Ovacık to Faralya

I was hoping to make an early start and pick up a nice fresh gözleme or börek on the way to the dolmuş stop. They leave literally every ten minutes, so I wasn’t too fussed when I missed one while I went to the bakery. I ended up having two ‘cheese’ poaça instead of what I’d been hoping for – everything else was shut. The dolmuş takes just about half an hour to get to the trailhead (YTL2.50) . Note that the Lycian Way sign is partly obscured by the ‘Sultan Motel’ sign. Also, it is only visible from the road as you go towards Ölüdeniz. The Sultan would be a brilliant place to spend the night before setting off, but an English couple I met a little later told me it was a bit pricey – I think they said €30 each or something. Ovacık looks like a happening touristy village, with plenty of banks, restaurants, bars, pharmacies, etc. Much bigger than I’d expected.

Anyway, I ended up setting off on my big Lycian Way adventure at about 8:30 on the Monday morning. The starting point is at about 250m. I intended to keep detailed notes and check GPS readings and so forth, but it was all I could do to keep up with the people I was trying to walk with and my resolve quickly dissipated. Most of the elevations are from the altimetre, which I no longer trust very much, as it tends to differ from the GPS altitude and seems to be off every time I get to sea level. Presumably this is due to changes in the weather. So, they could be off by up to about 30m one way or the other.

I did make a note of an undocumented stile less than an hour up the trail at about 323m (36 32.689N/20 08.067E). It was at this point that the English couple who had stayed at the Sultan overtook me.

There is considerable roadwork and new construction at Kozağaç, the high point of the stage from Ovacık to Faralya at 743m (36 31.721/29 08.794), which I reached about 10:50. There a young Belgian couple and Hasan, of George House, caught up with me. Hasan had some spray paint and refreshed some of the blazes. He said he had never walked the route before, but also painted some new blazes. The English couple later told me they thought that the trail actually crossed a field below the road and Hasan had erroneously marked a new trail along the road. Somewhat unconventionally, Hasan painted a number of red arrows, which I believe are on the actual trail and point towards Faralya. There may be other locals who are being helpful by refreshing or adding blazes or marking the trail as they see fit. Something to be aware of.

Anyway, following the road past Kozağaç, you come to a distinctive looking tree at a fork, where you have to bear right.

It is an easy walk and worth pressing on until you get to the lunch shed at Kirme at about 680m before stopping, as there is a good spring and shade there. I arrived at about 1310, but made the mistake of stopping at another spring just a hundred metres or so short of there to soak my hat and so forth.

The trail descends rather steeply from the lunch shed through Kirme village and a series of switchbacks and along a dry creekbed to Faralya which you enter at about 310m after perhaps half an hour. The first place you come to in Faralya is the restored mill. Joyce, a woman I met on the next stage, and three English blokes, Martin, Bob, and Dave, had stayed there. It cost them about €50 for a single, but they weren’t complaining, as the food and accommodation are apparently very good.

On the strength of the Lonely Planet recommendation and something I’d read on a site linked from the Trekking in Turkey site, as well as because I’d already made contact with Hasan, I bypassed all the alternatives and went straight to George House at about 270m. It’s supposed to be paradise, so I thought I’d have a rest day there. The last time they updated the website, in 2002 or something, they were charging in the vicinity of €2 per night. No longer. Now it is YTL22.50 per night for a bungalow, dinner, and breakfast. A bungalow has two mattresses on the floor and enough space at the end to get in and out of the door. There are four showers in the ablution block, two of which are also toilets. The first night I was there, there were about 35 people staying, so this was a bit of a problem. But the second night, with only four of us there, it was quite comfortable. You can camp on the grounds for free, but pay full price (YTL8) for meals. There is a pool, but I wasn’t even tempted. Breakfast is a normal Turkish breakfast of hardboiled egg, white cheese, bread, tomatoes, cucumber, yoghurt, honey, and jam. Apart from the cheese, I think they produce everything there themselves. I got the impression that there is one egg per person and the rest is more or less all you can eat.

The big attraction of George House, however, apart from the location, is dinner, comprising six or seven different scrumptious vegetarian dishes, which suited me perfectly, with bread, rice, bulgur, yoghurt, and honey. Tea and instant coffee are available pretty well all day from a vacuum flask for free. Any food you need during the day is a la carte. As I recollect, it was about YTL3 for a salad, yoghurt and honey or a plain omelette, and about YTL4 for menemen.

Right behind George House is the trail leading down to Kelebekler Vadısı ‘Butterfly Valley’. The guide books claim it’s slippery and dangerous and takes 45 minutes each way. The Belgian girl I met on the way said her boyfriend had descended in 17 minutes and came back in 22. As I was resting and it was not butterfly season, I didn’t see much point in doing it myself, but everyone else did and came back without looking too stressed, or even sweaty.

Another option in Faralya is Melissa’s Pansiyon. Nicole and Marleen, who I met in Alınca the next night, had stayed there and it sounded like a ripoff. Or at least they got ripped off.

Anyway, in strict accordance with my decision to have a rest day, I spent all day Tuesday virtually motionless. I had some conversations and gradually people left in ones and twos to catch the dolmuş back to Fethiye, and thence to the Dalaman airport.