The Lycian Way: Turkey's First Long Distance Walking Route 3rd edition by Clow, Kate (2009) Paperback

by Kate Clow

The Lycian Way, Turkey's first long-distance walk, celebrates its 10th birthday in 2009. This 500km coastal trail has risen from obscurity to international acclaim, featured in "Time" magazine and selected by the BBC as one of the world's 30 best walks. As the route matures, the walker profile is changing from dedicated backpacker to supported trekker, active holidaymaker and enthusiast for archeology and local culture. The route remains stunningly beautiful, snaking over the steep coastal cliffs, dipping to isolated beaches, climbing through cedar forest. This is the 2009, 3rd edition of the official route guide. The book contains detailed route and historical site descriptions, altitude profiles and a large detachable map. Route updates, downloadable GPS files, accommodation and transport information and links to firms providing holidays on the Lycian Way are all on the website.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[David Hunkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

By the time I was halfway done walking the Lycian Way, I had cursed Kate Clow; thrown her book across many ravines and roadbeds having given up trying to find the waypoints she described; and finally bought a German book covering the route. It was so much easier to follow the German directions, even though my German is pretty poor. Don't use this book to navigate the Lycian Way!

Oh, and definitely *do* hike the Lycian Way!

[Burcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s unquestionable that we owe a lot to Kate Clow for this beautiful route but compared to apps such as maps.me, and even the book’s own app, the directions in the book are too confusing (kept on referring to *a* house, *a* stone, the third green field...), directions should have been much more detailed or not there at all as it is nearly impossible to give detailed enough directions for such a long route and nothing would be as good as the apps. Additionally, though it is great that she gave information about every village or every single ruin on the way (some of the ruins were unknown to the locals who have been hiking around here all their lives), I would have loved to read about the stories of the people, or the mythological creatures that most of the ancient ruins are dedicated to. Thus, the fact that she made this route what it is, the extend that she covers every single ruin, village and etc. and her ever lasting work to preserve what the Turkish government failed to preserve is admirable (also the book is dedicated to those who lost their lives during Gezi). To sum up, buy this book to support a good cause and read it not to miss any ruins on the way but use apps for navigation.

[Linde Van Den Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldnt do it any better kate, go off queen

[Emin Yiğit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likya tarihi hakkında yazılanlar bilgilendirici olmasına karşın; adres ve rota yönlendirmeleri oldukça karışık ve anlaşılması güçtü. Likya Yolu işaretlerini kaybettiğimiz hiçbir noktada kitapta yazılanlar faydalı olmadı. Kitabın kendisi yerine sadece Likya Yolunu kapsayan bir harita gezginler için yeterli olacaktır.

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Після зустрічі з пані Кейт під час подорожі навесні 2021, я дуже хотіла прочитати цю легендарну книгу. Звісно, з сучасними технологіями набагато зручніше користуватися навігатором, але атмосфера подорожі узбережжям від одного античного міста до іншого насправді зачаровує. Також в книзі є невеликі історичні відомості, що тільки додає цікавості до маршруту.

Я двічі проходила західну частину стежки, але тепер хочу пройти її всю - від Фетхіє до самої Анталії ♡

[Kindra · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband and I used this guidebook to hike the entire Lycian Way start to finish, over the course of 39 days during late summer. It was useful for many things-history, landmarks, general guides for the trail, elevation, ideas of places to stay, etc. However we would have been totally lost had we not had a GPS with tracks preloaded on it. We found someone else's tracks they had posted, and downloaded them, initially as an insurance policy that in case we lost the book, or something about the trail had changed drastically, we could still find our way. After just the first day or two we were using the two simultaneously, checking both in uncertain moments on the trail.

It was an incredible experience, mostly goat trails, unbelievably up and down, and extremely rocky-I was regretting my choice to use minimalist shoes almost immediately-but boy we loved it! Although by the middle of the trek, we'd coined a term: "Classic Kate", which referred to a day of hiking that involved going up a hill, then down it, then up, then down again, repeating the up/down about 4 times, to reach a destination, instead of just going in the straight flat line across the coast to get there. It felt like if there was an opportunity to gain then lose elevation, she felt compelled to include it in the route.

Incidentally, we ran into a fellow trekker doing the whole thing, and he had done the Camino de Santiago, walked the length of GB (barefoot), as well as a few other well known treks. And he stated that this was without question the most challenging and least well marked trek he'd ever done.

Nevertheless, thank you Kate Clow for marking out an unforgettable walk =)

[Kindra McRobbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband and I used this guidebook to hike the entire Lycian Way start to finish, over the course of 39 days during the late summer. It was useful for many things-history, landmarks, general guides for the trail, elevation, ideas of places to stay, etc. However we would have been totally lost had we not had a GPS with tracks preloaded on it. We found someone else’s tracks they had posted, and downloaded them, initially as an insurance policy that in case we lost the book, or something about the trail had changed drastically, we could still find our way. After just the first day or two we were using the two simultaneously, checking both in uncertain moments on the trail.

It’s as an incredibly experience, mostly goat trails, unbelievably up and down, and extremely rocky-I was regretting my choice to use minimalist shoes almost immediately-but boy we loved it! Although by the middle of the trek, we’d coined a term: “Classic Kate”, which referred to a day of hiking that involved going up a hill, then down it, then up, then down again, repeating the up/down about 4 times, to reach a destination, instead of just going in the straight flat line across the coast to get there. It felt like if there was an opportunity to gain then lose elevation, she felt compelled to include it in the route.

Incidentally, we ran into a fellow trekker doing the whole thing, and he had done the Camino de Santiago, walked the length of GB (barefoot), as well as a few other well known treks. And he stated that this was without questions the most challenging and least well marked trek he’d ever done.

Nevertheless, thank you Kate clow for marking out an unforgettable walk =)

[Semih · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate Clow'un hazırladığı bu rota kitabı her ne kadar popüer olsa da tek başına kesinlikle yeterli değil. Sebebi bahsi geçen nirengilerin sürekli yer değiştiriyor olması veyahut Türkiye şartlarında değişmiş olması. En son rotanın güncellenmesi için çıktığı yürüyüşte kaybolan Kate Clow'un kendi kitabı dahi kendisine yardım edememiş görünüyor. Görsellerine kanmadan belirtilen sürelerin kondisyonu yüksek bir yürüyüşçünün yürüme ve sık aralıklarla yapılmayan dinlenmelere göre hesaplandığının belirtilmesinde fayda olurdu. Yine de güzel bir çalışma olarak gezi kitaplarım arasında durmasını ister bir dahaki Likya Yolu yürüyüşümde yine de yanıma almayı tercih ederim.

[Ezgi · Rating 5 out of 5]

yürüyüşten önce okuduğum için bilgilerin doğruluğunu/geçerliliğini henüz teyit edemiyorum içindekiler çok kapsamlıydı. Yalnızca yeni baskılarda (tabii yeniden basılacaksa) app bilgisi kaldırılmalı çünkü epey hevesle baksam da artık olmadığını öğrendim.

[Ali Ulucan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ölmeden önce yürünmesi gereken en güzel yollardan.. Bahar aylarında yürüyüş rehberliğini yapmaktan onur duyduğum tarihi patikalar