The Lycian Way is a 540 km (335 mile) long hiking trail along the southern coast of Turkey between Fethiye and Antalya. It is internationally recognized as one of the world's top long distance trails.
It normally takes people about 30 days to hike the entire route. We had thought about it, but we don't have all the right gear and so we would have had to pay a company to bring our bags from one overnight stop to the next. Also, we have no ambition to be out hiking in bad weather, and rainy season (although apparently a bit late getting started this year) is just around the corner.
Instead, we are going to do sections of it over the next 30 days while driving to various points along the route and just doing day hikes. Yesterday, we did the first section.
At the start of the Lycian Way.
There is a parking area at the start because it is a popular day hike. There were a couple of vans there from a Bulgarian tour company and a group of about 7 people who were just setting off to do a multi day hike. Also a young German fellow on his own who offered to take our photo.
We didn't have a plan as to how far we were going to go, but we were well prepared with a lunch and fruit and snacks and water. So off we went.
It didn't take long and we had some beautiful views above Ölüdeniz.
Ölüdeniz Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Turkey.
The Lycian Way.
This is the view you see for quite a bit of this section of the trail.
Me!
The day was perfect.
Sunshine, blue skies, no wind, and a temperature of about 20C (68F). Perfect hiking weather.
Heading higher.
Eventually, the trail goes inland and through a couple of small villages.
Scenery along the way.
Funny looking goat.
We had our lunch at a nice viewpoint, and then turned around and headed back. That is the only problem with doing day hikes along this trail... you are pretty much stuck returning the way you came.
The view where we sat and had our lunch.
We were gone for almost four hours and twenty minutes and did 15.3 kms (9.5 miles) with a 1,600' elevation gain. Not bad.
If that hike was any indication, we are going to love the next two weeks. Today is moving day and we are headed to the outskirts of the seaside town of Kaş for a two week stay. Kaş is located along the route of the Lycian Way, so we will be doing lots of day hikes over the next two weeks!
We have now walked a total distance of 293.2 kms (181.8 miles) in Turkey.
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And in Canada...
Wow! What spectacular views! Glad to see you both are still on the move and doing great, always enjoy your posts! I'm sure there are many people living vicariously through you two... especially now, keep it up and stay safe!
ReplyDeleteMatthew Gates
Nova Scotia
Absolutely gorgeous views from this first section of the Lycian Way. We are really looking forward to seeing what views await us on other sections of the trail.
DeleteWe are still on the move and having a wonderful time. We are really enjoying Turkey, it has certainly surpassed our expectations. :-)
We have done a similar thing with a coastal path in Queensland.Effectively walking it twice as we did sections then doubled back to the van
ReplyDeleteYep, we were saying the same thing when we were hiking on the trail! :-)
DeleteBeautiful scenery, love it
ReplyDeleteThe views from the trail were amazing. We are looking forward to seeing what some of our views will be like from other sections of the trail. :-)
DeleteWhat a gorgeous hike! Looks like an amazing trail...glad you'll get to do portions of it. Hoping the dry weather holds for you.
ReplyDeleteIt was a gorgeous hike and the fact that we had it all to ourselves and perfect weather was the icing on the cake! We are so looking forward to doing other sections of the trail, fingers crossed that the weather will cooperate for us.
DeleteBagging the mighty Kilimanjaro peak would surly be a feather in any ones cap. It's a peak I'd of liked to have scaled. But alas my time window has come and gone. Would be great for the blog readers like myself, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteIt sure would be! I have no doubt that it would be a great read for everyone. We will see, we are still having troubles trying to wrap our heads around the kind of money that is involved in a trip like that but now is also the time to do it because there would be far less people doing the hike at the moment.
DeleteBeautiful scenery! Looks like you 2 were climbing upwards. Peace, Rawn Stone
ReplyDeleteYep, we did a lot of uphill climbing on this hike!
DeleteOmg what beautiful views. I have a totally different view of Turkey thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteThe views were absolutely stunning, so looking forward to what more of this trail has to offer.
DeleteWe hope that you now have Turkey high on your list of places to visit, you won't be disappointed. :-)
Love the views. I am losing weight hiking along in the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe view from up there was fantastic!
DeleteLol, glad that we could help you out with that! :-P