Solo hike on the E4 Trail in Greece & Crete A Walk Across Europe 9
Hi. My. Name's Ashley and in. 2018. I went for a walk a. 2,500. Mile walk across Eastern, Europe from, the wild woodlands, of Hungary to the warm waters, of the Mediterranean this. Is my adventure. Starting. In the city of Thessaloniki I, plan, to use roads, and bits of mapped trail to explore the north of Greece, first. To Alexander, the Great's capital, city at Pella then. To the top of Mount Olympus the, home of the gods a visit. To the monasteries, of meteora and lastly, to the ancient Greek temple at Delphi on to the Peloponnese and I would walk the length of the peninsula, dodging. Trains on a working railway, line and trekking through the mountains, to reach for Mediterranean, Sea a give you after. A brief visit to Athens I would have to Crete where, I would walk from coast to coast firstly. Along the coastline itself, and then inland to end the penultimate leg, of the journey ok toes a cross. Sitting. By the waterfront, I watched a sunset and, I gazed out on the iconic Mount Olympus. The. Next big mountain, I'd been walking over. Day. One in Greece but. I, haven't. Had a very good day today sleeve, infested Aniki walking. Through, you. Know suburb, of it and I. Got. Mugged basically no two lads and. One of them the guy with the knife, hey, you, must have fought. 12, or 13 and. His. Mate I'm presuming was his probably his big brother. It's. Probably in his, mid. To late teens. He's. Like my height I was, really tempted to just like smack, this little kid for the knife, best-case, scenario if you do win a fight with them that's only going to be temporarily, and you. Know I'm, walking slowly on foot an. Environment. They, know a hell of a lot better than I do and, all it takes is for them to you know say. One word even if it's just over the phone and the next thing you got like a group. Of grown men after you the. Best thing is just to give them the money which. It did as. I was walking into this into. This like suburb, but, I could like follow. The kind of main road around it and. I. Just. Couldn't be bothered by. Taking. Belonga route. So. I think lesson, one is. Always. Trust your instincts, or listen to your instincts. And. Your stick to kind of where. Does more people. And. Second don't, put all your money, in. One place it. Just makes you feel a, lot more and safe. So. And, yesterday. I, got. Back on that dual carriageway, and then I started walking to Pella, but. Had another like four. Miles of road walking to do and. I. Just. Couldn't confident. Face it. And, they also knew that you know, the way my mind was and. I, just. Knew that I wouldn't be able to take in you. Know any of the history any, of the facts or anything and, I. Just. Really wanted to you know be back. In the mountains again. So. Walked. To. A. Town. Called Alexander. Alexandria. And then I got two buses. From. There I. Want. To catch the first one to cattorini and the, second one to. Little. Coral little sharp awesome Kannada, town. Right, below Mount Olympus and. She. Kind of made what, would have been a free day road. Walking so you know one day. Still. Got things, rattling. Around in my head. She. Really shouldn't. I think, I'd the right decision I. Just. Gotta let it go because I'm not gonna get that money back. So. Yeah today, climb. Up to Mount Olympus, well. To a refuge today, 2,000, meter climb to this refuge. And. Then tomorrow over, Alumnus. Day. After down the other side. That's. Where the body begins. Right. From the start the prince is going, to die right from. The start. Monsters. Are howling as, soon as she falls asleep. The. Official, summit of olympus is, matthias at. 2917. Meters because. I was carrying all my camping, gear to walk over the mountain, I decided. Not to enjoy, the sleep scramble, to the select. Even. Side. I've. Come back to that refuge. Below, Olympus, where I was last night and. Pictured, me ten and one of me guy lines are snapped, so, I've. Done a quick fix on it hopefully. That'll last tonight and then I'll. Have to find some time when, I've got more daylight in order to change, out.
I. Wasn't. Yet ready for the exposure road walking again so, made the decision to travel onward by public, transport. Meteora. Is made up of six monasteries, all. Built atop enormous, natural stone, towers. Originally. There were 24, monasteries. Nowadays. Stone steps make them accessible to tourists, but. Originally the monks would get in and out by using baskets. Hauled up by rope. Don't. Bring another friend anymore the, bridge. Delfy. Once. Home to the Oracle famous. Across the ancient world. Pilgrims. Would travel to the temple, from all across ancient, Greece. Leaving. Offerings, for a priestess, and. To witness her insights, about the future. It's. September, 17th, and. I'm. Back on the trail I think. It's been like a week since, I. Got my first bush from. Alexandria. To. Katarina. I think in that time of ought to get ten Gus's get, down to here which is the north of the Peloponnese, the. Air now I'm walking up here. On. A railway, line. Which. Is. An active railway line but the map GPS. And. Stuff. I read online so, it's a it's a walking pack of beer as well. Whoa. There. You got stuck up there. Found. This spot. In the middle of a forest and. It's. Between two big, boulders, one. There and the other one, is. Yeah. I think this is where I'm going to come tonight okay all right set. Back a bit. My. Forest, so. First. Time of pitch content, since, I replaced that guy line and I, think. Cut it too short so, yeah, I have to keep an eye on that. This. Is where I am today and very. Rocky it's not the greatest place to picture, but I've managed to do it there's. A line of ants over there so open, a dog any visitors, in the night because I'm. Not feeling the researchable, a lovely, view over here, see. Done. If you could see it is like the. Radio must on the hill bare and then I, was camped on the other side of that last night and. Then to the right of that you can see coming now from a path like. A like, a trucks like a light on there on the on, the hillside and that's where I came down from somewhere I'm not sure where but somewhere, I've come over these mountains here down. Into this valley and. Then up. Onto here and then tomorrow I'm. Going them contouring. Round the side of a hillside and then down to the, village called Dara or Daris it's really good actually there's like sign saying like, hotel. And Daris is sponsored, to the e4, trail and, Daris no an hour away so I run the mill here and. What's. The price like. 50 euros. Really. Need a shower. Yeah. Um I try and get. Somewhere. This. Is my room tonight. Cost. 30 euros bed-and-breakfast. Which is a lot better than 50, I've used the shower which was amazing, he don't realize how. Good showers, are until you've gone for days without one hiding, in like 30 degree heat and, then outside. Got. Me little, makeshift. Washing line going on because sometimes, you've just got to improvise. Adapt, and overcome. So. Hopefully I should have like, clean. Clothes non grey clothes for the next couple. Days. The. Way this heat is maybe only one day we'll see. Leaving. Sparta I climbed open to take ettus mountain today. It's a beautiful spot for hiking but. The mountain, holds a dark history. During. Antiquity if a, baby was born too, weak or deformed, to grow into a warrior the, Spartans, would bring the baby to an area, of the mountain, where it would be left to die. Which I get us were also used as a place of punishment and, execution. From, goofy oh I took the bus to Athens. Where. He explored the remains of a famous ancient, city. The. Acropolis, on the modern city sprawled, out around it. Then. I got going to the port from, the overnight boat journey to Crete. Well, concrete, just like the south coast over. There it's a bit of water around Africa, and then I'm walking along the coast here heading. East. To. The far. End of the island, feels. Good to be off the mainland I must. Admit to feel a lot better about things.
Look, Forward to this this, section. There's. Really a lot like as much to say bitless back, in the day was the, city in, ancient Greek, city I was just home, to goats. Roaster, hot today again. I've. Left the coast behind now. I'm, climbing up and this gorge which. Takes me into the interior. Of the island. This. Is velocity plateau. It's. About 800 meters, above, sea level and there's, lots of little and. Windmills. That, we. Used to power. Like water pumps for the irrigation canals, did, read on Wikipedia, that, these to be ten thousand, dollars up here but. There's. A lot less now because switched. You. Know diesel, and. Just. Climbed about six, or seven hundred meters, out of Recife. Plateau and. Just, like down there somewhere, along, this it's. Like an Alpine car. This. Is a part of the island called the Isthmus, of a ierapetra. Of. Probably, butchered. Pronunciation. Bert es, quite cool places actually the narrowest, part of Crete. So. Right now if I look to my left. Just. About make out the city of, Petra. Which. Is on the south coast and. If. I look to my right got. An amazing view right down to, the north coast and sea and, you going over these mountains it's very easy to tell. You know forget you're on an island just, feels, like year you know surrounded, by mountains, but. Yeah. When you get up to somewhere, like this and that's. It's. What I camped last night, not. A very good place at all like right next to this truck, you. Know beyond a tree and in the kind bit of a dip so I might not have been too noticeable, really, but I was, still kind of worried all night that they were gypsies listen, to me about. That's. Cato's across, the. Eastern, coast of Crete I. Couldn't. Tell you how many miles are done because I've not looked but, I know it's not as many as I intended because. Yeah. I just, struggled a lot in in mainland, Greece especially the north, but. Yeah. I think creatures. Gaming up opportunity, to get my head back together next, up is Cyprus, which is 350. Miles that way which. Is a coincidence, because it's about, 350.
Miles Of walk and left to do. And. Then I'm free. Yeah. But. Now I'm gonna have to find somewhere to camp because, I someone's coming quite low so. Let's. See what I can find. This. Is home for the night I've set the tent up I've got a picnic, table here, just, got me posture on. This. Gorgeous. Gorge and it's called the gorge of the Dead back, when we used to be a Minoan, city in Cato, is a cross they. Used to bury the dead in caves. On these cliff sides. Yeah. That's where I'm camping tonight be, my last campsite, in Greece and. With. A name like Gorge, of the Dead could be my last and. In. Tow. You.
2020-05-18 02:19
