Turkey, Day 5: Loop Over Bodrum

The day started out with mixed clouds as we strolled the mountain roads above the valley that contains Bodrum. I still find myself wondering what Turkish maps must show as these roads are used to get from place to place. I know that when Ian planned the re-route for the third hike he used Google Earth/maps. At least the roads we followed (left) had a bit more to look at. Flowers like the ones shown on the right are a case in point.
—Left photo by Jonathan Knight

I am not quite sure what villages, if any, we were going to pass on through on this loop walk above the valley that hold Bodrum in the distance. We dropped the folks doing the shorter walk off at a sarnic that was easily the largest I have seen so far. We continued on to a spot near a restaurant where we would climb a dirt road that winds its way into the hills above the valleys.Today the sky was dotted with clouds. Those clouds would play an important role in the walk as the day wore on but at the outset things were looking pretty good. Like the bulk of the walks so far we were following mountain roads. This time the walk though was a little more interesting even though the terrain was still pretty much the same as it has always been. Perhaps that was because we were moving up and down and it just felt a bit more lively. We left the hill we were skirting to return the the main road for several hundred meters of walking to the sarnic that the people doing the shorter walk had left from. It was back into the hills at that point and where we would remain until dropping back down to the restaurant we started at - closing the loop.
I'm not sure who the tomb belongs too. Ian had some information to share but I didn't write it down. If you did not know something was there you probably wouldn't know something was there. The port of Bodrum is visible in the distance. The other two photos also show some sights along the mountain road we were following. As we returned to the hills the clouds slowly thickened. When we paused at the top of one ridge to look out upon the water in the distance where a ship was coming into port. We were at a lookout that was home to some very old tombs of an ancient people (I believe the same people who lived in Pedesa). If we had not been told they were tombs I rather doubt we would have known it. By this time we had already experienced a sprinkle or two. We had also passed a local person out for a stroll (I assume). She had a small pack of small dogs with her. I assume they belonged to her as they had collars or  at lest ear tags.  It had begun to drizzle on and off by this time. We continued winding along the dirt road below the cloudy skies. The initial interest in the walk had faded somewhat by this time. It was not that it was really bad as such just uninteresting.  But it would get a little more interesting after we stopped for lunch not long after passing the group doing the easier walk who had been settled down on a ridge just above the road.

Here we all are at our lunch spot. —Photos by Jonathan Knight

Around 13:15 the clouds darkened and the rain began to come down hard. There was still blue sky off in the distance but it was being cobbled up by the clouds and the rain began to come down hard and fast. I got a good chance to use my new rain skirt and it seemed to protect my upper legs quite well. I could wish for it to be a bit longer but I think it will do a pretty good job overall. Other people had not bothered to put any sort of rain gear on and they got soaked quite quickly. I had put my rain jacket on over my backpack and so could not zip it up so my green Smartwool shirt quickly turned a rich forest green hue as it soaked through. But the air was warm and I did not really feel uncomfortable. The pouring rain lasted for a bit less than a half hour and by the time we were well into the last descent of the day down to the end point it had slackened off quite a bit. Our group had spread out a little bit and Mom, Dad, and I were amongst the leaders as we caught up to the folks who had been doing the easier walk. We shuffled into the open design pavilion-like restaurant. I think we were all quite looking forward to this point. Everyone wanted to dry off and have a bite to eat or drink was welcomed.  It was just too bad that what we were able to get turned out to be merely OK and made worse by the  fact that the prices were rather high especially given what we got.