Blogger news


Sunday, August 8, 2010

Prepare

You may consider bringing in:

Maps— Maps, usually available with some guidebooks, may be useful for spotting the water sources at least, but they are not absolute necessities to follow the trail as waymarks are sufficient to do that. Some maps, with varying degrees of detail, can also be found online for free.

Tent and camping gear— While you'll find some kind of accommodation (mostly family-run guesthouses) in some villages (usually separated from each other by a distance of average daily walk) along most of the route, there are some sections where wild camping is your only choice for two nights on a row. Even if you don't plan to hike such a section, camping is a great way to reduce your accommodation costs and having camping gear at hand gives much more freedom: Who wants to walk the further 5 km to the guesthouse you plan to overnight while you are totally exhausted and are standing against a gorgeous view? But this choice, of course, has a toll: The lighter the backpack, the happier you will be.



A torch— To have a torch or some other source of light is a must as no part of the trail, apart from those traversing the villages, is illimunated at night, and it quickly becomes a nightmare to follow the waymarks once the night sets.

A phrasebook— Bring in a Turkish phrasebook as the trail goes through really remote mountain hamlets and most villages along the route hardly sees any non-locals, let alone foreigners, other than the hikers - although sometimes only a few km (and a good deal of elevation) separates these remote villages from mass tourism.



Bottles and bottles of water— Hot and dry Mediterranean climate reigns the area, and you'll need lots of water. If it's summer, be ready to walk under the scorching sun for 3-4 hours straight without ever seeing a source of water in some sections of the trail.

No comments:

Post a Comment