Day 139: Monday 4 August – Guvercinlik to Oludeniz, by Ken

The mat we put down under Mabel’s awning was very grubby with all the sand it had picked up. We took it down to the sea, gave it a dunk and left it to dry on the hardstand.

Our minimalist set up of our two director’s chairs, Jane’s lounger and our small table made getting Mabel ready for the road very simple, we were all ready to go before 09:00. There was no sign of the lad who assigned us our pitch and appeared to be looking after the camping ground. I tried to leave 100 lira with one of the women in a nearby caravan, but she took me down to the water’s edge where a small fishing boat was moored. There she called a name and eventually the lad appeared from a small cabin looking very much like a teenager whose sleep had been disturbed. As on Friday when we arrived, there was no eye contact from the lad who walked past me and back to the woman’s caravan. A small crowd gathered as we tried to resolve how much we owed for our stay, including the elderly woman who had helped out with water on Saturday. She laughed at regular intervals as the Turkish contingent jabbered away excitedly. With the original woman’s help and aided by pen and paper we settled on 35 lira per night.

Mabel At Guvercinlik - Lad's Boat In Background

Our trip took us back the way we had come on Friday. We saw lots of stalls selling süt misir, but we still had no idea what it was. The steelworks at Yetagan didn’t look any better second time round. There were fewer tractors parked in the streets. We continued backtracing as far as Muğla where we took a dual carriageway that headed south for a while and then east as it climbed a long way into pine covered hills before descending just as steeply for 7km via a series of hairpin bends to give us our first glimpse of Turkey’s Turquoise Coast. It was full of islands and inlets stretching out ahead of us. As we descended there was the characteristic smell of overheating brakes in spite of Jane using the gearbox to keep our speed down.

Good To See He's Wearing Safety Glasses!

Steelworks, Yetagan

First Glimpse Of Turquoise Coast

We had declined a satnav route involving toll roads. East of Ortaca satnav instructed us to leave the dual carriageway. Just before we did so I could see twin tunnels, one of which wasn’t yet opened to traffic, manned toll booths were visible just before them. I suggested to Jane the toll was just for the tunnel and we should press on. Jane wasn’t keen and we were soon on a two lane road that climbed steeply via hairpin bends over a hill before descending and rejoining the dual carriageway we had just left at the other end of the tunnel!

We've Seen Lots Of These - Simple Car Washes?

In the busy town of Fethïye we turned off and climbed a very steep hill. A buzzer sounded and a low fuel warning flashed up on Mabel’s display although the gauge still read about ¼ full. I thought the warning was triggered by the range computer’s instantaneous consumption algorithm and it was nothing to worry about. Sure enough, when we reached the top of the hill at Ölüdeniz Mabel was much less pessimistic.

We drove down an equally steep hill into the seaside resort of Ölüdeniz which seemed to be completely separate from the main town. There we joined an almost static queue of traffic that inched its way past restaurant after restaurant interspersed at times by shops selling beach goods. Most restaurants had signs outside offering full English breakfasts. There was even an Indian restaurant presumably catering for English tastes - why would you come to Turkey for a curry? Holidaymakers made their way determinedly towards the sea. When we had finally crawled our way to the seafront the road turned right. While we waited in the queue a man came over, Jane wound down her window. He wanted to know how much Mabel was worth, then he spotted Smarty and thought she was great. He asked where were going and said there would be room for us at The Sugar Beach club which was where we were headed.

Indian Restaurant, Oludeniz

Fine English Fare On Offer In Oludeniz

How Much Is Your Motorhome Worth?

The beach looked busy with a few day trip boats tied up stern on to the beach. Drivers became impatient with the slow progress and started driving down the wrong side of the road to bypass the queue. As we progressed slowly we could see the queue and the impatient drivers were heading for a turn off with barriers that appeared to have a large car park behind. (We found out later this was Ölüdeniz Nature Park which we visited the following day). Once clear of the queue it was just a brief drive to the Sugar Beach Club.

Oludeniz Beach

The welcome there could be described as cold. A quckfire “50 lira per night, toilets, showers – no hot water, ask at restaurant about wi-fi, drive on and take next left and I will open the gate”. We drove in to a grassed area, to the right were semi-permanent Turkish caravans, to the left was parking for motorhomes with three already parked. The woman was impatient for us to decide where to park, we took our time and that seemed to get her quite agitated. We eventually selected a spot in the shade and the woman walked away grumpily.

After lunch of Greek salad we walked down to the restaurant to use their wi-fi over an Efes for me and a mojito for Jane, Use of the wi-fi required us each to have a password that expired at something like 6:19 am the next day. It all seemed rather petty. We then walked down to the ‘beach’ to find it was artificial on a lagoon. It didn’t look very inviting.

There were lots of English accents in the restaurant and a group that sounded English but it was  very difficult to understand what they were saying. It took a while for me to realise they were scousers (from Liverpool).

Trip Day 139 (244km)