Prepare to say goodbye to the lovely small town of Fethiye! I hit the road at 10.00 hrs, but in characteristic style it was the wrong road. I found the right road an hour later.
I soon picked up a lift to the outskirts of Dalaman. No sign of an airport (as noted yesterday, that did not exist in 1973). After a short walk in the searing heat, I picked up a lift to the outskirts of Ortaca. It was like a game of tag – I left that truck to get a lift in the driver’s friend’s truck. He took me the short drive to the junction I needed.
More walking in the hot sunshine and then I was offered a lift in a tractor. It only lasted 15 minutes, but the wind on my face was a lovely relief. More walking, and then a little rest in…
…a kind of forest
I have no idea what that means. We established long ago near the start of this journey that I am no David Attenborough. Nor Paul Theroux. Nor Bill Bryson. And so forth. I suppose what I bring to the genre as an ersatz travel writer is a little bit of knowledge about a few things, a love of word play, a sense of humour, and a smattering of armchair philosophy – but the springs are starting to give way and it is looking a tad threadbare.
My next lift was in the back of a truck…
…loaded with things, including over a dozen Turkish workers
Yeah, a bit short of detail here. I hope you appreciate these little glimpses into what I actually wrote in my travelogue at the time. Whatever was being carried in the truck will never be known. But hopefully it has been delivered by now.
We arrived in Ula at 17.30 hrs. I tried to get a lift to Mugla, but without success. In my characteristic style, I found a cheap hotel for the night.
The journey today took me through some beautiful areas. The roads were very uneven through this mountainous terrain.
…greys and greens and yellows and blues and mauves; very beautiful in places….also through forests, or sort of; insects and animals making noises;
My version of singing a rainbow will probably not catch on. You can imagine David Attenborough crouching in a kind of forest saying “And I can hear noises all around. Some of them are insects, other are from animals. Next week, I will describe some colourful fish, but I have no idea what they are.”
and tomorrow night finds me in what is now a large resort town on the Aegean coast, about 95 km south of Izmir. See you there!
Psychologist on the Move 