If you’re looking for a new approach to the Lycian Way then I can highly recommend swimming it – or at least parts of it. I’ve always wanted to do a swim trek and so found myself with nine others donning swimsuits, and all manner of swimming paraphernalia (I’d never heard of drag pants and hand fins before), getting ‘greased up’ and hitting the warm clear sparkling waters off the southern coast of Turkey for a week of glorious swimming, sunning, boats, eating, lazing, exploring, dancing…And a bit more swimming.
We were situated in Kas; a pretty coastal resort about 170kms southwest of Antalya where the mountains drop into the Mediterranean and an abundance of good boutique hotels, pensions, shops and restaurants cater to your every need. It is a popular destination with trendy young Turks on their summer holidays who come to sunbathe on the terraced cafes, and dance the night away in the cool bars overlooking the sea. Kas is on part of the Lycian Way; an ancient 500km footpath that stretches from Fethiye to Antalya with numerous ruins, castles, tombs, and sunken cities peppering the route. We were looked after by two excellent swimming guides and it was a joy to be with a group of people so at ease in the sea; there was Ryan, a huge hulk of a man who could free dive to 25 metres with ease and startle divers as we pushed through their air bubbles overhead. When I felt tired I could hold onto his ankles and he would tow me through the water for great lengths of time.
A typical day would be 3kms swimming in the morning and 2kms in the afternoon which would take about 2 – 2.5hrs and 1.5 – 2 hrs respectively depending on your speed. But it wasn’t an endurance race and at any time you could stop and get on the boat…Not that anyone did, but we were divided into three groups according to our capabilities so everyone swam at the pace they wanted to.
The gulet became our base for the day and we would set off each morning from the marina to the start of our swim; these gulet’s are wonderful traditional Turkish boats perfect for lounging on with plenty of space, numerous sun decks, and a cheerful experienced local crew constantly preparing delicious snacks and glasses of hot apple tea for us. The route took us along the coast from Ugagiz where we docked on the little island of Kekova and trekked up to the imposing castle of Simena with its fantastic views of the surrounding islands covered in thyme scented trees and grazing goats. 
We swam near to the ancient sunken city of Aperlae and peered through the glass bottom in our gulet down to the ruins; the city flourished between the 3rd and 4thcentury before being abandoned and falling into the sea. Remains of houses and their contents littered the sea-bed including stairs, archways, amphorae, statues and countless other abandoned artefacts. We swam over plane and boat wrecks, alongside turtles, and into caves. In fact we couldn’t stop swimming and when the boat dropped anchor for a long lazy lunch of traditional home made Turkish food to include fresh fish and delicious salads, we’d still be in the water, diving and hanging out with noodles (bendy things you can wrap around your body to comfortably float in the water). There followed much sunbathing, fishing for calamari, reading and relaxing before heading off to start the afternoon’s swim; perhaps another 3kms swimming past tombs embedded into a cliff face or striking out across open sea from island to island. The highlight was an open water crossing of 5kms non-stop from the Greek island of Meis back to Turkey; an exhilarating swimming experience being buffeted by cross currents, dodging boats and enthralled by the deep blue waters.
