A bit of a tiring day on attractive but stony paths, rewarded by a late lunch at Arna.
I woke to the sound of voices outside. Checking my watch it was only 5:30 am but having been lifted from my slumbers I needed a pee. I quickly dressed so I was fit to be seen and came out of my tent ready for a wash at the spring. There were four people on the veranda of the refuge, watching the sun rise and making coffee. They very kindly offered me some, always welcome first thing. They were from Athens and hoping to climb Profitis Ilias, although I worried about how they would manage the snow as they had no trekking poles and only light shoes.
I enjoyed the first part of the walk through the pines, in particular seeing some very woolly sheep(?) with horizontal twisted horns, I assumed they were wild sheep. At George's suggestion (George from the Anavryti guesthouse) I climbed up over piles of fallen trees at a point just after some steel steps to see the "five shepherd's pipes", five separate waterfalls coming straight out of the cliff. I could only see four but it was difficult to get a good viewpoint from the mass of fallen trees. A little later I dropped off the ice axe and crampons I had borrowed at George's cabin, after saying hello to an E4 walker nearby. He was cooking his breakfast beside his tent. More elaborate than myself who just had a couple of muesli bars and some dried apricots for breakfast.
There was then a very steep uphill section, followed by a steep downhill section ending by a church. After that the waymarks deviated from my GPS track which seems to have taken a shortcut. As the waymarks were so good I followed them on various small paths through the pine woods. In one area they followed a stream bed beside a forest track. I was not at all sure it was worth the effort of following (or trying to follow) the path by, across and through the stream across large stones, pushing past trees, when the adjacent forest track would have provided a much faster and easier route. Nevertheless I persevered feeling somewhat perverse.
Eventually the waymarked way joined my GPS track at the beginning of a long section of path. Parts of the path were very attractive as it skirted around big cliffs and provided viewpoints across the valley. However it rocky and careful footwork was needed with loose material and some steep slopes. On occasion I accidentally deviated onto some goat track and had to retrace my steps carefully looking for an E4 sign (a bit like some childhood game). It was getting tiring and a little wearing concentrating on stepping on the right rocks so I was glad when I reached the church at the start of the road leading first to the village of Spartia and then Arna.
Maybe as it was Sunday, the taverna, in the village square beneath a huge plane tree, was doing a steady trade, so I sat down to a late lunch. A nearby customer spoke good English, having worked abroad. He told me that his home and small vineyard and winery was in the village but that he lived and worked in Gythio. He worried about the decline in the number of permanent residents in the village and offered me a plot of land! He also kindly bought me a bottle of beer and arranged for some accommodation for me for the night, a room near the taverna. I had thought of walking further today but as I was not enjoying the path Arna seemed far enough.
My notes said today's walk should have taken 5 1/2 hours, not the 7 3/4 hours I required, even though I only covered some 16.4 kilometres (with a 620 metre total ascent), slow progress indeed, perhaps I was suffering from my big climb yesterday.
I woke to the sound of voices outside. Checking my watch it was only 5:30 am but having been lifted from my slumbers I needed a pee. I quickly dressed so I was fit to be seen and came out of my tent ready for a wash at the spring. There were four people on the veranda of the refuge, watching the sun rise and making coffee. They very kindly offered me some, always welcome first thing. They were from Athens and hoping to climb Profitis Ilias, although I worried about how they would manage the snow as they had no trekking poles and only light shoes.
I enjoyed the first part of the walk through the pines, in particular seeing some very woolly sheep(?) with horizontal twisted horns, I assumed they were wild sheep. At George's suggestion (George from the Anavryti guesthouse) I climbed up over piles of fallen trees at a point just after some steel steps to see the "five shepherd's pipes", five separate waterfalls coming straight out of the cliff. I could only see four but it was difficult to get a good viewpoint from the mass of fallen trees. A little later I dropped off the ice axe and crampons I had borrowed at George's cabin, after saying hello to an E4 walker nearby. He was cooking his breakfast beside his tent. More elaborate than myself who just had a couple of muesli bars and some dried apricots for breakfast.
There was then a very steep uphill section, followed by a steep downhill section ending by a church. After that the waymarks deviated from my GPS track which seems to have taken a shortcut. As the waymarks were so good I followed them on various small paths through the pine woods. In one area they followed a stream bed beside a forest track. I was not at all sure it was worth the effort of following (or trying to follow) the path by, across and through the stream across large stones, pushing past trees, when the adjacent forest track would have provided a much faster and easier route. Nevertheless I persevered feeling somewhat perverse.
Eventually the waymarked way joined my GPS track at the beginning of a long section of path. Parts of the path were very attractive as it skirted around big cliffs and provided viewpoints across the valley. However it rocky and careful footwork was needed with loose material and some steep slopes. On occasion I accidentally deviated onto some goat track and had to retrace my steps carefully looking for an E4 sign (a bit like some childhood game). It was getting tiring and a little wearing concentrating on stepping on the right rocks so I was glad when I reached the church at the start of the road leading first to the village of Spartia and then Arna.
Maybe as it was Sunday, the taverna, in the village square beneath a huge plane tree, was doing a steady trade, so I sat down to a late lunch. A nearby customer spoke good English, having worked abroad. He told me that his home and small vineyard and winery was in the village but that he lived and worked in Gythio. He worried about the decline in the number of permanent residents in the village and offered me a plot of land! He also kindly bought me a bottle of beer and arranged for some accommodation for me for the night, a room near the taverna. I had thought of walking further today but as I was not enjoying the path Arna seemed far enough.
My notes said today's walk should have taken 5 1/2 hours, not the 7 3/4 hours I required, even though I only covered some 16.4 kilometres (with a 620 metre total ascent), slow progress indeed, perhaps I was suffering from my big climb yesterday.
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| A wild sheep or goat? |
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| View from path to Arna |
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| The rocky nature of the path was making my feet sore |
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