The İstiklal Yolu — the Road of Independence — was declared a historical national park by presidential decision on 1 November 2018. It covers 235.7 hectares across Çankırı and Kastamonu, and it is not one continuous area: it comes in eleven separate sections, grouped as the Çankırı section (in three parts), the Kastamonu section, the Seydiler section, the Küre section (in five parts) and the İnebolu section.
What is being protected is a supply line. During the War of Independence İnebolu was left as the only door from Anatolia to the outside world, which made the İnebolu-Ankara route decisive: weapons smuggled out of İstanbul, ammunition and logistical material bought from Russia, and many of the people who joined the struggle all moved to Ankara and inland along it. The directorate quotes Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on its importance — 'My eye is on the front, my ear is on İnebolu.'.
Be clear about what survives, because it is not much. Very little of the physical fabric of the war years is left along the 344-kilometre route. Stretches of stone-paved road show through in places, and the bridges and culverts built to keep the old road passable are the structures that have come down to the present; beyond those there are historic hans along the route, some restored, others with their traces gone. Some sections open out into rural landscape, but that landscape and the other heritage features occupy only a small part of the line.
Access to the first section: the starting part lies about 13.5 kilometres north of central Çankırı, beginning at the Aşağı-Yukarı Çavuş village turning off the D100 road and ending at the Kiyisin village turning, 40 kilometres from Çankırı.
Anyone thinking of walking the line should read the directorate's own warning first. Most of the historic road now lies beneath asphalt, and a large part of that asphalt is intercity highway, which makes walking distinctly unsafe and unsuitable for any long stretch. Because so little of the physical fabric survives, the structures that can still carry the route's historical value matter all the more. The stated purpose of the long-term development plan is to keep the importance of the İnebolu-Kastamonu-Ankara line alive in the memory of this generation and the next, managing its historical and cultural resources sustainably, with the balance between protection and use observed, and leaving them to later generations as a national inheritance.
The country the road passes through is wooded. Fir, beech, oak, pine, hornbeam, willow and poplar make up the forest around the park, with medlar, hazel, cornelian cherry, wild rowan and spurge among the trees and rhododendron, bramble, ivy and fern in the woody and herb layers. Bear, roe deer and wolf head the large mammals, along with wild boar, jackal, squirrel and snakes, and the birds that may be seen include woodcock, quail, falcon, blackbird, robin, corn bunting, jay, owl and wood pigeon, as well as migratory species.
There are no facilities belonging to the directorate anywhere in the park; some private businesses have premises along the route, and there are day-use areas inside the boundary for visitors' immediate needs. Besides the historical walk, the uses named are botanical tours, nature and culture walks, photo safari, day picnics, viewing, nature education, wildlife watching and bird watching.
- Designated
- 2.11.2018
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kastamonu as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -0.9 °C in January to 20.2 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (75 mm) and lightest in February (27 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
