Summer has arrived over night here in Turkey. It’s mad to think that a few days ago, it was a bit nippy climbing in the shade and we’d both take a jacket to belay in at the cliff base. Today we hiked up to a higher section of the Indian Man cliff to a sector that we’d not managed to visit last time. Even with an early start, it was hot in the canyon when we arrived. The walk up to the cliff base, even through the shade of the forest, was a sweaty one!

The hot hike was well worth the effort as the rock quality was incredible. We manged to climb our first route while it was still in the shade, but as the sun came around, the rock soon became baking hot. There was a tiny breeze for the climber, but belaying at the base became stifling pretty quickly.

Although it was getting hotter, the routes kept getting better! It was hard to leave!

A forced lunch break under the olive trees signalled the end of climbing for the day. We were so hot, we couldn’t even cool down in the shade. Time to go down…

We took a brief rest in the shade of the main cave and briefly considered climbing a route in the cooler temperatures, but the lure of the nearby sea was greater! It was snorkel time!

We watched an eagle(?) soaring around the cliffs, admired the views then shouldered our packs and went directly to the sea!

We found a new bay just near the house that had the most fish we’d seen. Really colourful. Then, in a chance encounter, bumped into a friend of a friend, who we’d met at a party in north wales about ten years ago, who’d just spent the last month or so hiking the coastal trails. It was lovely to re-connect and share tales of our adventures. After dinner, we made the most of the lingering heat by walking the promenade to have desert at the harbour cafe.

Papinosaure Climbs:

• Trous bas d’ours, 6a+***
• Crackouille, 6b***
• Fabulations libre, 6b+***