3 Day Walking Program, Experience Villages, Forestry, Mountain of Rhodes Greece €90pp

With so much to see and do on Rhodes it hard to fit everything into a week’s holiday, this walking program will take you to mountain villages, through orange groves and forestry and onto the summit of Akramytis. All three days are completely different kind of walking, starting with the easy, and leaving the third and final day a good moderate walk but with stunning views.

First Walking Day:
Welcome:

On the first morning you will meet your walking leader, and generally discuss your choosen walking program and he/she will answer any questions you may have or provide you any further information you may require. We do ask you to fill in some very simple medical forms and that you have photo copies of your passport and medical/travel insurance with you, these will stay with you at all times and will only be required if you need any medical treatment. Once we get the little bit of required paper work done and you are ready, we set off on your first walk.

Duration: 6hrs

Forestry Walk

We begin this walk in the serene mountain village of Salakos, as we make our way through the quiet streets, you might notice the interesting mix of Italian and traditional Greek architecture.

This Italian influence stems from the Italian occupation of the island from 1912 to 1947. Don’t worry there will be time to have a look around on our return. The walk begins with easy strolling along a good track through pine trees that give way to broadleaves and a pleasantly cool picnic spot much loved for the abundance of butterflies that gather here at certain times of the year. However, it is perhaps too early in the day to stop for long, so after only a brief stop, we continue.

Further along as the broadleaved trees are slowly replaced by natural pine stands, devoid of the straight lines and machine like precision that dominates most modern forestry, we emerge from the trees and stumble across a chapel. This makes a good excuse to stop for a drink, take some photos and adjust boots. Your welcome to have look inside the chapel, you will come across many in Rhodes and they are often highly ornate inside. Before we leave, if you look up onto the flanks of Mount Profitis Ilias (the objective of one of our mountain walks) you will see two large buildings perched on the hillside. These are another remnant of the Italian occupation, hotels reputed to be the summer residence of Mussolini.

As we carry on our way the abundance of trees provide welcome shade as the day progresses and the sun climbs in the sky, making this walk an excellent option for some of the hotter days we experience in Rhodes. We reach the first hill of the day which takes a zigzagging route and helps justify all that delicious Greek food. Our experienced leaders know all the best places to stop on the route ensuring pleasant views and cooling shade. The track levels off before long and we ramble on past some farm small holdings and a collection of bee hives. Rhodes is famous for its honey, as the bees from these countryside hives visit wild herbs and pine trees creating a flavour some and unique honey, perfect drizzled over thick Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit

2nd Walking Day:

Walk of Discovery

Duration: 4-8hrs

This walk takes you into the heart of Rhodes where you can see Greek farm practices and discover some real treats along the way on this linear walk through the Rhodian countryside.
The walk begins with pleasant level walking on good tracks through orange orchards and olive groves; if you look closely, you might also spot fig, pomegranate and lemon trees. Along the way it is interesting to see old and new style of irrigation systems and often combinations of the two. Rhodes has an abundance of water, mostly in in large aquifers, making Rhodes quite green in comparison to some of the other Greek islands. Along the way we are likely to meet some local farmers and a shout of ‘Kaleemera’ (good morning) is well received with a smile and a wave.
Steady walking brings us into a small village where we can top up with water and enjoy ambling along the narrow streets. This is also a good chance to adjust boots and have a brief rest.
A good track leads away from the village but eventually peters out until we find ourselves on goat tracks weaving between the wild herbs, rousing the aroma of the Mediterranean as we brush past and experience the wild areas of Rhodes. You are likely to see goats, most of which are wild and often there are lizards seen basking in the sun.
After a while we reach a dirt track that leads us to a wide dried up riverbed which is as much as two hundred meters wide and is the path to our lunch stop. We follow the riverbed ‘upstream’ to find what is perhaps the highlight of the walk, a deep and narrow slot canyon. This slot canyon, that many locals know nothing about has approximately fifty-metre high walls but is only a few meters wide. This is a spectacular hidden gem of Rhodes and certainly worth the walk. The stream that winds its way through the canyon and the shade from the cliffs makes this a green, beautiful and cool place to stop for a bite to eat. There is the chance you will see wild terrapins in the stream and you might notice the change in the vegetation that the surface waters creates.
Returning down the other side of the riverbed after lunch, we head for a ridgeline. Once over this our path drops down into a pleasant valley and a brief walk on the road (the first encountered since the village) before we take a turning onto a track that leads to a valley full of ancient olive trees. Previously we have found here the attractive and thankfully harmless ladybird spider; this has a bright red abdomen with black spots like those of a ladybird.
Approaching the end of the walk now, we follow good tracks that lead us to a village and our end point. Here we have a good relationship with the taverna owner and we can sit under the enormous shade tree with a cold drink and maybe a Greek salad while we await our lift.

3rd Walking Day:

Akramytis Mountain

Duration: 5 hrs

This is an excellent, well-rounded walk that combines the lure of a summit with satisfying walking on forest paths and a real feeling of being, away from it all.

This walk gets the majority of the ascent for the day out of the way early on when it is that bit cooler. We take a series of single-track switchbacks up the southern mountainside in amongst the pine forest. Occasional breaks in the trees provide great views down the western coast to the south and welcome opportunities for a breather.

Above the tree line, the route finds its way through tortured limestone pavement to a col, giving the first views of the coast to the north. Further on up the ridge, we reach the summit and are gifted with spectacular 360-degree views. You can see many of the other mountains of Rhodes from this vantage point and get a feel for this western side of the island, which is more remote and distinctly different to the more developed eastern side.

From the summit, we descend the northern side of the ridge that runs roughly east to west into what from many angles resembles a volcanic caldera. This turns out to be a wide gully between two ridgelines.

A pleasant forest track leads us to our lunch stop at an old chapel, which boasts a well and resident Geckos! Suitably refreshed, a descent through trees leads past the remains of long abandoned dwellings and upland pastures. Depending on the time of year and the keenness of your eyes we might find wild flowers, praying mantid’s or stick insects.

Skirting around the ridgeline affords some marvellous views before moving back over to the southern side of the ridge for a gentle decent to a bar and the necessary cold refreshment! If time allows we can sometimes include and extra treat at the end of this walk (you will have to join us to find out what it is!).

3 Day Walking Experience pdf