A walk along a coast path with some exciting bits.
Today's walk along the coast was almost entirely on a footpath, apart from a short road section near Hora Sfakion. At times it was along pebbly or gritty beaches, at others among pines, sometimes over rocks and the remaining time among the low vegetation, adapted to limited amounts of water, that characterises much of Crete. Much of it was very attractive, the path squashed between the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. The first sight of interest was St Paul's chapel, where St Paul was said to have baptised the first christians on Crete. As it was next to an isolated taverna I stopped for a coffee, the men I had met earlier sporting "20 × E4" tee shirts were already there, playing cards and fixing boots with duct tape.
My approach to the village of Likos (which I mistook for Loutro) was the next bit of excitement. The path down to it follows a ledge on the cliff that was not that wide, although, as I did not look down, I am not sure how much of a drop there was. After a lunch of peas and artichokes at a cafe at the start of the little settlement I continued (through the middle of other tavernas) to Loutro.
There must be some kind of local regulation because all the buildings in Loutro had white walls and dark blue fittings. Even the beach umbrellas and the restaurant chairs and tables were dark blue and white. Only some yellow plastic canoes jarred with the theme, and a few houses that used the wrong shade of white or blue.
A few bays later the curve of Sweet Water Bay appeared with its array of sun loungers and umbrellas. At the east end of the bay, the E4 seemed to have suffered from recent rock falls, and even on the sandy part of the beach I am not sure I would be that happy about sitting around on a sun lounger, the cliffs and steep slopes above looked a bit unstable. After the zone of recent rock falls, the E4 was along a recognizable path paved with rough rocks over older rock falls. Ahead though the path seemed to be cut into the cliff with a large drop to the sea on one side. For most of the day, as far as Sweet Water Bay, I had frequently met walkers coming the other way, but in this section it was just me. It made me a little concerned, as looking ahead, it seemed that one bit of the path on the cliff was missing, and I was not planing on risking any heroic rock climbing over damaged sections of path. I considered catching the water taxi service rather than completing the walk, but there were no reports that the path was impassable. Provided I was happy to retrace my steps there seemed no reason why I should not continue to see if it was possible to safely pass the questionable section. As I progressed it was apparent that a good path had been cut into the cliff at some point in the past, with bits of concrete being added at a later date. The section I thought was missing was intact, and although I was careful not to look at the drop beside me, I fairly easily negotiated the E4 to where the path terminated at a bend in the road.
Once on the road I soon marched to Hora Sfakion and the Hotel Livikon. The man who was to show me to my room joked that it was a 30 minute walk away, after 7 hours walking I was not amused. My room is in fact directly behind the seafront, and from my balcony I watched as hundreds of tourists disembarked from the ferry. They were from tour groups walking down the Samaria gorge, brought by sea from Agia Roumeli, to the coaches waiting near my hotel. A quicker than walking my 7 1/2 hour walk, but not quite so exciting!
Near the harbour there was a memorial describing how thousands of soldiers were evacuated from Crete at Hora Sfakion during the second world war. It made interesting reading.
Today's walk along the coast was almost entirely on a footpath, apart from a short road section near Hora Sfakion. At times it was along pebbly or gritty beaches, at others among pines, sometimes over rocks and the remaining time among the low vegetation, adapted to limited amounts of water, that characterises much of Crete. Much of it was very attractive, the path squashed between the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. The first sight of interest was St Paul's chapel, where St Paul was said to have baptised the first christians on Crete. As it was next to an isolated taverna I stopped for a coffee, the men I had met earlier sporting "20 × E4" tee shirts were already there, playing cards and fixing boots with duct tape.
My approach to the village of Likos (which I mistook for Loutro) was the next bit of excitement. The path down to it follows a ledge on the cliff that was not that wide, although, as I did not look down, I am not sure how much of a drop there was. After a lunch of peas and artichokes at a cafe at the start of the little settlement I continued (through the middle of other tavernas) to Loutro.
There must be some kind of local regulation because all the buildings in Loutro had white walls and dark blue fittings. Even the beach umbrellas and the restaurant chairs and tables were dark blue and white. Only some yellow plastic canoes jarred with the theme, and a few houses that used the wrong shade of white or blue.
A few bays later the curve of Sweet Water Bay appeared with its array of sun loungers and umbrellas. At the east end of the bay, the E4 seemed to have suffered from recent rock falls, and even on the sandy part of the beach I am not sure I would be that happy about sitting around on a sun lounger, the cliffs and steep slopes above looked a bit unstable. After the zone of recent rock falls, the E4 was along a recognizable path paved with rough rocks over older rock falls. Ahead though the path seemed to be cut into the cliff with a large drop to the sea on one side. For most of the day, as far as Sweet Water Bay, I had frequently met walkers coming the other way, but in this section it was just me. It made me a little concerned, as looking ahead, it seemed that one bit of the path on the cliff was missing, and I was not planing on risking any heroic rock climbing over damaged sections of path. I considered catching the water taxi service rather than completing the walk, but there were no reports that the path was impassable. Provided I was happy to retrace my steps there seemed no reason why I should not continue to see if it was possible to safely pass the questionable section. As I progressed it was apparent that a good path had been cut into the cliff at some point in the past, with bits of concrete being added at a later date. The section I thought was missing was intact, and although I was careful not to look at the drop beside me, I fairly easily negotiated the E4 to where the path terminated at a bend in the road.
Once on the road I soon marched to Hora Sfakion and the Hotel Livikon. The man who was to show me to my room joked that it was a 30 minute walk away, after 7 hours walking I was not amused. My room is in fact directly behind the seafront, and from my balcony I watched as hundreds of tourists disembarked from the ferry. They were from tour groups walking down the Samaria gorge, brought by sea from Agia Roumeli, to the coaches waiting near my hotel. A quicker than walking my 7 1/2 hour walk, but not quite so exciting!
Near the harbour there was a memorial describing how thousands of soldiers were evacuated from Crete at Hora Sfakion during the second world war. It made interesting reading.
21.6 kilometres walked today with a total ascent of 725 metres.
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| The white houses of Agia Roumelia dwarfed by the size of the mountains behind it |
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| Path squashed between the mountains and the sea |
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| A tricky section of path which goes in front of the cave |
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| Perfectly coordinated Loutro |
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