THE STORY
Deciding on the walk
Starting out
The route improves
Vlichata
Vegetables and ruins!
Uphill again, to Kouvalata
Lunch & conversation
Gentle return to Lixouri
Deciding on the walk
Talking to a couple in the hotel on our second evening there, we heard about the difficulties in finding places to walk on the island – they had been trying without much success, and had ended up following farm roads and goat tracks that didn’t take them anywhere. The Thomsons rep was calling that evening and I decided to book the two of us up for the organised walk offered as part of the excursion programme. It sounded attractive and easy enough, a half-day walk through gentle countryside finishing with lunch at a farmhouse. There was a bit of uncertainty as to whether there would be enough people signing up for the hike at this stage in the season to make it worthwhile, but we were notified that it would go ahead.
It would take us to the Paliki peninsula, which had received press publicity across the UK just before our holiday. A business-man called Robert Bittlestone came up with the theory that this was the real location for Homer's mythical island of Ithaca - birthplace of Odysseus, the hero of Troy - rather than present-day Ithaca just north-east of Kefalonia. He argued that the narrow channel between Paliki and the mainland had been bridged by seismic movements. As it turned out, we found some ancient remains on our hike!
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Starting out
We had an earlier start to the day, to get a taxi at 8.00 a.m. into Argostoli, where we were to catch the 8.30 ferry across the bay to Lixouri. It was a windy morning, and quite cool, so we were glad we had brought our rain jackets to keep us warm. There were two others catching the ferry for the walk, Ian and Carol from Wolverhampton, and they were wrapped up in their fleeces!
The ferry took us past the derelict water wheel at Katavothres, and the Fanari (lighthouse). If we’d looked carefully enough we should have been able to spot our hotel balcony beyond it. After a bumpy half-hour crossing we berthed in Lixouri, and had to be careful alighting as the drivers pushed forward in their vehicles.
We soon found another couple, Phil and Dawn from Leicestershire, and our guide Sally, who was sorting out a couple of taxis to take us to the start of the walk. Normally there would be more walkers, and a minibus would be brought into service. It was just a short drive through the small town and out a mile or so to the north, where we were dropped at the end of a quiet country road. Sally had recognised Ian and Carol as old friends from previous years, and soon there was plenty of conversation as we made our way along the road towards the low hills,
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The route improves
It wasn’t the most attractive start to a walk, to be honest, on a fairly grey and windy morning, through untidy looking countryside without much to brighten up the surroundings. However, once we reached a junction with a track off to the left things improved for Frances, as we had a rest! There was a strange sight beside the track: a bicycle left to rust away, that seemed to have become part of the landscape! We wondered what had become of the rider, as a large black beetle trotted across the path.
The track took us uphill past some trees on the right, and a view opened up on the left towards Mount Ainos in the distance. We turned right at a junction with another track, where an attractive-looking stone shelter was spoilt somewhat by a roof of corrugated metal sheeting. It was a delightful track now, winding up through an olive grove then past smallholdings with a variety of fruit trees. It’s always a bit of a thrill to be walking along a path past oranges, lemons and bunches of pink pomegranates.
Most of the farmhouses seemed to have a yappy dog to greet us, and after passing yet another of these we climbed to a roadside. Time for another rest and a drink.
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Vlichata
We had reached the edge of a village, and we turned right up the road into Vlichata, which seemed somehow just the right sort of name for a village to visit on a blustery day.
The road wound its way up the hill past houses decked with colourful flower boxes, with a great view across the countryside below. It was a bit brighter now as well, so all-in-all it had become an enjoyable hike. Sally knew quite a few of the locals, and called out greetings to them. Phil was impressed by another old vehicle – this time an ancient (but apparently still functioning) Land Rover.
Finally we reached the village church which dominated the hilltop, and then continued along a ridge past a water tower with more extensive views over to the valley on the other side.
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Vegetables and ruins!
It was a gentle, pleasant walk down the road, then leaving the main road to go ahead on a minor road which descended past fields of vegetables (see panorama below). Sally explained that the ruins we could see ahead of us were once the manor house, destroyed in the earthquake of 1953. The prosperous families of the island had been able to leave and take their wealth with them, so the natural disaster had become an economic calamity and social upheaval as well.
The crops on our left included courgettes, aubergines, peppers and broccoli, sloping gently up the hillside. On the right we reached an enclosure with ducks, and then turned right onto another minor road which led us past the ruins of the manor house. Under the ancient trees there were little flowers emerging – cyclamen, I think Sally said.
After another break for drinks, we crossed a field boundary and turned a little to the right, then headed down into the floor of the valley. There was a strange sight ahead of us, which turned out to be another enclosure not with livestock, but with dead household goods – refrigerators they looked like. Pehaps this was the local response to the European ban on disposal of refrigerators containing ozone-depleting chemicals. We paused in the quiet surroundings of the valley to chat.
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Uphill again, to Kouvalata
Next we turned off the road onto a track which passed the pile of fridges then bent left up the hillside.
It was a stony track, and Ian pointed out the thick grey clay underneath. He turned out to be a bit of an enthusiast for clay features in the landscape, and showed us banks of the stuff further up the track. We passed another abandoned car, and then reached a fine viewpoint giving us a panoramic outlook over the countryside we’d been walking through. Vlichata dominated the hilltop across the valley. We’d climbed the next hill, and Frances was doing really well at keeping up with everyone else, but she was beginning to ask when we’d get to the lunch stop.
It wasn’t much further, round a bend to the left at the top of the climb, past a pile of prickly cactus plants on the steep slope, then into the next village. This was Kouvalata. Next we saw several large neat bundles of ancient telephone directories (at least that’s what they looked like) mouldering away under bushes next to the road, and another old car. Then a couple of large dogs ran out of a house to greet Sally, and we passed an old square building which was apparently one of the few to have survived the earthquake. Not much further, and we reached the house of Sally’s parents-in-law.
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Lunch & conversation
The veranda gave a great view over the bay towards the mountains, but it was also exposed to the strong wind, so our lunch was served at a more sheltered area around the side. We were treated to vegetable fritters, feta cheese, chunky tomatoes, and crusty bread, and somehow our hostess had realised that a youngster such as Frances would probably prefer a bowl of pasta. It proved to be a popular decision, and she had a good lunch along with the rest of us.
It was approaching noon when we reached the house, after a leisurely walk lasting two and a half hours. We weren’t in any hurry to rush off for the ferry, so there was time to chat and enjoy the food. Sally’s father-in-law came out to join us, and a couple of dogs and a cat enjoyed having so many visitors. We heard that the section of this house nearest to us had also survived the earthquake, but the rest had had to be demolished and so the larger front section was more recent.
We also learnt more about the walks which Sally organised – sometimes there would be 15 or 20 people, but she might have to wait until they arrived to assess what sort of walk to take them on, as not everyone might have suitable footwear for hiking. She had also had to change one of the other routes in the north of the peninsula, because of slippage of the unstable clay hillside. She spoke about friends whose main business was sailing holidays, but who organised a walking week in the spring and again in the autumn, These sounded like an attractive proposition for getting deeper into the countryside and mountains across the island.
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Gentle return to Lixouri
Around 1 p.m. we set off again, back through the village and then onwards past the remains of the old village destroyed in the earthquake. It was a good, broad track leading gently downwards along the side of the ridge, with the expansive view across the bay to our left. Just superb (unfortunately the photos didn't do it justice).
Then we turned left onto a rougher track, zig-zagging down past another animal enclosure, this time with a variety of livestock including a lively puppy that followed us around on the other side of the fence. Next on the left was a collection of docile goats, before we turned left again, past an abandoned VW Beetle. The track led down to the join the road back into Lixouri, and our two taxis were waiting for us.
It had started a bit inauspiciously, but turned into a splendid walk through the countryside and villages of Paliki. And Frances had done very well (as everyone else agreed)! Certainly a welcome addition to a Thomson’s holiday.
Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne
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