It was a long day scheduled for the walk from Finike to Karaoz but the first 10-12 kms was on a footpath alongside a 4 lane highway. Ramazan suggested that he drive us to where the trail left the highway and he didn’t need to ask me twice. He dropped us off and the rest of the way was on country roads which were mainly sealed. Most of it was fairly flat and went through the usual hundreds of hothouses. It was very quiet except for the vehicles on the road. There is never much noise coming from the hothouses, but you can see lots of people working in them. It’s never ending hothouses and never ending rubbish on the road. It seems that the council bins ( which don’t seem to be collected too often) are for domestic rubbish only. There does not seem to be any dump for industrial waste. The roadsides are littered with piles of bailing twine (it’s used to string up all the individual plants and is not recycled), sheets of plastic that have fallen off the hothouses, plastic seedling trays, stacking boxes, poly pipes, broken pallets, etc. Then the next big ticket items is plastic water bottles, plastic bags and cigarette packages. It seems most men and lots of women and young people smoke. Some people have salvaged some plastic sheeting to make a carport for their cars or a cover for their Woodstock or even a new porch or additional room for their house. We passed a home with lots of kids and really primitive conditions – we assumed it was a gypsy house. All the way the mosques loud speakers were interrupting the mornings activities. It was not the usual call for prayer, but instead sometimes a women and often a man speaking. We had heard it the day before and asked Ramazan. He explained that it was ‘education’. There are 85-90,000 mosques in Turkey and 55,000 school. The strict muslims do not believe in sending their kids to school, the state is happy if they get their education from the mosque.
One hothouse we walked by was different in that it was a very clean plot with no rubbish and the owner was burning the rubbish and tidying up. We walked about 75 mts past and the Jendarma (police) came rushing by with flashing lights and after much yelling and commotion the man was ordered to get a bucket and put his fire out.
The last bit of walking into Karaoz was on a winding coastal road with lots of pine trees and eucalyptus trees. We passed by some lovely beaches and camping grounds, a little harbour and made it into town for lunch as a beachside restaurant. I had the best grilled fish on tour so far.
On our way to the pension we walked by a cafe where there were about 30 men sitting at tables playing a game with tiles. Later on we noticed another couple of cafes with the same set up. After finding our pension we walked back to the beach and were able to use the local jetty with ladder to get into the water. Once again good clear warm water but we could see that a storm was brewing, so didn’t stay long. We had dinner on the terrace and as soon as we got to bed the lightening, thunder and rain started and didn’t ease off until close to dawn.
We had ordered an early breakfast at 7am as it was to be a 28 km walk taking 9-10 hours. We were going to shorten it by getting a 5km ride to the light house, but after the rain it was decided that we would be better off walking the road. The coastal path beyond the lighthouse was rocky and slippery at the best of times, with boulder and rock scrambling and after the rain it was considered dangerous. We were happy to take the road. It was a reasonably steep uphill for about two hours but it was a quiet road and wound it’s way up through a forest. We rested at the top and then it was downhill all the way to town.
At one stage we passed a farm house that had two huge vicious dogs that were showing claws and teeth. The owner managed to control one but not the other and I was praying that the fence would hold him. He had his paws on the top of the wire mesh fence but I knew that my walking pole would not be much of a weapon. It really gave us a fright and we both sat down and regrouped around the corner.
About 3 kms from town we were following our ‘alternate route’ which took us through someone’s orchard. The rain had made the track really muddy and our boots were an inch higher with a layer of mud on the bottom. We also had to step over 2 electric fences. We of course weren’t sure about anything but the GPS told us we were on the track so we persevered and eventually came out on a road along a river. On the river are built restaurants and hotels. They actually have tables and chairs built on platforms in the water, and on the other side of the road is just wall to wall camping grounds and small gozleme and tea outlets. Our hotel was on the beach another km on from where the river met the see. It’s a long brown sand and pebble beach. As we walked along the foreshore 3 men were fishing where the little stream entered the sea and there was a bit of commotion so we watched and then realised that one took a great run up to jump to the other side where his mates were – he didn’t make it and ended up falling in the water (which was only about knee deep). We laughed and gave him a cheer. He wasn’t happy but his mates joined in our cheering. We got our lunch at a pastry shop that actually sold real coffee – not Turkish coffee and not instant coffee. It was our first since Paris.
Our hotel is a converted container, but it’s wide enough for both of us to get out of bed on the sides. The last 4-5 nights I’ve been jammed up against the wall. It also has a great shower which has a screen and you don’t have to worry about the toilet paper getting wet. We celebrated our good fortune by going out and finding a bar that serves alcohol and had a few gin and tonics while it rained again. Soon we saw a tractor coming down the road dragging an old trailer. A young boy was in the trailer yelling but the two men on the tractor were not paying any attention. We saw the men earlier, at one stage they were drinking beer at another stage drinking red wine out of a coke bottle. Anyway the trailer just broke off the struts holding it onto the tractor. Cars banked up both ways. The trailer was full of old stones and roofing tiles. Everyone just laughed and no one was about to help as it was raining and I’m not sure the tractor owner was all that popular. Eventually the cars drivers who were banked up got out and helped push the trailer to the side of the road. It’s still there today and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.
Today has been a rest day. Danny has had a swim but said the water is not that great. It seems sandy beaches Renault in murky water. Today we watched as two navy boats came into the bay. One large and one smaller. They just sailed across and around the bay for a few hours. No one seemed fussed, so I guess it just must have been an exercise of some sort. It rained again last night and again this evening. We are feeling sorry for those out camping on the trail. We have seen 3 individual young men who have all said they have had wet nights and all their gear is wet. Hopefully tomorrow is due to be dry again with thunderstorms the next day. That’s the day we start the slog up our last big mountain range. We are on the home stretch.
Once again the internet is too weak to load photos
Jane treks Lycian Way 2022 