A day in the mountains across open grassland and through woodland with a number of ascents and descents. 34.9 kilometres with a total ascent of 1195 metres.
A light frost greeted me as I left my tent to brush my teeth, looking down at the lights of the villages on the plain below in the faint dawn light. Cold as it was at first I knew that in an hour or so I would be sweating. The first part of today's walk was along a footpath (although not the one I mistakenly started out on) across grassland with a few yellow and black waymarks painted on rocks. Heading downhill through trees I approached a junction where prudence made me wait while a flock of sheep was taken out to pasture, keeping well back from the trio of large, white, barking sheepdogs that placed themselves between me and the flock. A climb followed passed some shacks and a sheep pen still full of sheep (I assume they are kept in these pens overnight). Dogs barked their warnings and the shepherd gave a cheery wave.
A track, high up on open grassland followed. At one point it went near a scattered settlement of houses with white walls and red roofs, a lone man waved a greeting from the ridge nearby. The mountains are not as empty as I had imagined before my trip. A long downhill section on a dirt track through conifers took me passed another settlement (called Ano Seli).
The only problem with descents is the climb that inevitably follows to regain the height you have just lost. This proved painful! The small path that led up through the trees was very steep. Its starting point in the valley off a larger gravel track was difficult to find, but once on it guided by the route on my GPS, there were many yellow E4 diamonds. On reaching a forest track the path should have continued on the other side but it was difficult to find, possibly some work repairing the forest track had obscured it. I followed the GPS route I had downloaded through the woods along what may have been the path but the absence of waymarks, relatively common lower down the slope was puzzling, maybe the GPS route was wrong? Fortunately there was not too much undergrowth below the trees so I only had to cope with the unremittingly steep upward gradient. Pushing through some trees having lost any path (or animal track) there might have been I reached the next forest road and again followed the GPS route across it and up the other side. Here the path was faint but visible. Some years ago crude steps and handrails had been constructed from tree branches to help you to the top. Now much dilapidated they were encouraging as I pushed aside occasional tree branches to reach the summit. Picnic tables (a cue for some lunch) and a lookout tower plus a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains greeted me at the top. Earlier the Aegean sea was maybe just visible in the distance but it was now too hazy to see that far.
A track took me down to the base of the chairlifts of the Seli ski resort, looking very dead out of season. There was the possibility of accommodation in the village of Kato Vermio below (also called Seli by the locals) but booking.com said it was sold out and I did not want a wasted climb down (and back up again) on the chance that something was available. However looking back after walking a kilometre or so the village looked nearer than I thought, maybe I should have detoured after all?
I followed the track around the empty grassy mountains until around 6:00 pm. Seeing a flat spot in a sheltered, dry valley I decided to camp. There was nobody around and everything was quiet as I pitched my tent, but inevitably, once I had finished a pick up and scooter stopped nearby. I was on a nearby summit trying to get a mobile signal to let me wife know my location (as I do every night, she has a record of my itinerary and keeps track of where I am). Once I had come down the owner of the pick up whistled to me so I felt obliged to walk over to him and explain what I was doing by pointing to the E4 on my map (a useful way of communicating with my lack of Greek). They thought it was very strange that I was camping out in the cold. After they had tried (and failed) to persuade me to go back to Seli I returned to my tent. A strung out herd of cows then went by and a group of dogs stood and barked at me. I threw a few stones (pieces of milky white quartz I noticed) which kept them at a distance and after half an hour or so in which they had play fights with each other their patience expired and they went off somewhere. Finally as darkness was falling I was left alone to enjoy the quietness I had experienced for most of the day.
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.
A light frost greeted me as I left my tent to brush my teeth, looking down at the lights of the villages on the plain below in the faint dawn light. Cold as it was at first I knew that in an hour or so I would be sweating. The first part of today's walk was along a footpath (although not the one I mistakenly started out on) across grassland with a few yellow and black waymarks painted on rocks. Heading downhill through trees I approached a junction where prudence made me wait while a flock of sheep was taken out to pasture, keeping well back from the trio of large, white, barking sheepdogs that placed themselves between me and the flock. A climb followed passed some shacks and a sheep pen still full of sheep (I assume they are kept in these pens overnight). Dogs barked their warnings and the shepherd gave a cheery wave.
A track, high up on open grassland followed. At one point it went near a scattered settlement of houses with white walls and red roofs, a lone man waved a greeting from the ridge nearby. The mountains are not as empty as I had imagined before my trip. A long downhill section on a dirt track through conifers took me passed another settlement (called Ano Seli).
The only problem with descents is the climb that inevitably follows to regain the height you have just lost. This proved painful! The small path that led up through the trees was very steep. Its starting point in the valley off a larger gravel track was difficult to find, but once on it guided by the route on my GPS, there were many yellow E4 diamonds. On reaching a forest track the path should have continued on the other side but it was difficult to find, possibly some work repairing the forest track had obscured it. I followed the GPS route I had downloaded through the woods along what may have been the path but the absence of waymarks, relatively common lower down the slope was puzzling, maybe the GPS route was wrong? Fortunately there was not too much undergrowth below the trees so I only had to cope with the unremittingly steep upward gradient. Pushing through some trees having lost any path (or animal track) there might have been I reached the next forest road and again followed the GPS route across it and up the other side. Here the path was faint but visible. Some years ago crude steps and handrails had been constructed from tree branches to help you to the top. Now much dilapidated they were encouraging as I pushed aside occasional tree branches to reach the summit. Picnic tables (a cue for some lunch) and a lookout tower plus a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains greeted me at the top. Earlier the Aegean sea was maybe just visible in the distance but it was now too hazy to see that far.
A track took me down to the base of the chairlifts of the Seli ski resort, looking very dead out of season. There was the possibility of accommodation in the village of Kato Vermio below (also called Seli by the locals) but booking.com said it was sold out and I did not want a wasted climb down (and back up again) on the chance that something was available. However looking back after walking a kilometre or so the village looked nearer than I thought, maybe I should have detoured after all?
I followed the track around the empty grassy mountains until around 6:00 pm. Seeing a flat spot in a sheltered, dry valley I decided to camp. There was nobody around and everything was quiet as I pitched my tent, but inevitably, once I had finished a pick up and scooter stopped nearby. I was on a nearby summit trying to get a mobile signal to let me wife know my location (as I do every night, she has a record of my itinerary and keeps track of where I am). Once I had come down the owner of the pick up whistled to me so I felt obliged to walk over to him and explain what I was doing by pointing to the E4 on my map (a useful way of communicating with my lack of Greek). They thought it was very strange that I was camping out in the cold. After they had tried (and failed) to persuade me to go back to Seli I returned to my tent. A strung out herd of cows then went by and a group of dogs stood and barked at me. I threw a few stones (pieces of milky white quartz I noticed) which kept them at a distance and after half an hour or so in which they had play fights with each other their patience expired and they went off somewhere. Finally as darkness was falling I was left alone to enjoy the quietness I had experienced for most of the day.
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.
 |
| Passing a flock of sheep with their shepherd, going out to pasture in the early morning |
 |
| The Vermio mountains |
 |
| A small settlement beside the track with typical white walls and red roofs |
 |
| Overgrown steps and handrail up to a picnic site and lookout tower |
No comments:
Post a Comment