that I was going to have put weight on this week, though.

Dalyan – 2nd April

I was up early on Sunday 2nd April because I had organised my first boat trip of the year. It was later than last year but this year didn’t seem to be as hot yet.
Ivona, the Captain’s wife, was sick and couldn’t make it. The weather was dull and quite cold but we weren’t going to let that put us off. Captain İsmail had decided we would go to Little Dalyan, a sheltered spot behind Iztuzu beach, then the lake at Köyceğiz instead of the sea due to the threat of storms and choppy seas.
The Princess of Ekincik boat was leaving from outside River Terrace at 10am, it was costing £30 each (drinks extra) but included food for the day.
On board Princess of Ekincik with Captain Ismail and his team of 2 young Turkish lads, were Jamie, David, Christine, Nanny Kay, Viv, Paul, Anna, Amanda, Greg and me – 10 of us in total. There was only Anna who I didn’t know previously. Tea and coffee was served with fresh pastries and Ivona’s home-made cookies. We had to be quick with the cookies before Nanny Kay snaffled them as she’d had them before and was rather partial. I indulged and they have got to be the best cookies I’ve ever had. The pastries weren’t too shabby either and I had 1 each of the 3 flavours. My healthy eating was definitely on the back burner for today, although I had already decided that I would curb my wine intake in an effort to limit the damage. Our first stop of the day was at Little Dalyan so that those who wanted to, could go for a walk along the beach or even chance a swim in the sea. It was too cold and blustery for me to chance it and most were content to just be there and have a leisurely walk along the beach. Amanda and I collected shells, Jamie collected glass and it was all rather pleasant. I had a bit of a shocker as I found out that Captain Caveman had lead Anna to believe I was disabled. She seemed rather impressed that I could walk on a beach and asked if I was managing ok. When I asked more, it turned out that Captain Caveman had said I ‘didn’t’ walk because of the leg injury in April 2020, which she’d interpreted as ‘couldn’t’ walk!!

We were back on the boat just before noon and I decided to take one for the team with Jamie and sample the beverages. It was the first trip of the season so we needed to check the beer was cold and the wine was up to scratch – it was. Jamie had Drew on the phone and I tried to get a photo with him on the screen. The sun was out and it had turned out quite pleasant as Ismail was getting ready to prepare our BBQ lunch.
The food was incredibly good and there was certainly plenty of it for us all to have a good plateful.

After lunch we sailed up the river to the mud baths where Greg was the only one brave enough to sport his swimmers and get in the dome. Every one of the guests was lovely and it was so nice to just have a laugh with old and new friends. The boat is one of my favourites and I find the owners really respectful and humble too, which is nice. On the way back a few of us had another drink and we had a bit of music for ambience while İsmail served up an array of afternoon treats. There was some delicious homemade cake from Ivona and lots of fresh fruit. I stuck to my 3 red wines and was pleased with that. We all said our goodbyes after a lovely day and I walked back with the Aussies, where they invited me in for a gin and bitter lemon. We’d all had a great day on a lovely boat trip and, as none of us are sun worshipping types, it didn’t matter that it had not really been the best weather. Amanda and Greg had decided to stay a bit longer in Dalyan and would be here until Wednesday. After that, they would head up the West coast towards Bursa, then İstanbul.