It’s All Patched Up

The now familiar call to prayer had us awake at 550, ready to face the challenges of what looked like a tough Day 1 to Kabak.

The now familiar breakfast, taken with a little less eagerness fuelled us up.

Unfortunately our host forgot to pick us up and it was nearly 945 before we arrived at the gates to the walk.

The air was full of hang gliders and little did we know we would be up amongst them in a few hours.

The track signage wasn’t great and no amount of training could have prepared us for the first leg of walk.

A snaking, steep and rocky track, sometimes only a metre wide and in one place supported by a tree branch after erosion had eaten it away, took us up to 800 metres. If only we had jumped aboard the chairlift we passed under early in proceedings.

Whilst the climb was tough the scenery all the way up was amazing with the coastline dotted with resorts and strings of sailing boats. From on high it didn’t appear many were swimming.

Doof  Doof music floated up to the top of the hill and we could hear conversation of hang glider pilots and almost touch them.

The distractions did not take away the difficulty of the track and there were frequent stops to catch one’s breath and take a drink.

There were not many people heading up who passed us, but it was like Pitt St coming down with loads of fit youngsters springing down the hill.

The surrounding mountains steepled up into the sky and there was still plenty of evidence of the earthquake in 50’s with huge areas of scree and tumble down boulders sitting above newly constructed houses.

Teaching  the top was a relief but not a respite as we soon tramped uphill on dirt roads. It was extremely difficult to maintain your rhythm.

We finally found a downhill section albeit rocky which led down onto road – hallelujah flat road. 

We then fell victim to the guide book which took us off the tarmac and onto an old track littered with fallen power poles-  who knows what caused them to fall, but they made progress difficult. The final

Uphill stretch of about 300 metres on a 1:3 gradient was nigh on impossible with little or no footholds.  The galling part was it popped out onto the road we deviated from. 

This first day is probably the toughest Day 1 of any walk we have done.

Back on the road and passed 30 kids of the goat variety coming unescorted up the hill.

After some solid downhill walking we reached the halfway point of today and squatted for lunch with a couple from Israel who were walking various segments of the Lycian Way.

Our spirit of excitement was lifted when we saw the last part to our next landmark was all downhill. They were shattered when after 100 metres it was back onto steep and rocky descents for about 3 kilometres.

It was 240 and with 3-4 hours of walking left and our spirits and physical condition waning we decided to bus for the last bit to Kabak.

Local bus arrived in 30 minutes and with help of a friendly local ended up at our hotel – a no kids joint with sensational views, a pool and cute wooden bungalows as accommodation. They must have known something about our trip to Versailles because we had a 4 poster bed with the attendant curtains.

Jane whizzed down to do some washing and I managed to take a tumble getting out of spa bath on a slippery floor.

Banged a few body parts and ended up with a 20-30cm cut in my knee.

Jane applied first aid and can only hope it gets better quickly and the Steristrips and tape keep it all together. If they don’t tomorrow might be a day at the beach and a cab to the accommodation.

Had a sumptuous Turkish feast for dinner next to a tour group of 14 women doing a laid back version of the walk for 4 days.

Let’s hope tomorrow brings brighter things.