We got up in better time and had another Turkish breakfast of tomatoes, cucumber, cheese, egg, bread, olives and jam. Although the staples of life are very similar to Spain (carbs, meat and lard) they are definitely better here at making sure you eat at least some greens. Last night the BMW had enticed in some passing German bikers who were headed in the opposite direction to us and we all packed up and set off at the same time, making lots of noise and very sweetly being waved off by the staff. We had decided to head for Pamukkale first and then aim for Konya and see how far we got. The weather was sunny and nice and not too hot (about 25C) and we set out very positively and adventurously and made good progress. We fed the bike and bought a better late than never map of Turkey. Then we left the seaside and the dry landscape covered in squat olive trees and climbed up to about 1000m where it was greener and forested with pine trees. We kept going until lunchtime when we stopped for a pide each (mine was peynirli and P's was kiymali, aka cheese & minced meat). Going was good except for the ubiquitous roadworks - Turkey seems to be in the throes of a massive road building programme, and we have been lucky enough to sample the full range of possible surfaces on offer.
Things started to go a bit wrong after that - 'good things come in threes' and so does losing stuff. First the barely-christened map blew out of the tank bag and fluttered off between the cars behind us. Then we stopped, and Paul's helmet intercom lead went awol and finally and more excitingly, the left hand pannier dropped off and went skidding down the road at 40mph. It was a very strange sensation, a loud bang and a scraping noise as the box contacted the road and a lurch to the right as the weight came off the bike. It slid along the road and got a bit of road rash but no real damage done (the main victim was the Sudtirol sticker). They are pretty tough boxes. 
Mid afternoon we stopped at Pamukkale. This is a very strange geological formation which is basically a 500m+ wide stalactite coming down the side of a hill. There is a mineral-rich hot spring at the top of the hill and as the water runs down and cools, it deposits white chalky stuff. It had been well-known for its weird appearance and alleged health-giving properties for thousands of years before a town was built there, and that was done as long ago as about 200BC. So it has been there for millennia. It is so white that from a distance it looks like a snow covered hill sticking out of the normal landscape - in fact 'Pamukkale' means 'cotton castle' but it looks more like a massive heap of whipped cream. By this point in the day we were being chased by some unfriendly looking clouds, and after consulting the book of knowledge (Rough Guide) and the satnav, realised just how far there still was to go, so we admired it over a cup of tea / coffee sitting in the park at the bottom, and walked up to the edge of it to see what it felt like.
We managed to outrun the rain and had a good journey for the rest of the day, not too hot and not too cold, with pretty cool clouds and no more stressful or alarming losses. We arrived in Egidir at about 8pm and booked ourselves into the first hotel we found (shiny gold curtains & a balcony overlooking the 2nd biggest lake in Turkey…not bad) and had a very overpriced but tasty kebab for dinner.
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