Roads, paths and forestry tracks took me through pine woods, passing two villages; the weather was fine and the birds were singing.
Leaving the village I was followed by a pack of dogs, maybe they thought we were off for a hunt. Fortunately after a kilometre or so they disappeared into the trees after some scent.
At the point indicated by my GPS track I turned off the road to follow the E4 down a path. As I was now expecting based on recent "paths" I had followed, in many places it proved difficult to find. This included a steep, slippery slope of deeply eroded gravel from which I extracted myself with some difficulty. My GPS was essential for guiding me back to a semblance of a path with rare E4 signs. On the plus side I came across a tortoise in my misadventures. Numerous prickly leaves from holm oak trees went down my back as I tried to push my way through to finally reach a river and the road bridge across it.
Here there was a choice. The most exciting alternative was to head over the Giona mountains and down a valley on the other side to the village of Viniane. However this meant going over 2000 metres and down a steep scree slope, which looked like it would be covered by snow. Given the snow was maybe icy and I was not equipped with an ice axe or crampons, I reluctantly decided to take the safer, lower altitude alternative via the villages of Strome and Kaloskope. To reach Strome I could have taken a path along the river among the trees, but given my recent experience I chose the quiet tarmac road, admiring the deep valley with its foaming river from above.
The cafes in the square at Strome were both closed, although there were signs that they had been open recently. I was not the only disappointed customer, a pick up pulled in as I had a snack from my emergency supply, and quickly left on finding the cafes closed. The path around and out of Strome into the woods was at first easy to follow, so easy I lost my concentration and missed a turn. I retraced my steps to a point where the E4 follows a narrow path uphill beside a small stream. It then continued through woodland, the path often obscured by fallen trees; some searching for the path was needed at occasions.
In time it reached a forestry track on which I made faster progress to the village of Kaloskope. Alas, although there were two tavernas in this village, with evidence of being open recently (e.g. empty beer bottles) they were closed when I arrived. Supper for me would have to be tinned tuna and biscuits. As there would be a long day tomorrow in order to reach the village of Eptalofu, I continued walking for an extra couple of hours. The road and dirt tracks gave fast progress although there was one short section of "path", it's entrance guarded by six goats (?) with very impressive handlebar horns. The "path" consisted of fighting through undergrowth and tree branches following my GPS, although it did improve a little.
My feet were suffering, with blisters forming on my heels, when I stopped to camp beside a dirt track on a daisy strewn area of grass. I am now being confined to my tent due to the attentions of various small flying insects. I have only just recovered from the last crop of bits....
33.4 kilometres walked todays with a total ascent of 1010 metres.
A GPX file of my route can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or from myViewRanger short code johnpon0042.
Leaving the village I was followed by a pack of dogs, maybe they thought we were off for a hunt. Fortunately after a kilometre or so they disappeared into the trees after some scent.
At the point indicated by my GPS track I turned off the road to follow the E4 down a path. As I was now expecting based on recent "paths" I had followed, in many places it proved difficult to find. This included a steep, slippery slope of deeply eroded gravel from which I extracted myself with some difficulty. My GPS was essential for guiding me back to a semblance of a path with rare E4 signs. On the plus side I came across a tortoise in my misadventures. Numerous prickly leaves from holm oak trees went down my back as I tried to push my way through to finally reach a river and the road bridge across it.
Here there was a choice. The most exciting alternative was to head over the Giona mountains and down a valley on the other side to the village of Viniane. However this meant going over 2000 metres and down a steep scree slope, which looked like it would be covered by snow. Given the snow was maybe icy and I was not equipped with an ice axe or crampons, I reluctantly decided to take the safer, lower altitude alternative via the villages of Strome and Kaloskope. To reach Strome I could have taken a path along the river among the trees, but given my recent experience I chose the quiet tarmac road, admiring the deep valley with its foaming river from above.
The cafes in the square at Strome were both closed, although there were signs that they had been open recently. I was not the only disappointed customer, a pick up pulled in as I had a snack from my emergency supply, and quickly left on finding the cafes closed. The path around and out of Strome into the woods was at first easy to follow, so easy I lost my concentration and missed a turn. I retraced my steps to a point where the E4 follows a narrow path uphill beside a small stream. It then continued through woodland, the path often obscured by fallen trees; some searching for the path was needed at occasions.
In time it reached a forestry track on which I made faster progress to the village of Kaloskope. Alas, although there were two tavernas in this village, with evidence of being open recently (e.g. empty beer bottles) they were closed when I arrived. Supper for me would have to be tinned tuna and biscuits. As there would be a long day tomorrow in order to reach the village of Eptalofu, I continued walking for an extra couple of hours. The road and dirt tracks gave fast progress although there was one short section of "path", it's entrance guarded by six goats (?) with very impressive handlebar horns. The "path" consisted of fighting through undergrowth and tree branches following my GPS, although it did improve a little.
My feet were suffering, with blisters forming on my heels, when I stopped to camp beside a dirt track on a daisy strewn area of grass. I am now being confined to my tent due to the attentions of various small flying insects. I have only just recovered from the last crop of bits....
33.4 kilometres walked todays with a total ascent of 1010 metres.
A GPX file of my route can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or from myViewRanger short code johnpon0042.
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| Prickly holly type leaves that get down your back as you push through overgrown paths, although its actually an oak tree |
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| Plenty of scenic views, but too much snow to risk descending down very steep slopes |
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