Vikos Gorge (Northern Greece), 11-15 August 2017
Day 3
After a short descent from the refuge, this day was fairly flat, a nice contrast from the previous days climb.
Dropping down from the refuge provided a complete change in scenery, from rock and cliffs...
... to boggy meadows with cows. The only downside was the flies.
After a while of walking along relatively flat terrain, we started descending into the valley of Megas Lakkas and worrying about the lack of water.
Lots of flies and butterflies swarmed around us on the meadows.
This valley proceeds to join the Vikos gorge (opposite the Oxia viewpoint). The original plan was to drop down the river and camp there, but the river was dry and the first path down didn't exist so our plans changed.
We never realised how much joy something as simple as water can bring, but this perennial spring saved us.
This however was where we encountered the much-feared sheepdog. It eyed us up and decided against attacking, we were however ready to fight, with rocks in hand.
By mid-afternoon we made it out of the valley and decided to set up camp near the col (approx. 7 hours after leaving Astraka).
We made hung up a tarp for some shade and relaxed until we had to get our act together. Once we had our tents set up, a shepherd went past, but wasn't bothered by our presence, more surprised. There were several flat meadows going down the far side of the col, the only issue being an abundance of thistles and a lack of water.
