A 33.4 kilometre walk across lowlands past peach and apple orchards in the morning followed by a big climb into the Vermio mountains after a free lunch. A total ascent of 1550 metres.
After breakfast I headed off along the road to the dusty village of Vegora passing vineyards, some still heavy with grapes, abandoned farmland and an old quarry. Then across flat land to the village of Maniaki passing extensive orchards and the occasional field of maize. Although the fruit had been picked, some left on the ground suggested they were orchards of peach trees. As I walked gently uphill towards Maniaki, Lake Vegoritis spread across to my left, with rocky mountains beyond.
At the village I had an iced expresso and ice cream in the bar while watching the local men play cards enthusiastically. The landscape was arid and dusty as I climbed up a dry valley out of the village. After crossing a busy road the route took me through acres of apple orchards. Apple picking was in progress with lorries and tractors coming and going on the dirt track. The harvesting was timely as ripe apples were collecting on the ground. A great deal of effort was being put into these orchards including irrigation and in places, nets were installed to keep off the birds.
Pirgi was a village in the midst of the apple orchards. Walking into the open area in front of what appeared to be a taverna (signage was often lacking in this area) looking for lunch, I was addressed by a kind Greek gentleman with grey hair who spoke English. He ordered some food for me and insisted on paying. He had his son with him who was visiting from Miami where he worked. Although they were familiar with the E4 they seemed to think it a bit odd that I wanted to walk it (although they said it was very beautiful in the mountains I was about to climb). In particular they were concerned that the path up was overgrown and that I might get attacked by unspecified animals while camping in the mountains. To avoid the overgrown section of path they described a different route.
As I left the village there was a small archaeological site on the roadside - remains of a Macedonian tomb. I had passed a sign to another archaeological site in Vegora but gave up trying to find it, so I was pleased to see this one - not that there was much to see. Reaching a small reservoir my friends at lunch had advised a left turn, but that would have taken me on a road back to the village. If I had left the village on that road however then my intended route was on the left of the reservoir, although there was also another road at the junction that they might have been referring to. There were in truth a confusing number of roads leading out of the village to various orchards so I stuck to the route I had planned on my GPS, which seemed to agree with the rare E4 waymarks and led me through the apple orchards and into woodland.
Now the GPS routes I downloaded had a one kilometre gap between the one I was following and the next one. In my planning I had created a route to fill the gap based on Google Earth. It became apparent that the gap corresponded to a more overgrown section of path, thankfully not too overgrown and I managed to push pine saplings and tree branches aside without too much trouble although the path was steep in places. Suddenly coming upon a cliff was a bit of a surprise but the route just went around it.
The path led to a higher dirt road. As I had been heavily drinking (water) as I climbed in the heat, I backtracked down the road a little to fill up my water bottle from a stream, adding a sterilising tablet "just in case". Unlike some sections of the E4 there were not any springs by the track.
Following the dirt road upward, I was taken through pine trees into open grassland. There was a herd of cows and later a flock of sheep with their shepherd in the distance, but not any threatening wild animals, at least not yet. I am now pitched on a pass at a high point on the trail. As I was warned it is pretty cold at this height (about 1900 metres) so an early night tucked up in my sleeping bag is in order.
A gpx file of my route for your GPS can be found on wikiloc.com, or you can access the route on your smartphone from ViewRanger, shortcode johnpon0036.
After breakfast I headed off along the road to the dusty village of Vegora passing vineyards, some still heavy with grapes, abandoned farmland and an old quarry. Then across flat land to the village of Maniaki passing extensive orchards and the occasional field of maize. Although the fruit had been picked, some left on the ground suggested they were orchards of peach trees. As I walked gently uphill towards Maniaki, Lake Vegoritis spread across to my left, with rocky mountains beyond.
At the village I had an iced expresso and ice cream in the bar while watching the local men play cards enthusiastically. The landscape was arid and dusty as I climbed up a dry valley out of the village. After crossing a busy road the route took me through acres of apple orchards. Apple picking was in progress with lorries and tractors coming and going on the dirt track. The harvesting was timely as ripe apples were collecting on the ground. A great deal of effort was being put into these orchards including irrigation and in places, nets were installed to keep off the birds.
Pirgi was a village in the midst of the apple orchards. Walking into the open area in front of what appeared to be a taverna (signage was often lacking in this area) looking for lunch, I was addressed by a kind Greek gentleman with grey hair who spoke English. He ordered some food for me and insisted on paying. He had his son with him who was visiting from Miami where he worked. Although they were familiar with the E4 they seemed to think it a bit odd that I wanted to walk it (although they said it was very beautiful in the mountains I was about to climb). In particular they were concerned that the path up was overgrown and that I might get attacked by unspecified animals while camping in the mountains. To avoid the overgrown section of path they described a different route.
As I left the village there was a small archaeological site on the roadside - remains of a Macedonian tomb. I had passed a sign to another archaeological site in Vegora but gave up trying to find it, so I was pleased to see this one - not that there was much to see. Reaching a small reservoir my friends at lunch had advised a left turn, but that would have taken me on a road back to the village. If I had left the village on that road however then my intended route was on the left of the reservoir, although there was also another road at the junction that they might have been referring to. There were in truth a confusing number of roads leading out of the village to various orchards so I stuck to the route I had planned on my GPS, which seemed to agree with the rare E4 waymarks and led me through the apple orchards and into woodland.
Now the GPS routes I downloaded had a one kilometre gap between the one I was following and the next one. In my planning I had created a route to fill the gap based on Google Earth. It became apparent that the gap corresponded to a more overgrown section of path, thankfully not too overgrown and I managed to push pine saplings and tree branches aside without too much trouble although the path was steep in places. Suddenly coming upon a cliff was a bit of a surprise but the route just went around it.
The path led to a higher dirt road. As I had been heavily drinking (water) as I climbed in the heat, I backtracked down the road a little to fill up my water bottle from a stream, adding a sterilising tablet "just in case". Unlike some sections of the E4 there were not any springs by the track.
Following the dirt road upward, I was taken through pine trees into open grassland. There was a herd of cows and later a flock of sheep with their shepherd in the distance, but not any threatening wild animals, at least not yet. I am now pitched on a pass at a high point on the trail. As I was warned it is pretty cold at this height (about 1900 metres) so an early night tucked up in my sleeping bag is in order.
A gpx file of my route for your GPS can be found on wikiloc.com, or you can access the route on your smartphone from ViewRanger, shortcode johnpon0036.
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| Apple orchards |
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| View back across apple orchards with Lake Vegoritis in the distance |
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| Climbing into the Vermio mountains |
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