Re-waymarking the Lycian Way – latest news

To keep the Lycian Way in line with the new book (published June 2014), over the last few months we have undertaken a huge waymarking effort on the route. It’s not perfect, but certainly much improved.

>>SIGNPOSTS – FOR THE MOMENT, THE SIGNPOSTS DO NOT CORRESPOND WITH THE CHANGES IN THE ROUTE – IGNORE THEM!!!<<

Here are some important changes:

– between Akbel and Patara – reroute below Delikkemer to keep two parts of the route apart. Reroute on the difficult section between Delikkemer and Kalkan by the sea route. Reroute on Delikkemer to Patara by the sea route (off the dirt road). (Thanks Bekir, Flower Pension, Patara)

– between Bezirgan and Sarıbelen – re-route to avoid steep hillside. (Thanks, Tim, Moonstone Pension, Sarıbelen)

– Above Kalkan – route now leaves Kalkan on the pedestrian footbridge over the main road and climbs through olive trees to the pylon on the hilltop. Avoids 2km walking on main road.

– Gökçeören – reroute past Yeşil pension to avoid 3km on the dirt road. Plus remarking all around Phellos. (Thanks, Hüseyin, Yeşil Pension) – tree cutting on the track around the head of the Dereköy valley between Eren T. and Phellos has just destroyed waymarks and made the route difficult to follow (dec 2014).

– Üçağız near boathouse – minor reroute to a better path. (Thanks, Ramazan)

– Andriake footbridge – Trysa – a new, but historical, route into the Demre Gorge avoiding Demre and the greenhouses. (Thanks, Barış and Mustafa, Andriake Camping)

– Belen village to Finike – repairs after tree-cutting; diversion onto the Roman road; remarking in the stream and down to Finike.

– Gavur Yolu to Belören – reroute over the hill past Asarbelen ruins to avoid 2km on the asphalt.

– Karaöz to lighthouse – reroute off the dirt road in 3 places. Repairs due to fire damage at Adrasan.

– Ulupınar to Beycik – remarking and repairs – the villagers keep altering the way marks!!! (Thanks, Andrew and Fay)

– Çıralı – Tekirova – complete reroute inland from Maden beach to the bridge in the centre of Tekirova. Lovely old mining trail which avoids lots of km on the dirt road. The continuation over the bridge to Sundance has also been remarked and the Sundance bridge repaired. Lots of rubbish in this area – seems to have been dumped by the Rixos hotel people. (Thanks, Andrew, Joseph and the volunteer group, and Ömer and the Kemer Kaymakam)

– Gedelme – Meşe Çükürü – minor reroute on a nice path to avoid 1km of asphalt. (Thanks, Şevket at the Caner Restaurant)

– Hisarçandır – Geyikbayırı – 2 additional days walking over a pass, past the ruins at Trebenna and ending at the climbing walls at Geyikbayırı. (Thanks Gökhan, Joseph and the volunteers and Jack and Hannah)

Thanks also to Anella and Kevin, who worked on lots of different areas on the route. Thanks to Nihat for work on the Fethiye end. Thanks to my dogs, Soul and Blues, who are very old now but still enjoy trail-fnding (although they sleep a lot afterwards). As you can see, lots of effort by many people over a wide area is required to keep the route up to date. Hope the trekkers appreciate them as much as I do.

REMEMBER – we are not allowed to mark within historic sites – Patara, Xanthos, Olympos, Phaselis, etc. Here, you have to use the signposts and the instructions in the book.

Finally, congrats to Dave and Mary, from Australia, who just completed the whole route. Kate