The Pindus mountains are not old mountains softened by age, their valleys rounded by ancient glaciers, they are sharp and pointed, with steep slopes and kilometre deep valleys, cut by boulder strewn streams and rivers. Little surprise then that each day on the E4 involves an ascent of a thousand metres or more, if you don't like walking uphill don't come here! Below the snow, bare rock and high pasture, pine trees line the slopes, with holm oak and plane trees lower down. Red roofed villages cling to the mountainside, most houses closed when I walked through in late April / early May, while their owners earn their money in the cities of Greece. Patches of terraced, cultivated areas surrounded a few of the homes. Elsewhere goats, sheep and cows graze on small meadows of grass which somehow escaped the trees.
Despite the extreme landscape the E4 has plenty of easy sections along tarmac roads and forestry tracks. Its paths are elusive, I found myself bushwacking through the trees, sharp pine and juniper needles sticking into me. It's not like in Austria or Bavaria with well made and signposted trails and mountain top cafes where you can mingle with those who arrived by cable car or funicular railway. Instead there are remote churches high in the mountains in which solemn icons with gold leaf backdrops stare at you, or little shrines with oil and matches for the lamp inside, or a place for a candle, maybe commemorating some dead person, a hiker like you perhaps.
Despite all the holiday homes in the mountain villages, hiking, walking or trekking are not popular activities. Indeed on my trip I did not meet one other hiker, which perhaps explains the poor state of the paths. It could also be the time of year. Walking in late April and early May meant that snow was in issue above 1500 metres and especially over 1700 metres, this constrained my choice of route. It also meant that cafes and tavernas were less likely to be open. Despite being early in the year there were days when my tee shirt was stained with salt from dried on sweat. Climbing uphill in the summer heat would not be pleasant.
I camped in the woods on seven of the sixteen days it took me to cross the Pindus mountains from Kalampaka. Maybe with a bit more research and effort I could have reduced this number, there were signs saying ksenonas (guesthouse) in villages where I did not stay the night, complete with telephone numbers. But then if you ring them up it helps to speak Greek, English is far from universally spoken in this area. Wild camping also means that you can be more flexible where you stop, there are plenty of places to pitch your tent, with mountain views if you want them, with no-one ever knowing you were there, just the stars for company, barking deer to disturb you and the occasional drone of a plane in the distance. There were few shops open on the route and while I came with a good stock of food, I also relied on eating at tavernas on some of the days on which I was camping.
The mountains are beautiful, especially streaked with snow as I saw them. Purple crocuses and flowers of many colours, a chorus of birds, fresh, clean air, and friendly people (who paid for my coffee on more than one occasion) all make this a lovely place to walk through. Despite that, after 16 days of walking and 410 kilometres through beautiful trees and mountains every day, I was ready for my next landscape....
A GPX file of my route can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or from myViewRanger short code johnpon0042.
Despite the extreme landscape the E4 has plenty of easy sections along tarmac roads and forestry tracks. Its paths are elusive, I found myself bushwacking through the trees, sharp pine and juniper needles sticking into me. It's not like in Austria or Bavaria with well made and signposted trails and mountain top cafes where you can mingle with those who arrived by cable car or funicular railway. Instead there are remote churches high in the mountains in which solemn icons with gold leaf backdrops stare at you, or little shrines with oil and matches for the lamp inside, or a place for a candle, maybe commemorating some dead person, a hiker like you perhaps.
Despite all the holiday homes in the mountain villages, hiking, walking or trekking are not popular activities. Indeed on my trip I did not meet one other hiker, which perhaps explains the poor state of the paths. It could also be the time of year. Walking in late April and early May meant that snow was in issue above 1500 metres and especially over 1700 metres, this constrained my choice of route. It also meant that cafes and tavernas were less likely to be open. Despite being early in the year there were days when my tee shirt was stained with salt from dried on sweat. Climbing uphill in the summer heat would not be pleasant.
I camped in the woods on seven of the sixteen days it took me to cross the Pindus mountains from Kalampaka. Maybe with a bit more research and effort I could have reduced this number, there were signs saying ksenonas (guesthouse) in villages where I did not stay the night, complete with telephone numbers. But then if you ring them up it helps to speak Greek, English is far from universally spoken in this area. Wild camping also means that you can be more flexible where you stop, there are plenty of places to pitch your tent, with mountain views if you want them, with no-one ever knowing you were there, just the stars for company, barking deer to disturb you and the occasional drone of a plane in the distance. There were few shops open on the route and while I came with a good stock of food, I also relied on eating at tavernas on some of the days on which I was camping.
The mountains are beautiful, especially streaked with snow as I saw them. Purple crocuses and flowers of many colours, a chorus of birds, fresh, clean air, and friendly people (who paid for my coffee on more than one occasion) all make this a lovely place to walk through. Despite that, after 16 days of walking and 410 kilometres through beautiful trees and mountains every day, I was ready for my next landscape....
A GPX file of my route can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or from myViewRanger short code johnpon0042.
Hi John! This is certainly an informative blog! Thanks for sharing about Pindus Mountains. However, I have recently been to Pindus national park Greece. And, I have to say it was an unforgettable tour! The park offers you an opportunity to witness and explore countless species of flora and fauna.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily,
ReplyDeleteThe Pindus National Park was to the north of where I was walking this time, but the whole of the Pindus mountains are a beautiful and relatively undiscovered area, so untypical of what people in Britain think of as Greece.