Vikos Gorge (Northern Greece), 11-15 August 2017
Day 4
The last day proved to be the longest, with us covering 20km. The first couple of hours proved most difficult in terms of navigation; this was the first place where the path wasn't well marked. There were plenty of animal tracks to follow, so it ended up being a case of working out what hill we needed to get to and then choosing a track to follow.
There is a path which goes to Beloi from the junction near the road, so there is no need to go to Vradeto first; this can be seen in the map above.
The sunrise was quite something.
You can see the gorge in the distance, with Beloi viewpoint being on rocky outcrop past the valley.
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On the way we found an old shepherds shelter.
Seeing the gorge from above was rewarding, having already walked the length of it.
From Beloi, the route to Vradeto is along a well-maintained path and takes only 45 mins.
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The stairs of Vradeto can be seen on the cliff face, these are steep, but most of the way there are actual steps so the going isn't too hard. The area however was quite exposed. |
At the bottom, there are 2 stone bridges (the first of many for the day). |
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After climbing from the bridges to Kapesovo (1:45 from Vradeto), we came out to a main road and could see far into the distance. After turning off the main road (there's a large sign showing the route to Kipi), the path starts going downhill into the woods. You can see the large white/red signs, which were easy to follow. Despite the path seeming to be wooded, the first half of the descent has minimal shade and no water. The path went all the way to Kipi, at the far end of which there is a spring, from Kapesovo, this took us 2:15.
From Kipi, the walk was almost flat and along the river (once again, not running) with bridges spaced fairly frequently.
There are even mini-bridges spanning 1m.
The famous 3 arched Plakidas bridge was the first west of Kipi.
They are fascinating from above as well as from the side.
From the Plakidas bridge to the next one there was no obvious path. We followed the riverbed, which took us a while, but this may not be possible all year round. The path reappeared after the Kokkori/Noutsos bridge and we quickly made our way towards Vitsa.
We were planning on camping in the valley (there is a flat meadow which is perfect). However, after hearing from multiple sources that bears can roam this area, we decided to make our way up the stairs of Vitsa to find somewhere to camp.
2 hours after leaving Kipi, we found a small church and decided to seek shelter. After all, churches were initially made as places of refuge.
