Lessons from the Trail

My campsites

Keep your distance... down

While walking at one's own pace is obviously critical, a separate question is “How far per day should I plan for?”. In this terrain and with the rough uneven track surface 15km per day is a very comfortable distance. At this average the trail length (let’s call it 435km) makes this 29 days. In fact I did it in 27. My two pairs of rest days (at Kaş and Çirali) broke it comfortably into three slightly unequal sections.

The trick is to avoid being overly ambitious at the start and work up to a sustainable pace. There was only one long flat day (after Finike) which many people skip. However it was strangely restful to be on a flat smooth surface for  a few hours, though I was glad to get back onto more interesting terrain afterwards.

Tarptent Contrail

Do you have Perfect Pitch?
Once again I used my Tarptent Contrail (about 800g including 8 pegs). It is not a freestanding tent, and uses one trekking pole. It requires a minimum of four good pegs securely in the ground. As it happened I had no difficulty finding good camping spots. And there’s certainly no shortage of rocks for hammers.

From long experience I already knew to put up my tent properly every time, which includes all the 5-6 extra guys and pegs. And generally I do do this. However one particular night (just past Demre) This lesson was really hammered home.

I pitched the tent on a lovely flat dry area, shielded from the wind, under seemingly clear skies. Just after I’d finished the rain started and did not let up for 9 hours. Not only was I dry and comfortable within, but able to fill up my water supply from the runoff.

Each tent will have its pitching quirks, but the key thing is to know what these are and practice pitching it consistently well. 

There was one beach where I decided that I couldn’t camp simply because it was too sandy (and I wasn’t carrying my wide stakes). So I relocated higher up on firmer ground.

Time for Tea

I find it good to avoid too strict an adherence to a plan or schedule. Especially when it comes to food. Basically I took every opportunity that came my way to have meals or tea breaks whenever they presented themselves. 

Sometimes I was invited to share a picnic with a family or drink tea with a group of men by the roadside. Sometimes small markets appeared where I could get a drink of Ayran (a delicious non-sweet yogurt drink - a salt lassi in effect) and maybe top up something I needed. 

And while it was good to be well prepared with information (locations for water, camping spots and shops) it was really only necessary to think about where to stop for the night in the early afternoon and based on that to pick where to get water for the night. 

This way unexpected and delightful encounters have the space to happen. And with a people as welcoming and generous as the Turks it’s good to be open to that.

Walk the dog 
This was a new and entirely unexpected aspect of this walk. Ten days is a good length of time to get to know a dog and see how they operate and interact with yourself, other people and other dogs. It was fascinating. And while I don’t own a dog myself, I do now really understand why people hike with them. It felt quite a privilege to be brought under the protection of such a loyal and fierce guardian.

One tip
You can’t force dogs to drink when they don’t want to. And you can’t successfully tell them “Hey, there’s no water for the next four hours”. However with just a spare plastic bag and a few small rocks I could fashion a dog bowl. But it means on a hot day you need to carry a half litre water bottle extra for them.

Echo... echo... echo
If you are lucky you may be in just the right place to hear the Muezzin's Adhan (Call to Prayer) passing from one mosque to another in the hills. And what was so magic were the carefully timed pauses to allow for the echo off the cliffs. Haunting and beautiful.