It was time to tackle part of the mountain, and we decided to take on some of the downhill. Ramazan drove us up the mountain to Belos, but first it was a stop at the bakers and two huge sacks of bread was loaded into the car and then we were off on a terrifying drive. The mountain road zigzagged upwards with hairpin bends and the car with hardly enough grout to go up. Most of the road was only one lane wide with two way traffic and huge drop offs with no second chances. I was glad I was in the back seat and could hide my eyes at times especially when another car came towards us.
At one stage Ramazan stopped the car on a steep slope put on the handbrake and jumped out to talk to a shepherd and give him some bread. I immediately thought that if I so much as feel the car roll 1 cm I’m jumping out. Next we stopped at another shepherd and his wife who was pulling water from the well for the goats. More bread delivered. Then a lot of tooting at a house but no one came out and then a final stop at a farm house. Ramazan was to deliver bread to that house but also told us we had a 2.5km walk up the track to Belos. Off we went. The track was much the same as we had experienced, rocky in part, slippery shale, and sloping rocks. It wasn’t however very steep, but it was up. The views were incredible and no photo could really give the perspective of how high we were- over 3,000 feet.
We found the ruins and had a look around and through the trees could see another goat heard and shepherd family and dwelling. I couldn’t help thinking that all the shepherds are old and what happens when either husband or wife gets ill or injured. I doubt there would be a lot of health care despite the new hospital in town.
After a break we turned around and headed back down, going through the farmhouse where we had started and watching the lady put out some chaff in troughs for the sheep but they didn’t seem all that interested. Then we started on down the road. A motorbike stopped to pick up a load of almonds from the side of the road and tried to offer to call us a taxi. He tried google translate but thought we were Russian. Another car also stopped to offer us a lift. We got as far as the well where we had seen the lady drawing water and had out ‘packet lunch’. Ramazan had wrapped up in newspaper, a boiled egg, a cooked potato, a tomato, a cucumber, an apple and half a bread loaf – each. Oh and a bag of salt. In the end we left the apples, a cucumber and the salt by the well, hoping that the shepherd or a walker would find it, before the ants. We spent considerable time watching the ants marching home with our breadcrumbs.
We had to make the decision at this point- road or trail, both about another 4km to town. We opted for the road as we had spied the track and it seemed much of the same. At times it was a regrettable decision as the downhill slope on the road was very steep, very constant and hell on the thighs and toenails.
Eventually after a few breaks we made it to town and in our search for coffee found a restaurant near the bakers shop selling desserts. We shared a baked rice pudding and a carrot and pistachio cake. Yummo. We walked through the town which is very dirty and dusty mainly due to the huge amounts of construction going on. There is another two kms between town and our guesthouse, but thankfully Ramazan was driving by and picked us up with about one kilometre to go.
Tonight’s dinner was green beans, followed by capsicums stuffed with rice and meat, followed by a donut type ball covered in honey syrup
Our bags are packed as it will be a long day tomorrow. 29km but the first 12kms or so are on a flat footpath alongside a 4 lane highway. Ramazan has suggested he drive us that section and drop us off where the trail goes off along the rocky coastline. Sounds like a plan.
Jane treks Lycian Way 2022 