End of the Lycian-Way Hike, with a Broken Hand (Where are We – Turkey 3)

“I am alive!” I yelled.

“Okay!” Coen yelled back.

I checked my body: my legs were okay, my head was okay, my neck was okay.

But where was my left arm?

I picked it up with my right arm from my left side. The lower part as well as my hand were twice the normal size. I felt no pain but clearly, this was not good.

Only seconds ago I was sliding down the mountain on my back on the snow after I had slipped on an icy patch, doing 360° turns while screaming to Coen for help. I tried getting hold of trees and bushes that I passed in full speed, but I didn’t succeed. I was much aware I could be crashing into them with my head first; I had no control whatsoever and was lucky with landing in a bush with (relatively) flexible branches, and not a tree, on my side – my arm and hand first.

Coen saw me going down the mountain and then lost sight of me so he was more than relieved to hear my voice. Fortunately, he could get to me, picking up my walking poles along the way that I had lost in my fall. One thing was certain, I could not get back up that mountain.

Only minutes before my fall, Coen had slid down the same mountain on his butt, and somehow could manage his directions so his feet turned forward and made a controlled stop. However, his iPhone had fallen from his pocket and decided it wanted to go bobsledding and quickly disappeared out of sight.

It’s gone.

At least I had not lost my iPhone. I took it out of my pocket and checked where we were. 150 Meters downhill was an unpaved road, in my opinion, our best option.

“How do you think you want to get down to that road” Coen asked me.

“I think I can manage to slide down on my butt.”

“Are you crazy, we have seen what comes of that! Let’s see if we can get you on your feet and take it from there.”

Coen helped me to get up, and very slowly we inched downhill with me standing frozen every once in a while, too afraid to move on.

Last Hike on the Lycian Way

After a 5 minute break in the sun, where we drank some water and ate some snacks we started walking down the snowy slippery track. The only thing we could really express was how fortunate we felt that I was still alive and that I ended up probably having only a broken arm. 

We had 15 kms of walking through forest ahead of us to the first town. After an hour or so, we left snowy part and walking became easier. It took 4 1/2 hours to get there, but at least we arrived before dark. I had no pain and we were so tired that we decided to spend the night in a hotel and visit the hospital the next morning.

Our hotel manager and his wife were so kind to drive us to the hospital. X-rays were taken and it turned out my arm was okay, just severely bruised, but that my hand was broken in 2 spots. They put plaster and within an hour we stood outside again.

Our hike was over.

We had walked only half of the 550 km the Lycian Way following Turkey’s southern coast, but again we were only so grateful for ‘just’ a broken hand and bruises, that it didn’t matter. Sticking around in Turkey in an Airbnb didn’t sound too enticing so a couple of days later we took a flight to the Netherlands.

So here we are, a couple of weeks earlier than expected. 

To our friends in the Netherlands: we hope to see you soon.

To those who ordered our book, OMWEGEN: the books are scheduled to be delivered in the second week of March. It is a little bit later than originally planned but the whole paper industry is on delay.

We will keep you updated.

best,

Karin-Marijke & Coen

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