A long day with lots of ups and downs, but good views in the morning.
I woke to birdsong and the smell of thyme. The sky on the horizon was red, pregnant with the unrisen sun. In Crete the sky often seems to blend into the sea, without a clear horizon being visible, pastel shades predominate at sunrise and sunset.
From my campsite beside Mount Stavros it was downhill on a track twisting right and left on the slope to loose height at a gentle pace. Small vineyards were scattered across the rough mountainside, each with a small building with a black plastic water tank or similar on its roof. Lower down there were olive trees in regular patterns as I approached the broad valley separating two groups of mountains. At the bottom of my track was Vasiliki. The upper part of this village has been abandoned, the buildings falling into disrepair, but nearer the road pots of geraniums show life still exists here, indeed I passed a few older ladies, all dressed in black bent over sticks going about their morning business. There was a cafe, sadly closed.
After crossing the valley with its olive groves, I climbed to the village of Monastiraki with its cute little houses built on top of each other and narrow alleyways. There was a taverna asking for Facebook "likes" and a cafe with a "heart" drawn on its blackboard but both were closed so no "likes" from me.
The next section was a path, and given that E4 "paths" in Crete are often just an invitation to push through the undergrowth, I was a bit concerned. However, it proved a serviceable route, easily followed except for one section of loose stone. As I climbed higher, a view over the valley below opened up, with the village of Pachia Amos in the near distance, and west along the coast to the more distant tourist town of Agios Nikolaos. A large outcrop of rock loomed straight ahead.
Before reaching it the path turned inland above the "Gorge of Ha", which, based on the informative sign, looks a spectacular, narrow gorge with multiple waterfalls that you need to rappel (i.e. abseil) down. Climbers attempting the gorge start at the little St Anna chapel, which was a useful stopping point for me as it had a tap at which I could fill up my water containers. With the heat of the day I was getting through a lot of water, the sweat falling in drops from my face. The chapel has 15th century wall paintings, very much faded. I was struck by how similar they were to modern paintings in Orthodox churches, rather solemn, stern faces with gold halos.
Thripti village was a little further on where I was delighted to find a taverna open for lunch despite the small size of the village. The staff and customers were all shouting at each other. I have noticed this before in Crete and the Peloponnese. Are people really cross with each other, or is Greek in these parts a language you shout, or is it just the culture in which shouty speech is the norm?
After Thripti the track wound around; up, down and up again between the mountains. Eventually the route led me to a "path", one of those non-existent, find a way through the thorny bushes path. At the start there were some steel posts with E4 signs to aim for. Unfortunately these stopped and I was following the route on my GPS, which then took me across a scree slope balancing on goat tracks.
Finally I approached a track but waited while the farmer whistled for his sheep, which surprisingly obeyed, coming to him, if a little slowly grabbing bits of vegetation on the way. I then proceeded, trying not to disturb his carefully corralled flock, although not entirely successfully.
On reaching the village of Chrisopigi I could see no sign of a cafe, shop or taverna which I had been hoping for, not even a closed one. For a top up of water, an old lady in black pointed to the tap used to water the geraniums in the village square. She and (I assume) her husband were just sitting there watching the world go by (which consisted mainly of me going by).
A few kilometres further on and I am hiding in an olive grove as these are areas of flat land suitable for pitching a tent on. I have picked a spot where all the weeds have been chemically killed off so there are no thistles to attack me. With my green tent blending in with the olive trees I am hoping the owner of the trees does not see me and tell me to move on.
35.8 kilometres covered today with a 1300 metre total ascent.
I woke to birdsong and the smell of thyme. The sky on the horizon was red, pregnant with the unrisen sun. In Crete the sky often seems to blend into the sea, without a clear horizon being visible, pastel shades predominate at sunrise and sunset.
From my campsite beside Mount Stavros it was downhill on a track twisting right and left on the slope to loose height at a gentle pace. Small vineyards were scattered across the rough mountainside, each with a small building with a black plastic water tank or similar on its roof. Lower down there were olive trees in regular patterns as I approached the broad valley separating two groups of mountains. At the bottom of my track was Vasiliki. The upper part of this village has been abandoned, the buildings falling into disrepair, but nearer the road pots of geraniums show life still exists here, indeed I passed a few older ladies, all dressed in black bent over sticks going about their morning business. There was a cafe, sadly closed.
After crossing the valley with its olive groves, I climbed to the village of Monastiraki with its cute little houses built on top of each other and narrow alleyways. There was a taverna asking for Facebook "likes" and a cafe with a "heart" drawn on its blackboard but both were closed so no "likes" from me.
The next section was a path, and given that E4 "paths" in Crete are often just an invitation to push through the undergrowth, I was a bit concerned. However, it proved a serviceable route, easily followed except for one section of loose stone. As I climbed higher, a view over the valley below opened up, with the village of Pachia Amos in the near distance, and west along the coast to the more distant tourist town of Agios Nikolaos. A large outcrop of rock loomed straight ahead.
Before reaching it the path turned inland above the "Gorge of Ha", which, based on the informative sign, looks a spectacular, narrow gorge with multiple waterfalls that you need to rappel (i.e. abseil) down. Climbers attempting the gorge start at the little St Anna chapel, which was a useful stopping point for me as it had a tap at which I could fill up my water containers. With the heat of the day I was getting through a lot of water, the sweat falling in drops from my face. The chapel has 15th century wall paintings, very much faded. I was struck by how similar they were to modern paintings in Orthodox churches, rather solemn, stern faces with gold halos.
Thripti village was a little further on where I was delighted to find a taverna open for lunch despite the small size of the village. The staff and customers were all shouting at each other. I have noticed this before in Crete and the Peloponnese. Are people really cross with each other, or is Greek in these parts a language you shout, or is it just the culture in which shouty speech is the norm?
After Thripti the track wound around; up, down and up again between the mountains. Eventually the route led me to a "path", one of those non-existent, find a way through the thorny bushes path. At the start there were some steel posts with E4 signs to aim for. Unfortunately these stopped and I was following the route on my GPS, which then took me across a scree slope balancing on goat tracks.
Finally I approached a track but waited while the farmer whistled for his sheep, which surprisingly obeyed, coming to him, if a little slowly grabbing bits of vegetation on the way. I then proceeded, trying not to disturb his carefully corralled flock, although not entirely successfully.
On reaching the village of Chrisopigi I could see no sign of a cafe, shop or taverna which I had been hoping for, not even a closed one. For a top up of water, an old lady in black pointed to the tap used to water the geraniums in the village square. She and (I assume) her husband were just sitting there watching the world go by (which consisted mainly of me going by).
A few kilometres further on and I am hiding in an olive grove as these are areas of flat land suitable for pitching a tent on. I have picked a spot where all the weeds have been chemically killed off so there are no thistles to attack me. With my green tent blending in with the olive trees I am hoping the owner of the trees does not see me and tell me to move on.
35.8 kilometres covered today with a 1300 metre total ascent.
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| Cretan sea |
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| Olive trees on terraces by E4 track |
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| View across to Agios Nikolaos |
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| 15th century wall painting in church of St Anna at Thripti |
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| Gorge of Ha |
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