PATH CLEARING AT ANANIA

For the last two days, two over 60 gals have been snipping away and have managed to clear a long portion of calderemi. It is part of the old route to Ag Riginos, Pirgos. The first portion can be found just after the T junction at Diakopi, a few steps towards Anania. The rocky path meanders up to the small church of Ag Nikolaos (with a new house next to it). The track we cleared starts in the top left hand corner and climbs to the top of the Anania hill, beside the property of the late Apostolis Patsis. The Spanish broom (Spartium juncreum), Cistus, Asparagus acutifolius, to name but a few, had totally taken over and had closed the route. We cleared some parts right back to the dry stone wall, just so you can see how beautiful it is. Go take a look and enjoy!

REPORT BY A REGULAR HIKER TO THE ISLAND

Hello Heather ,




I was just (re)discovering you web-sites , congratulations !

Please find my report on the Loutraki -Paleio Klima-Glossa trails as of 28 April .Overall , my feeling is positive .We we first surprised by the new stone surface they built on some sections of the upward trail to Aghi Anarghiri .True, you need solid shoes with a thick sole to accommodate these new stones , but they will smoothen out with age .What an expense ( I had been told this reddish limestone from the Skopeliot quarry was getting rare to build houses ) ! The good side is that they made it like an old stepped kalderimi , unusable for vehicles . In some places , like from Aghi Anarghiri to Ano Paleio Klima , they renovated the kalderimi using more rounded , brown stones . Back to Kato Paleio Klima, we were relieved to find out that he old mule-path to Machalas , which I feared had been all bulldozed in May 2004 , was still intact ( a bit overgrown but passable ) for about four fifths of its length . Only just before Machalas it's sadly replaced by a jeep track , but this got narrowed by the vegetation.We then walked down the tiny footpath from the lowest Machalas houses to a track in that lush gorgeous valley , leading to the Loutraki road , with again a shortcut at the bus-shelter after the bend , down to the paralia !

A wonderful 5 hour hike we did was as follows : Aghios Charalambos ( breathtaking views on a hilltop with shepherds' pens ) , narrow footpath in the brushwoods , 4-way crossroad ( right arm might lead to Staphylos , who knows ?) , we took the upper arm straight to Palouki top antennas ( the goat-paths became quite faint , it was more guessing and cross-country , actually ), Palouki ridge dirt road ( on the way , at the start of the walk to Aghia Anna or to Taxiarchis , we also saw these amazing stone pavings ... At the little round clearing there, we saw your orange footprint way-marking on a tree , pointing to the direction of the sea , more or less toward Alonissos : do you have a walk there ? ).At that saddle with a water tank and a sort of goat-pen made of steel grilles , we took the tiny footpath marked by your footprint going down a gulley in the oak-woods ( by the way at that "saddle" we also saw these new impressive stone kalderimia into 2 directions : we'll try them next time ).Down on the asphalt road above Metamorphossi Sotirou , we then took at the bend the dirt road and then footpath to Aghia Marina ( time to refill ! ) and the small road down to the valley .

All the best for your walks !



Joël