A day for taking a cautious route but still with the reward of looking down on the clouds (and a late lunch).
My planned route went up to 1750 metres at which height extensive snow could be expected. The Anavasi map shows the E4 following a path up a valley to reach a ridge at this height. My experience of the last few days made me suspicious that any such path now existed, consequently I was not surprised to see no sign of it where it was mapped as starting. There was a dirt track a little later that might have gone in the right direction but I decided on a more reliable option.
I walked up the track I had been following to where a tarmaced road reached a high pass. From here a dirt track, visible on all my maps, would take me to Vlassio, the next village on the E4, joining the Anavasi route after a few kilometres. Walking a little way along I could see plenty of snow, but enough of the track looked snow free for me to make a safe passage despite it being over 1700 metres. Apart from a few sections of wading through snow drifts I made reasonably good progress. My reward was a view down onto the top of the clouds covering the plain of Thessaly. I find looking down on clouds from a height especially appealing, making the effort of climbing many hundreds of metres worthwhile. The thought that the population on the plains were having a cloudy day while I had weak sunshine also gave me some satisfaction (while I chewed on some sticky dried cherries).
After contouring past a few mountains, admiring the purple crocuses and yellow coltsfoot, it was time to descend to Vlassio. I chose a route I could see on Google Earth rather than the one on the Anavasi map. Possibly a mistake as my route was longer, heading first along the mountainside before descending to Vlassio in some large loops. One of these loops was cut off by a large and recent landslide, although I was able to clamber over the blocks of earth, uprooted vegetation and boulders to continue down the track.
The red roofs of Vlassio appeared quite suddenly, spread over the hillside. Google indicated a cafe existed but it was closed, maybe I was too early in the season. There was a strange water wheel made of buckets welded to a circular frame that was slowly turning. It did not appear to power anything, maybe just a folly to attract passers-by like myself.
Badly in need of a coffee I continued, now on tarmac, to the bottom of the valley and up the valley on the opposite side. This led to a group of villages centred on Petrilo. It was with much joy that I found a taverna come shop which was open. The smiling couple running the place spoke no English but translation was provided by a workman installing something at the Taverna, possibly a red LED sign advertising the place and giving the time and a temperature (that latter was about 5 degrees too high judging by the traditional thermometer inside). Soon I was tucking into a 3 egg omelette, tomato salad, cheese and bread, and my cup of coffee.
Fortified I made my way up to the pass at the head of the tree lined valley. Since Vlassio I was seeing a few E4 signs, the last one stating Vraggiana and Koystesa were both 3 1/2 hours away. As these two villages are a few kilometres apart one of these statements must be wrong.
I am now comfortably camped on a rare piece of flat, grassy ground at the pass itself, surrounded by pine trees, planning my accommodation for the next few days...
34 kilometres walked today excluding searching for cafes and missed turnings, 1360 metres total ascent.
A GPX file of my track can be downloaded from wikiloc.com or you can download my route onto your smartphone from myviewranger.com code johnpon0041.
My planned route went up to 1750 metres at which height extensive snow could be expected. The Anavasi map shows the E4 following a path up a valley to reach a ridge at this height. My experience of the last few days made me suspicious that any such path now existed, consequently I was not surprised to see no sign of it where it was mapped as starting. There was a dirt track a little later that might have gone in the right direction but I decided on a more reliable option.
I walked up the track I had been following to where a tarmaced road reached a high pass. From here a dirt track, visible on all my maps, would take me to Vlassio, the next village on the E4, joining the Anavasi route after a few kilometres. Walking a little way along I could see plenty of snow, but enough of the track looked snow free for me to make a safe passage despite it being over 1700 metres. Apart from a few sections of wading through snow drifts I made reasonably good progress. My reward was a view down onto the top of the clouds covering the plain of Thessaly. I find looking down on clouds from a height especially appealing, making the effort of climbing many hundreds of metres worthwhile. The thought that the population on the plains were having a cloudy day while I had weak sunshine also gave me some satisfaction (while I chewed on some sticky dried cherries).
After contouring past a few mountains, admiring the purple crocuses and yellow coltsfoot, it was time to descend to Vlassio. I chose a route I could see on Google Earth rather than the one on the Anavasi map. Possibly a mistake as my route was longer, heading first along the mountainside before descending to Vlassio in some large loops. One of these loops was cut off by a large and recent landslide, although I was able to clamber over the blocks of earth, uprooted vegetation and boulders to continue down the track.
The red roofs of Vlassio appeared quite suddenly, spread over the hillside. Google indicated a cafe existed but it was closed, maybe I was too early in the season. There was a strange water wheel made of buckets welded to a circular frame that was slowly turning. It did not appear to power anything, maybe just a folly to attract passers-by like myself.
Badly in need of a coffee I continued, now on tarmac, to the bottom of the valley and up the valley on the opposite side. This led to a group of villages centred on Petrilo. It was with much joy that I found a taverna come shop which was open. The smiling couple running the place spoke no English but translation was provided by a workman installing something at the Taverna, possibly a red LED sign advertising the place and giving the time and a temperature (that latter was about 5 degrees too high judging by the traditional thermometer inside). Soon I was tucking into a 3 egg omelette, tomato salad, cheese and bread, and my cup of coffee.
Fortified I made my way up to the pass at the head of the tree lined valley. Since Vlassio I was seeing a few E4 signs, the last one stating Vraggiana and Koystesa were both 3 1/2 hours away. As these two villages are a few kilometres apart one of these statements must be wrong.
I am now comfortably camped on a rare piece of flat, grassy ground at the pass itself, surrounded by pine trees, planning my accommodation for the next few days...
34 kilometres walked today excluding searching for cafes and missed turnings, 1360 metres total ascent.
A GPX file of my track can be downloaded from wikiloc.com or you can download my route onto your smartphone from myviewranger.com code johnpon0041.
 |
| Looking down on the clouds |
 |
| The track I took from Argithea to Vlassio, snowy but walkable |
 |
| Village of Vlassio, like most villages in the area it clings to the hillside |
No comments:
Post a Comment