Up and over a mountain having to make one's own path for much of the way.
A sign on the village said that today's walk would take 7 1/2 hours, so I decided on an early start to enjoy the cool of the day, knowing that much of it would be uphill. This meant no breakfast at the Heracles rooms as it did not start until 8:30 am, instead it was coffee in the village soon after 7:00, with some pastries with feta cheese inside.
The initial section was a climb uphill on a track away from the main road followed by a walk downhill back to the same road. I passed a couple of men organising their sheep and a pick up full of barking dogs but otherwise it was just a means of avoiding the main road for a while.
A little further on, after a faded E4 sign, a track headed uphill to the village of Kisos. The hillside on the other side of the valley had expanses of yellow from the broom in flower. Kisos had an old church dedicated to St John with 13th and 15th century wall paintings of the saints and the like, faded and a little damaged but still visible once your eyes were accustomed to the darkness of the church. At the church I met a party of E4 walkers from Austria, their leader was walking the E4 in Crete for the 20th time, the second such group I had come across where one of their number was on their 20th trip.
Climbing out of the village the vehicle track ended and the GPS indicated that I should continue on a path. Sadly there was no evidence of any path on the ground. It was a matter of pushing through low thorny bushes in the direction indicated by the GPS. I quickly converted my shorts to trousers to avoid being scratched. The non-path led me to a typical Cretan rebar fence. There was no obvious way through it, a major disassembly would be needed, undoing the wires attaching one section of fence to the next. Instead of this I followed the fence uphill thinking there must be an easier place to break through. There wasn't. Having climbed up so far and there being no visible path on the route indicated by the GPS I decided just to head straight up the side of the mountain to the pass that the path was meant to take me to by a less direct route, but with more gentle gradient. My climb began well crossing a fence where someone had created a low point, and marked it with a red spot. Above that there were piles of stones and old farm terraces. Above them the slope became quite steep. I aimed for an area without cliffs and continued to climb, at times requiring use of my hands. It might have been a pleasant climb among the limestone blocks and vegetation but thistles and other plants equipped with sharp thorns meant my hands were at constant risk of being stabbed. I could see the Austrian party in the distance below me sensibly sticking to the route indicated by my GPS, "making their own path" but I eventually reached the pass on my more unconventional approach.
I continued along the top of the ridge to the west admiring the birds of prey slowly circling and the views opening up before me of the White Mountains, the sea and the route I had walked yesterday. A further fence discouraged me from reaching the high point ahead of me, so I returned to the pass and headed down a track, before turning up a valley where again the mapped path was absent. Near the top of the valley I joined a vehicle track that led me down towards Gerakari. I did not take exactly the route shown on my GPS as large padlocked gates and tall fences topped with barbed wire prevented this, but there were other tracks to walk down.
I stopped at the first cafe in the village for a Coke, hoping to catch the Austrian party as they came passed and ask them some questions about the future route. There were several grey haired, unshaven men arguing about something and drinking raki or white wine. As they had some small plates of food, I asked for some also, but the waitress said it was just for them. Nevertheless after a short while she appeared with some...and then some more, including some cherries for which the area is apparently famous. Then the men started buying me shots of raki! When I left the waitress refused any money for the food, saying it was from her. I was most impressed by the undeserved kindness given to me especially as there was little opportunity for me to repay it.
I am now at the Hotel Alexander. Its pool had looked very inviting when I arrived, so after checking in I swam a few lengths then lay on a sun lounger. Unfortunately a cold wind made my sun bathing a rather temporary exercise, so instead I checked on the route I took today. It seems that up to four routes have been published for this section. One, on the Cretan beaches website and a sign in the village directs you up to the peak of Analipsis, some 770 metres higher than I reached today...I was a bit disappointed as it looked a good rocky mountain and I had plenty of time.
14.1 kilometres completed today with a 825 metre total ascent.
A sign on the village said that today's walk would take 7 1/2 hours, so I decided on an early start to enjoy the cool of the day, knowing that much of it would be uphill. This meant no breakfast at the Heracles rooms as it did not start until 8:30 am, instead it was coffee in the village soon after 7:00, with some pastries with feta cheese inside.
The initial section was a climb uphill on a track away from the main road followed by a walk downhill back to the same road. I passed a couple of men organising their sheep and a pick up full of barking dogs but otherwise it was just a means of avoiding the main road for a while.
A little further on, after a faded E4 sign, a track headed uphill to the village of Kisos. The hillside on the other side of the valley had expanses of yellow from the broom in flower. Kisos had an old church dedicated to St John with 13th and 15th century wall paintings of the saints and the like, faded and a little damaged but still visible once your eyes were accustomed to the darkness of the church. At the church I met a party of E4 walkers from Austria, their leader was walking the E4 in Crete for the 20th time, the second such group I had come across where one of their number was on their 20th trip.
Climbing out of the village the vehicle track ended and the GPS indicated that I should continue on a path. Sadly there was no evidence of any path on the ground. It was a matter of pushing through low thorny bushes in the direction indicated by the GPS. I quickly converted my shorts to trousers to avoid being scratched. The non-path led me to a typical Cretan rebar fence. There was no obvious way through it, a major disassembly would be needed, undoing the wires attaching one section of fence to the next. Instead of this I followed the fence uphill thinking there must be an easier place to break through. There wasn't. Having climbed up so far and there being no visible path on the route indicated by the GPS I decided just to head straight up the side of the mountain to the pass that the path was meant to take me to by a less direct route, but with more gentle gradient. My climb began well crossing a fence where someone had created a low point, and marked it with a red spot. Above that there were piles of stones and old farm terraces. Above them the slope became quite steep. I aimed for an area without cliffs and continued to climb, at times requiring use of my hands. It might have been a pleasant climb among the limestone blocks and vegetation but thistles and other plants equipped with sharp thorns meant my hands were at constant risk of being stabbed. I could see the Austrian party in the distance below me sensibly sticking to the route indicated by my GPS, "making their own path" but I eventually reached the pass on my more unconventional approach.
I continued along the top of the ridge to the west admiring the birds of prey slowly circling and the views opening up before me of the White Mountains, the sea and the route I had walked yesterday. A further fence discouraged me from reaching the high point ahead of me, so I returned to the pass and headed down a track, before turning up a valley where again the mapped path was absent. Near the top of the valley I joined a vehicle track that led me down towards Gerakari. I did not take exactly the route shown on my GPS as large padlocked gates and tall fences topped with barbed wire prevented this, but there were other tracks to walk down.
I stopped at the first cafe in the village for a Coke, hoping to catch the Austrian party as they came passed and ask them some questions about the future route. There were several grey haired, unshaven men arguing about something and drinking raki or white wine. As they had some small plates of food, I asked for some also, but the waitress said it was just for them. Nevertheless after a short while she appeared with some...and then some more, including some cherries for which the area is apparently famous. Then the men started buying me shots of raki! When I left the waitress refused any money for the food, saying it was from her. I was most impressed by the undeserved kindness given to me especially as there was little opportunity for me to repay it.
I am now at the Hotel Alexander. Its pool had looked very inviting when I arrived, so after checking in I swam a few lengths then lay on a sun lounger. Unfortunately a cold wind made my sun bathing a rather temporary exercise, so instead I checked on the route I took today. It seems that up to four routes have been published for this section. One, on the Cretan beaches website and a sign in the village directs you up to the peak of Analipsis, some 770 metres higher than I reached today...I was a bit disappointed as it looked a good rocky mountain and I had plenty of time.
14.1 kilometres completed today with a 825 metre total ascent.
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| Wall paintings in 13th to 15th century church of St John |
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| Path near the path where it was more defined |
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| Yellow broom beside the track, the Psiloritis mountains are in the background |
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