SwimTrek Lycian Way (Turkey) Long Swims, July 2026

(Copyright applies to all photos).

This trip almost speaks for itself through individual Strava entries and photos, but there was something so BIG about it all I wanted to write a summary for lasting memory.

First things first: in the yellow group we swam 37.5km over the week, with 36.3km of that over the main 5 days (the pink group around 40k). Wow! Swim totals and swim map (blue lines) - click to enlarge:

I was inspired to book this holiday after finding so much joy and confidence in swimming in Croatia last year. It had been so free-ing with it’s removal of limits - no big tidal range or currents so no need to plan; excellent visibility so no fear; warm enough to not bring on the cramp in my left leg which has venous insufficiency after the DVT, which has prevented me for training for distance swims in the UK. So to choose a holiday in the Mediterranean with swimming as the main focus seemed entirely logical. And to choose the 'long' version (up to 8k a day) rather than the standard - well that's just me. I wasn’t sure about the company (SwimTrek), I’ve never been a package holiday type person, so although this was quite a niche one with the focus on endurance swimming, I was wary. There was also some information I wanted to find out which wasn’t forthcoming when I asked (I needed to know how far we would be swimming from the shore as it was proving difficult to find appropriate travel insurance, and when I could check into the hotel). But the trip came recommended by a friend that went on it last year so I booked.

On arrival and meeting the guides, absolutely everything was covered and I quickly felt relaxed. They briefed us on safety, including thoughtful extras specific to the area (like windows with sharp edges), and on how the week would work. Before each swim they'd tailor the information to suit each person - either a more detailed summary of where we were going and what we might see along the way for people like me that like lots of info, or just 'follow the boat' for those that were happy for it to just unfold as they go. We were split into three groups, the slower group (that I was in) and the middle group each with RIB support, and the faster group went with the main boat (a Turkish gulet, both manoeuvrable and comforable with two decks of sun loungers for when journeying to the swim locations). The boats were always within communication distance, and we had drink breaks roughly every 1km, with a constant supply of Haribo. The guides also suppied ocean-safe lube to prevent chafe, spare sun cream, soapy water to stop goggles de-misting and a help yourself box of painkillers etc. At the end of the trip we were awarded certificates with our swim routes marked on, a lovely touch, and all shared a meal in a fancy restaurant with electric windows that all rolled down to enjoy the sunset.

We were provided with an extensive breakfast at the hotel each morning, which everything from pink cookies to fries to cereal to luncheon meat as well as eggs in many forms, and lunches on the boat which were really incredible, a whole array of dishes with cold salads, plus with some kind of protein (chicken skewers or fresh fish cooked on the boat's BBQ) and some kind of carb (turkish pilaf, potato salad or pasta). Dinners were down to us but the guides provided a list of recommended restaurants. The boat captain was an expert on local conditions and would jiggle the itinerary to pick the plan that would offer the best swimming for the day. There had been a storm the week before and the water was a bit choppy still, so we started with coastal swims and saved the Greece to Turkey crossing and the archipelago circuit for later in the week.

There were 13 swimmers on the trip plus two guides, and everybody was both lovely and interesting, and all excellent swimmers. Even in South Devon, where we're honoured with countless swimmable beaches, the majority of swimmers are dippers rather than distance swimmers, so it was amazing to be on holiday with a whole bunch of endurance swimmers.

With having injured my rotator cuff on 29th May, and aggravated it on 12th June, and the trek starting on 27th July, not only had I not been able to train (so I'd lost 1.5 minutes on my 1km time), but I wasn’t sure if it would hold up to the expected distances of up to 8k a day. The first two days it was a bit weak and sore, and I used my fins to help although they squashed my toes so I couldn’t use them for long. However from day 3 it felt amazing and super strong even though I still had limited mobility and couldn't put my own sun cream on my back. I did get sore shoulders from the general intensity of the trip, but thankfully that was in my deltoids. I felt at my most energetic on day 4, then started to fatigue on day 5.

We swam over a sunken city and past tombs in the cliffs, over a tank and an aircraft placed as fake reefs. We swam into a cold water pool where fresh water comes out of the rock, and over a deep blue hole. We also swam from a Greek rock (4th photo below) to the Turkish mainland over water 80m deep. On the last of these photos you can see the Kaş peninsula on the right that we swam along on the first full day, plus the small archipelago off the next peninsula along that we swam past on the crossing and round the next day, with the big island in the middle being the Greek island of Megisti.

The sea temp was 27-28 degrees. I didn't get a single bit of cramp or pain in my bad leg (the latter happens as soon as I exit the water in the UK), nor did I get cold despite swimming in just a bikini. However the salt tongue is real! And it was hard to keep the sunburn at bay having gone a bit red by not topping up my sun cream at lunchtime on the first full day (lesson learned). I got a swim hat tan dividing my forehead onto two!

I learned so much:

• We had our strokes analysed and I learned where to start in improving mine (as I’ve never really known what I’m doing with crawl), and it clicked as soon as I got back in the water. I learned that it is over-reaching that is making my bum drop which creates drag, so an early arm arrow entry prevents this. It also helps me glide, and makes my catch and left-side breathing feel more natural. I worked on making that more automatic, so that I can next improve my power part of the stroke without ruining the ‘wide and loose’ arm recovery.
• I learned why I don’t kick in the sea - because I spend too much time looking around me and less time putting my head down and getting on with it. This is mostly from fear rather than technique. With good boat support, no jet skis and no jellyfish I can swim more like I do in a pool.
• I learned how to equalise when diving down so the pressure didn’t hurt my ears, which meant I could get better photos of sea creatures. And I learned that you shouldn’t dive too deep in standard swim goggles.
• I saw various new sea creatures: several loggerhead turtles; a bigfin reef squid; white sea stars; many worm sea cucumbers; 2 Indian lionfish (invasive); many blue-spotted cornetfish; Red Sea goatfish; European parrotfish; flavimaculosus puffers; and a dusky grouper. And some new land creatures: a pelasgian rock lizard; a minsmere crimson underwing moth; a Mediterranean mantis; a Smyrnean bush cricket; a scarlet band-winged grasshopper; a blue-winged grasshopper; a Moroccan locust; a tentyria rotundata beetle; and a pantropical jumping spider.

I loved being able to simply swim and swim. I've always felt natural in the water and often felt like I can just swim all day, but this trip really proved to me that that's true, and I found myself in the flow-state that's more familiar to me from ultra running. Often I was swimming alongside one of my group, in tune with each other in a magical moment, and for one of the island crossings all 4 of us fell into a diamond formation, all swimming as one unit. For once it was an intense kind of swimming that was on a par with the kind of running challenges I take on. Usually swimming for me doesn't expend many calories or increase my strava fitness, but on this trip the distances were sufficient that it did. Although that said it was a rhythmical and sustained kind of intense, rather than being hard work. The technique instruction also helped me gain speed for a massive reduction of effort too.