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2nd December, 2019

• Day 23: Adrasan to Karaöz
• Distance: 20.3km
• Ascent / Descent: 790m / 790m
• Weather: sunny, 16 degrees C
• Accommodation: Öz Likya Restaurant & Pansiyon, ₺140pp including dinner
• Total cost for one (Turkish Lira ₺): accommodation and dinner 140 = ₺140 (~£18 / €21 / US$24)

Thankfully we wake to sunshine and blue skies. We take our time and have a leisurely breakfast, which is a nice change from usually stuffing food into my mouth while walking! It’s a strategic move – we want the sun to dry out the trail.

It’s 10am by the time we start and I’m looking forward to reaching this infamous lighthouse that we had to skip six days ago because of a storm. Apparently the trail on this side of the lighthouse is rugged, but after we pass it, it’s an easy forest track… I’ll believe it when I see it, but that’s certainly what I’m hoping for 🙂

The weather couldn’t be more perfect for our last day and our spirits are high. We are climbing and the trail is rocky but it’s somewhat easier knowing that this is it and tomorrow we don’t have to wake up and traverse the rugged trails of the Lycian Way. Not to get ahead of ourselves though, I’m consciously watching every step – this is no time to lose concentration and fall!

After 4.5 hours and 12km we reach the Gelidonya Lighthouse. It would be a great place to camp but the day is still young so we’ll continue on… after a leisurely lunch on one of the benches. We take our packs off and high-five each other then breathe a long sigh of relief. We know we still have 8km to get to the next village, but this feels more like the end. And what a view to end the Lycian Way with!

While foraging through our food-bags for the last time we’re surprised to hear voices and they’re getting closer. Over the next 1.5 hours I count at least 10 people who’ve come to picnic at the lighthouse and none of them are sweating like we were when we arrived. None of them are even wearing hiking shoes… is there a carpark nearby?

There’s no carpark but there is a delightful, easy forest trail which soon reaches a forest road and we fly the remaining 8km to Karaöz. We arrive just in time to watch the sun finally set on our Lycian Way adventure.

We head to the nearby restaurant (the one we warmed up in and charged our electronics at a few days earlier) and toast the Lycian Way with a glass of Likya wine. The same waiter who was ever so helpful the other day, is just as helpful when we ask how to get from here back to Fethiye (to pick up the carry-on bag before flying to Istanbul for a few days). The next bus is tomorrow morning at 7:30am but the restaurant has a small bungalow room out the back which he says is available if we want to stay. Deal. We have dinner, maybe another glass of wine and finally relax.

I’m relieved that it’s over, grateful that Sarah said yes to coming along, thankful my body held out and triumphant that the Lycian Way didn’t break either of us, although it was a constant daily battle!

Each day we asked each other, ‘who would you recommend this to?’ And seriously, everyday we said the same, we wouldn’t recommend it to friends and family for fear someone would get hurt or people with vertigo and definitely wouldn’t recommend anyone to do it solo, in case of injury. Now this of course is all relative and based on our experience of hiking in Nov/Dec with full camping gear, limited water along the trail, stinking hot November days, stormy days that cancelled our plans, cold showers or no showers (10 days) etc…

I would recommend doing snippets of the trail, maybe a week or so where you stay in accommodation and don’t have to carry a heavy pack + litres of water. Some days the waymarks were non-existent and we had to rely solely on the GPS track, and most days it was a combination of waymarks, cairns and GPS. Even so, we still got lost on a number of occasions or followed the wrong waymarks. Have you heard of Type 2 fun? I’d say this trail is Type 5, but with lovely views 😉

We’re using Komoot* for navigation and to record our own tracks. Prior to departing the UK we uploaded the GPX tracks to Komoot so we can now use them for navigation (with voice commands). We’re also using Komoot to record our own daily tracks which gives us the above maps, elevation profiles, distance, speed etc. You can find our collection of tracks on the Komoot App by searching ToughGirl for Sarah and followingthearrows for me. Or click the link in the caption on the above map to go straight to the track.

*Komoot premium was gifted and we also received sponsorship for this hike.

To see Sarah’s vlogs of our Lycian Way hike, click here. You can also follow her on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and keep up to date with the Tough Girl podcasts here.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll add a FAQ post at the end of the trip.

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