Kaleköy trailhead to Çayağzı | 14.3km
Another great night's sleep at an overnight free pitch outside Uçağız and just shy of the Kalekoy trailhead. Up with the sun, breakfasted and packed, I started off on the day's short ~13km route to the commercial Andriake campsite at the south-eastern end of Çayağzı beach.
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| Previous night's meal cooked on an open fire: breem baked with onion and wild sage, baked potato with yoghurt, baked aubergine and fresh village bread. Plus three cans of Efes malt to wash it all down :) |
The sun was hidden behind a thin layer of cloud throughout the day so the going felt easier but the high humidity soon had me exhausted and sweating heavily and it ended up being a tough day of walking. The initial half of the walk was on easy terrain: undulating gravel roads and packed red mud paths with the usual scattering of stones and occasional boulder obstacles.
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| Kaleköy shipyard, just before the trailhead |
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| Easy terrain for the first 6km |
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| Ottoman hill fort |
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| Fast, easy trails |
The route curved around Gökkaya Bay, where numerous tourish boats were anchored just offshore for swimming.
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| Gökkaya Bay |
The Smuggler's Inn at Gökkaya was empty so I helped myself to a glass of coke, left a note with some cash and gave one of my cans of tuna to the resident cat.
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| Smuggler's Inn |
The second half of the route was more technical and wound around the rocky shoreline, over Cakil Beach that was littered with the debris from fleeing Syrian refugees, along a rocky path and onto sandy Çayağzı beach.
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| Second leg of the day's journey; final destiation Çayağzı in the distance |
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| Trail drop-in onto Cakil Beach |
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| Picturesque coves |
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| Rickety bridge onto Çayağzı beach |
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| Çayağzı port & boatyard |
I pitched up for the night at Andriake Campsite with shady pitches, electricity, hot showers, European style toilets. TL30 per night per tent, full dinner TL20-35, breakfast TL15, beers TL10 but an amply stocked off-licence just down the road. There was a big party of mixed country foreign students camping as part of an EU initiative called Lycian Pathfinders - Creactive (creative & active lol) Lycian Youth and the evening was spent drinking with a few of them and a couple of German dudes hiking towards Antalya with heavy packs but great kit (MSR tent etc.)
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| Pitched at Andriaki Campsite |
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| Well equipped German dudes with heavy pack weights |
The dilemma I face now is whether or not I should bail on my Lycian Adventure at Demre or continue my push onto Antalya. Demre is a good place to get a bus to Antalya... On the one hand the rocky trails have become dull plus the heat and the difficult terrain means the journey is taking longer than I expected (so will be more like 3-4 weeks walking instead of the initial 2-3 I estimated) and this may be an issue for work who have already been very accommodating. My kids are missing me and I'm missing them. The next stage is off-grid for 2-3 days and weather may be inclement. Also some of my kit is turning out to be less than suitable for long distance walking (more about that in the debrief and reflection notes when I finish). On the flip side, I set out to do the whole walk and I'll be disappointed in myself if I don't complete it. I'm not sure if, or when, the opportunity will arise for me to pick up where I left off and finish the Lycian Way if I do quit now. I need to make a final decision before I get to Demre.
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