Lycian Way Day 7: Kalkan to Campsite in the mountains Waaay up above Bogazcik Adask

Kalkan to Campsite in the mountains Waaay up above Bogazcik Adask

Starting km: 121

Finishing km: 141

Distance walked: 20km

Just a wonderful day all around.  Even though it started with a climb from just above sea level to 800m, it was cool, shady, on a not-too-steep trail and had expansive views back over Kalkan and the sea.

Up and over a saddle and down a 4WD road into the village of Bezirgan, which spread itself out in a timeless but comfortable fashion over a high mountain valley that looked just idyllic.  The men of the village were all sitting around drinking tea outside the town hall building. And as we were leaving, some Iz meleği (Turkish for trail angel!) had left a small pile of apples on top of a rock that I think only Lycian way hikers would have any reason to pass by.

More climbing back up out of the valley, then the one ever so slightly less than pleasant part of the day when we descended along an arterial road (with very wide shoulders and not tons of traffic thankfully).  But after that we went up again, and into a magical landscape of eroded limestone hills and huge boulders. It reminded me a little of Castle Hill back in NZ.

We would dearly have loved to stop there for the night, but we needed a few more kilometres to ensure we made it to the next resupply town in three days.  So on we went. And discovered that we'd returned to the tops of the maritime peaks with more fabulous views up and down the coastline (around 950m vertically below, but close enough that you might still be able to roll and bounce your way into the water if you put your head [and rest of your body] to it).

We finished our day's walk nice and early, just before 15:00, which gave us some time to just sit and relax at our camp for the night, a nice flat, soft spot at the high end of a (now.vacated for the season) summer pasture.

Overall there wasn't anything really spectacular today, but it was all just so pleasant that it was one of my favourite days of the walk so far.  Sarah's heel went okay too, and it's looking like it'll be good as new in no time.