We’ve been pretty lazy since we arrived 10 days ago, just lounging around the pool and gazing out across this wonderful vista. But we have managed a couple of swims, another trip to the farmers market and some delicious dinners. On Thursday we received our first visitors here, Christien and his best friend Brad, which was exciting. That evening we all went into Kalkan for dinner at a good restaurant with a view over the harbour (Sade). On Friday the boys lounged around the pool reading and drinking the local beer and that evening I rustled up some fresh Sea Bream on the barbecue that went down well. Saturday we decided to go on a bit of an adventure to the Saklikent Gorge, it’s about a 45 minute cab ride from where we are. The canyon itself is about a 1000 ft deep and about 16 km long, it’s also one of the deepest in the world. It’s only possible to walk the full length in the summer months, when most of the snow from the Taurus Mountains has melted and passed through on its way to the Med, for us today though only about 2.5km was passable, as snow fell quite heavily into March. As we entered the gorge and paid our nominal entry fee, we were met by the sheer magnitude of the marble facades & after a short walk around a suspended walkway, we found ourselves at the start of our challenge. We’d be spending the next 2.5km in varying depths of water, so we’d need rubber shoes and hard hats. The 3 chaps should have gone for a smaller size shoe (Rach got it right) as we ended up stopping regularly to empty the small stones out. I don’t normally use a guide, but given the torrent of water racing past and not knowing the best route to take I reluctantly agreed….well done Christien for making me see sense. Literally after being 20 meters in, we were already waist deep in the icy water and had already formed a human chain, which was needed to traverse from one side to the other. As we moved further forward the strength of the current increased and we were forced to scale boulders and weave through nooks & crannies, where the water was impassable, something that we wouldn’t have been able to do without the help of a guide. It took us the best part of an hour and three quarters to get to the point where we couldn’t go any further and another hour to get back. It was an adrenaline filled adventure from start to finish, made even more memorable by the stunning environment. None of us gave the icy water a second thought, as waded through it, even poor Rach, who was nearly up to neck in it in some places said nothing, it was such an engrossing day! Brad and Christien went into Kalkan in the evening, whilst Rach and I stayed in and chilled out opting to go to bed early thoroughly knackered!
Dream Chasers 