Istanbul is one of those places people hype up online, but the reality is a mix some brilliant bits, some annoying bits, and a lot in the middle. I’ve been, I’ve seen it properly, and here’s the honest version. Not polished. Not sugar coated. Just what it’s actually like. THE GOOD The food is genuinely very nice. Proper flavour, proper seasoning, and even the simple dishes hit harder than you expect. Seafood, grills, stews, pastries you can eat well without trying. The buil

finding myself again on two wheels. I didn’t come back to cycling with a plan. No training schedule. No big goals. No fancy bike. I came back because I felt sluggish, tired, and disconnected from myself. I wanted to get back into shape nothing more complicated than that. So I bought the cheapest road bike in Halfords. An Apollo Paradox. Basic. Heavy. Affordable. It wasn’t about performance. It was about seeing whether I even enjoyed cycling anymore. Growing up, I lived on mo