New and updated routes in the St Paul Trail section of the Via Eurasia
Maintenance and update works of the Via Eurasia continue on the St. Paul Trail section. An alternative route was added to the Barla – Dikmen Farm section durinh the field surveys we conducted within the borders of Eğirdir in the first week of November 2020. Balkırı – Akpınar route, which was in a bad condition due to marble quarries, has also been changed.
You can learn the details in the article below and follow the route updates of the St. Paul Trail by clicking here.
9.5 Balkırı – Akpınar new and old routes
We have been observing, for a long time by now, all the destruction caused by marble quarries, which have risen in number considerably, on the beautiful mountains of Isparta. The expansion of marble quarries started to make it difficult, boring and risky to walk on the route, too. From the map above, you can see the marble quarries and how we tried to escape from them. During our visit to the region, we created and way-marked a route from Balkırı to the area called Donkey Pit and from there, following the valley, to Akpınar. We are now able to walk through the forest, which doesn’t even see the marble quarries, partly over the old roads and we also have the chance to watch Eğirdir Lake from above at intervals along the route.
9.6 Eğirdir – Beydere Route
We started our work by updating the GPS coordinates and renewing the waymarks, for the connection of the route, which is a nice one-day walk starting from the center of Eğirdir. Way-marks near the city center will be made at the earliest possible time. But now, you can find the GPS tracks from the Via Eurasia mobile phone application (click here for for iOS and android versions of the app).
9.9a Barla – Dikmen Farm Alternative Route
Although the 9.9 route, which walks through the Çam Mountain, offers a wonderful view and experience, the lack of water sources and shadow due to the high altitude, are usually challenging for hikers especially in the summer periods. 9.9a route has been added as an alternative to this route. As you can see from the map, the new route with lower altitude includes a fountain and forests partially, too.
The route is starts from the Barla cemetery and follows the Roman road as much as possible and heads towards a hill. You will see animal paths on the hill because of husbandry. In this section, it is necessary to follow the way-marks carefully because there are many paths opened and used by animals. The route then heads down and passes a fountain. It connects to the forest road by going up the hill again, then turns towards a valley after passing a newly repaired trough/fountain and a forest, where new trees are planted. The path in this valley will take you to a plain where there are animal stockyards. After you cross the plain area, follow the paths that offer wonderful views and enjoy your descent to Dikmen Farm!
You can watch the video about our work here.
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