A steep hike with a beautiful view

First of all, thank you so much for your supportive comments here, on our facebook page, and on our MeWe page regarding the passing of Ruth's father. It means a lot to us.

On Saturday, we decided to go for a hike up in the hills of the national park behind where we are staying. There is no official access to the park at this point... it's simply a bunch of old dirt roads and paths, and in fact we're not even certain that where we were is part of the actual park because there are no marked boundaries at that part.

We went outside to put our shoes on. Here in Turkey, they are very fussy about outdoor footwear being left outdoors. You do not enter your house or apartment with outdoor footwear still on your feet. So our hiking boots are always left just outside the door. We have found that our Airbnb rentals have often left us slippers for our use indoors.

We always shake out our boots just make make sure no creatures have made their way inside overnight! This time, there was a big beetle hiding underneath one of my boots.

Big beetle. He was about two inches.

We hiked up through the apartments complex on the side of the hill, and found the path that accesses the green space. Off in a far away field, we watched a fox in the distance. I zoomed in as best I could...

It looks like just a young one. 

We went around a corner that shows off a valley in behind where there was a lot of beekeeping going on.

Hundreds of beehives in the distance.

We got to an intersection where we weren't sure which way to go. We chose the route going up a steep hill, but eventually what looked like some kind of road just disappeared. There was a sort of a path going up further, but it looked like it was just used by goats. Eventually it disappeared too, and we were just scrambling up rocks to get to the top.

You can tell how steep it is!

I took a video of Ruth as we were nearing the top...

We usually find it tougher going down steep sections than going up, so we were a little worried about that. But we found a little bit of an easier route on the other side. It took us through an area that looked like it might be private land, and we heard some dogs barking that might give us a problem... but we carried on.

Heading back down the other side.

This is the hill we climbed. It was more difficult than it looks!

We came across some sheep and there was a big dog guarding them. We kind of startled him, and he didn't look very friendly. We both picked up rocks in case he came our way, but he just growled and barked and looked mean. 

We came across another group of sheep, and this time there were three big dogs.

This time, we stopped because they were all three right in front of us blocking the way we wanted to go. Two of them didn't look overjoyed to see us, but the third one came running up with tail wagging, happy as can be. The other two slowly came our way, but not aggressively. 

The first one was coming towards us submissively. 

The other two we weren't so sure.

It turned out that all three were fine.

By the time we made it back to the apartment, we had done 7.1 kms (4.4 miles). Not as long as we thought, but the steep uphill part made it feel longer than it was. Not bad... we enjoyed our day!

Today (Sunday) we are going to another local weekly market to stock up on fruits and veggies. Then into the cruise ship port of Kuşadası just to have a look around.

We have now walked a total distance of 232.2 kms (144.0 miles) in Turkey. 

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Record low deal on the Coleman Extreme 70 Quart Cooler.

And in Canada...

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