Skopelos to Papou (Monk’s Trail)

We’ve been working very hard with maintenance work but over the last three days have actually reopened a portion of calderimi that has been closed for at least 35 years. I’ve walked by it many times but only recently got to thinking that this portion of the trail just didn’t make sense. So, I started sniffing around and in fact one of my volunteers discovered a wide, cobbled (calderimi) in the bushes. This year I was able to get it reopened. It’s behind the Tzukala spring, Glysteri. The reason it was detoured is because a portion of the supporting wall had collapsed. For hikers this is no problem but I guess if you had a mule it would be more problematical.

4 Responses

  1. John Williams

    Hi Heather,

    Well done! wonderful to find another old lost calderimi. I take it that to find this section, you leave the Glysteri road on the calderimi that takes you up the hill towards the rubbish dump and ultimately Kalogeros. About half way up is a spring, is that Tzukala? And then the section you have found goes up from there to the road?
    A long time ago, Jenny Nelson and I found an old path (not calderimi) from just off the Glysteri road up to Mon Kimisi Theotokou half way along the road to the dump, but this sounds a different route?
    We’ll come for a look later this week!

    John

  2. Heather

    Yes, the Monk’s Trail will eventually go all the way to Kalogeros. The section trail head off of the Glysteri beach road has two illigal fences. You can pass fairly easily though. It climbs steadily. The new entrance is marked and is the original way the goes BEHIND the spring. Where the seat is, there’s a spur down to the spring but the trail continues to rise up all the way to the rubbish. We cleared it all up last year but it’s all back again, with people dumping stuff right on the trail.

  3. John Williams

    Hi Heather,

    We found it, and had a great circular walk up to the top, back along the tarmac road to the junction with the Skopelos motorway, and then along the rest of the tarmac to the short path back down to the start. Real shame about the state of the path past Tzilali spring — the devastation is so enormous. After all your hard work clearing that path before the great storm.
    Tremendous detective work finding the old path, and it must have been serious work clearing it.
    So the Monk’s Trail will go on to Kalogeros? Not along the dirt road all the way?

  4. Heather Parsons

    Great! We’re now opening a portion of calderimi that cuts down to the spring before the motorway junction (it was the original way). After that, we plan to do what we can to open the Tzilali spring area. We walked it the other day and I think it’s possible. We’re over halfway at the Skopelos end by the dear enclosure and are now at the end end. Re Monk’s Trail. Yes, the plan is to go all the way Kalogeros using whatever ancient trail is left. From there, I want to join up with Sendoukia and return to Skopelos via the Retsina Trail (Pirgos, Anania etc.) Skopelos Trails is coming a non profit organisation, whereupon I may be able to get some funding for repairing walls and calderimi as well as replacing cutting equipment.

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