The Lycian Way

The Canadian is stupid... I'm not quite sure if he's as stupid or even more stupid than myself. Suffice to say we both got on really well and have had a fantastic four days of wandering.
We arrived back in Antalya a couple of hours ago, and I'm finding walking causes much hurties. Fortunately my knees aren't just too bad, but my feet have lots of blisters and are sore. I'd love to rub them lots but the blisters get in the way so I'll just have to put up with them.
Day 1... Antalya to Olympus
Left Antalya at about 12 on a bus to Olympus. To our surprise the bus dropped us on the main road only 23km from the township and surprisingly not at the turnoff to Olympus but at a servo where another Dolmus (bus) awaited to take us the last 23km at an overly inflated price. We were there to walk, so we walked. We headed towards Cirali (another small township close to Olympus but only 7km) home of the Chimera. We walked downhill about 4km and then hitched in the back of a ute the last few km's. The land there is beautiful. Reminds me somewhat of the Northern NSW coastline. Big mountains, lush greenery with mountain streams, and a view of the sea. Fantastic.... The road followed the river and it was an amazing turquoise colour.
The Chimera is a bunch of little fires that burn by themselves due to self igniting gas leaking through rock. They've been going for ages and ages. Early explorers thought they were the home of gods breathing fire under the ground and is also the birthplace of the Olympic eternal flame (apparently). We weren't real sure what to expect, whether huge flames or hardly anything, but were gambling that we'd be able to cook pizza for lunch. The flames probably reached a foot in height and were perfect for toasting our sandwiches. I wasn't quite patient enough for pizza. Mmmm.
The Chimera was about 6km from town, we returned along the beach and were back at the river around dusk (6pm).
Uses for a Digital Camera
1. Taking photos
2. Telling the time
3. Reading maps at night
4. Taking photos of obstacles on the path at night so you can see what's ahead
Typically most people I know don't like trekking at night in unknown countries, I'm usually up for an adventure, Tyler was keen to get to Olympus so we trekked at night. We had about 3km's. The first bit was along the river down to the ocean. It was pretty narrow goat track with the occasional few metre drop off to the river which came to a three metre cliff face with a wooden ladder down to the beach. That probably sounds worse than it really was... waving blindman sticks in front of us let us know pretty well what was coming up. We cruised along the ocean for a km and then headed in land beside another river past the ancient ruins of Olympus. It was a pretty big open track. We walked for probably a km along it and finally saw a farmhouse with a light on. We walked past it and somehow saw a sign for Bahrams Pensiyon which is what we were aiming for.
Olympus is pretty much ruins and a bunch of treehouses housed in Orange groves. We got a bargain paying $7 for a bed in a tree house including a huge dinner, all the tea we could drink and big brekky. We also met Andrea, a German girl living in Turkey teaching english, holidaying with her younger teenage brother. She was good value.
Day 2... Olympus to Adrasan
Walked back through a township and ruins (which we didn't realise were there the night before) to the beach for a swim. The ocean was COLD!! The two germans and Tyler went in, I wandered in to about my shorts and it was freezing. I went up to where the river enters the ocean and jumped in there, it was marginally warmer and I stayed in for about 10 seconds and then made acquaintance with some warm rocks.
We got going on the second leg of our walk Olympus to Adrasan at about 11:30. Andrea was keen to come for a walk with us, so we took off. We spent a while trying to cross the river without getting our feet wet, and then headed up a gorge for a few hundred metres only to find a night club called the 'Orange Disco'. So we headed back to the river and navigated the steep river bank and finally arrived back in Olympus where we started at about 12:30. We asked some better directions and found the path. The whole trail is marked with with a red & white painted stripe every 100 metres or so on rocks or trees. The first 7 kms was steep ascent gaining about 800 metres in two and half hours. Stuff me was it steep. With a full pack I was ready to curl up and call it a night. It was worth it though, bunches and bunches of rock which once would've been the outer limits of a city. Not sure if its classed as Olympus or what. The map called it Upper Olympus. We had lunch, Andrea turned around to head back to Olympus and we continued on. We cruised over the saddle and then took a scenic route along some rocky outcrops before realising we hadn't seen the red & white for a while. We back tracked and then finally found the path down. Despite my sore knees, the realisation we only had a few more hours of light and an imagination that I was riding down the mountain, we made pretty good time, coming out on some rocky pasture land about 6 kms from Adrasan with about 15 mins of light. So we raced along the river towards Adrasan. Unfortunately we lost track of the markers, but we figured the river was a good guide. We continued on along steep, rocky ( 20cm diameter), grassy 'grazing land', this turned into a 'rubbish dump' for used meteors ( 3m diameter rocks) and thorny vines a little time after dark. The camera come in useful and our progress was slowed significantly. The ground was rocky and jagged so we thought we'd just keep going. (I should mention - I class this behaviour as stupid and do not endorse it anyway... I would not class it as dangerous though because we had food, water, warm sleeping gear and were travelling as a pair). We eventually crossed the slimy shallow river, to find a track with the red & white lines marked. This we followed for sometime into a paddock of wheat... we tried for a while to reacquaint ourselves with the 'trail' but to no avail. The lights of Adrasan could be seen in the distance so we marched through a few paddocks, over stone walls, through an orange grove and eventually found a relatively major gravel road next to a shallow, broad stream. We followed it and found we had to cross. I tried balancing on the stepping stones but lost my balance and walked through in 20 cm deep water. We continued on and asked directions from a few surprised locals.
We eventually got to Adrasan about 8:30ish. We stopped at a B&B first and they wanted around $25 - 30 each (I think). Tyler's on a tight budget so we tried to talk them down not very successfully, so continued on towards the beach, the next place was pretty dodgy and still expensive, and then we talked to the locals at the restaurant and they had a bungalow they'd rent for $7 each. Sounded good. It was the dodgiest bungalow you could ever imagine... unfortunately I don't think I took a photo. We said we'd take it and put our gear down glad for a rest, and then I thought 'Where's the toilet and shower?' It was built outside on the side of the house, which is fine, however the light was flickering on and off whenever I moved the door. The room was an open topped steel frame with wood screwed on. The light cord was wrapped around the steel frame and dangled down. I'm not sure where the short circuit was exactly, but I was certain I wouldn't be showering in the 'shower of death'. We told the restauranteur we were leaving and walked back to the B&B. It was fantastic. We didn't even bother haggling the price... I guess you don't mind paying a little extra to stay alive.
Fikret and his english wife Jill run the B&B and provided the most amazingly yummy and good quantities of food, beautiful room, as well as the mandatory backgammon set. Twas a good night.
Day 3.... Adrasan to Kuruoz
Today we would hike from Adrasan, 15km to a light house at the end of a peninsula, and then a further 8km to Kuruoz. After the previous nights jaunt we left somewhat earlier at 10:30ish. Again we had difficulty leaving town, taking the scenic route and wasting maybe 20 mins. In her book, 'The Lycian Way', Kate Clow describes the landscape after leaving town as 'confused limestone with scattered apple trees'. Neither Tyler nor myself were real sure what apple trees look like, but the whole day could have been described as confused limestone. We wandered up this grassy slope about 50m wide and 500m long. It was covered with scattered limestone, and wall after wall after wall had been built with apple trees everywhere. We kept climbing despite not seeing the red & white and eventually lost lost sight of any form of track. We consulted the map, insulted Kate Clow and headed cross country with a south bearing hoping we'd hit the 'trail'. We followed a track and then miraculously popped out on a road bearing the stripes. We came upon a ghost town of a holiday ranch with camels roaming about. It was a pretty good surprise, and considering the trail goes straight through we were surprised it didn't get a mention. From here the trail went up and up and up over multiple scree slopes with beautiful views over the harbour of Adrasan. We eventually reached a 470m saddle, to find it descend steeply and rockily again. It then cruised through a rocky reasonably level pine forest before shooting up again really steeply. I can't remember all the detail but we crossed scree, traversed steep rocky outcrops, the rocks were razor sharp and hurt to walk on in shoes. There were some of the most amazing tree filled meadows I've ever seen but I can completely understand from the rugged landscape why noone has ever built there. We eventually climbed another steep rocky slope to an altitude of 580 metres and then came back down to the light house. Not including our misadventures... it had taken 6 hours to travel 15 km. We had lunch at 5:20 at the lighthouse. My feet were aching and blistered in a big way. My knees hurt walking downhill, but my feet hurt all the time, and still do.
The path from the lighthouse looked like a regular mountain biking track so we set out and made pretty good time to a gravel road about 2km away arriving just on dark. The last 6km were mind screwing pain. We eventually arrived in Kuruoz to find holiday villas and pensiyons, but being the off season nothing was open. We walked for another 20 minutes through town to a tea house/bar/shed with blokes playing cards and collapsed at a table. They called a pansiyon and the owners picked us up. It was dodgy and expensive. I was happy to be able to sit down and finally rest but Tyler was pretty peeved with the price for what was on offer. I guess they can charge what they like when there's nothing else for us to choose from. I was impressed with the matching pink 'Princess Barbie' pillow cases, and the fact we had to wander to another room for a hot shower.
Day 4.... Kuruoz to Antalya
I swore black and blue the previous night in the dark that there was no way in the world I'd walk today. We joked that Tyler could act like a Carpet Salesman, if there was an inkling of hope that I might walk he should try and wring me into it. He didn't even try this morning, and I wouldn't have had a bar of it. My feet were still in agony. We had a great brekky and Tyler set off while I the pansiyon owner took me to the market to get a taxi. Cos it's so far off the beaten track, you need to get a taxi 22km to Kumluca, before catching a Dolmus. I thought he'd said a taxi would cost $13 which I thought wasn't too bad, but then at the market they said $30. For prices here it seemed quite extravagant (4 or 5 nights accomodation in most places), so I said no and started walking. I took it pretty easy and thought 22km of bitumen would be pretty reasonable. Nothing drove past for probably 15 mins, and then a young bloke on a smallish motor bike pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted a lift to the next town about 15km away. My feet were sore by that stage so I jumped on, praying heaps that we wouldn't crash, wondering what it would be like crashing with a big backpack on and if my insurance would cover me, I doubt it would. He was good, sitting on about 40km/h around the winding hills. After about 3 - 5 mins we came up behind Tyler, and the rider pulled up. I jumped off thanking the rider, and started walking again with Tyler. After a km I was wondering why I hadn't learn the turkish phrase 'I don't know him, keep going?' Sore feet. Anyway, I put my puppy dog eyes to good effect and we eventually hitched a ride to Milevak with a gift of chocolate, caught a domus to Kumluca and bus to Antalya. All up it cost us $5.25 for the 100km trip from Milevak to Antalya. I'm glad to be back.