So the spring is well and truly gone. Emmanuel and I kept going clearing July evenings until the heat got silly and we decided to call it a day for the time being. So now September is nearly upon us and trail clearing will soon resume with a fresh intake of volunteers from Germany, Spain, Australia and Ireland. Regular volunteer Anita will also be back to help out during her holiday.

The most popular guided hike continued to be Skopelos to Panormos, a swim and late bus back. A portion of this trail is endangered by a sneeky land-owner and a close eye is being kept on the situation.

An official complaint was lodged at the town hall regarding fences on the Kimissia trail. The council handed the situation over to The Forestry the week before our tragic fire at Amaranthos.  What’s our little fence problem compared to that? But it has to be resolved eventually.

Geocaching continued to attract a few enthusiasts but some caches disappeared and others needed some maintenance. The Moutero spring GPS got sorted at last via a proper GPS rather than an app.

We also experienced The Most Amazing solar eclipse. I wonder what the next season has in store?

We’ve been working very hard to get this trail open and I guess you can say that it now is, although there are still a few finishing touches to be made. You have to know that there are two illegal fences across it on the Kambos side but they can be opened. The stream bed (remma) is a bit difficult to cross but we will sort that out soon. From the remma down to Kambos and then Episcopi (Ring Road) the length is 2.23km. I’ll be posting a complete length as soon as I’ve GPSed it. 

Since 11 May, we’ve been working very hard to reopen this beautiful trail that runs between Pirgos and Kambos. Due to a huge fallen tree, it became impassable only two years ago during the snowy winter and nature has taken over.  Added to this, someone has blocked the way with two illegal fences; one is sealed (from the Kambos end) the other has a door of sorts (the Pirgos end). We’ve been working our way down into the stream bed from the Pirgos end. The huge tree plus others have now been removed and it is possible to pass. But what about the fence? People in Pirgos now know that we have reopened half of the trail and I just hope that word will get back to the fence owner. Otherwise we’ll just have to make a formal complaint.

We had a great day today trying to get this area back into shape so you can at least use it. The ‘table’ can’t be moved though as it’s too heavy. Che did a great job clearing the side of the spring and found some lovely semi-circular steps. Elene made a little path to guide walkers down/up the way as there’s a big hole to the side. I removed 4 metal bars and attached wire fencing that was wrapped around the kiosk beam together with a metal bin. We’re trying to find the manhole cover on the top of the spring so it can be cleaned and made suitable for human consumption but it’s somewhat buried.  We hope to finish day after tomorrow but it always takes longer than we think!

For several days now we have been working hard to clear this area. We’ve cleared the path down into the valley and along the dry river bed. We’ve also completely reopened and cleaned the small portion of calderimi that leads up to the asphalt toward Kalogeros. The river bed is now full of bolders and isn’t easy to walk but at least clear of fallen trees and low hanging vegetation. The picnic area around the spring has been trashed by the floods also. We’ve cleaned the spring though around the outside.

So it’s now possible to do a nice circular walk from Profit Ilias area, down to the Glysteri road, up the other side via Tzukala to the trash area, turn left along the asphalt, down the newly opened calderimi to Tzelali, along the river bed, then up again by the deers to the asphalt.

A few years back, we cleared the trail  over Anania hill towards Ag Reginos Pirgos (part of the Retsina Trail). All accept one huge tree that we were unable to shift. Today, together with volunteers Steve and David plus Emmanuel Palaiologos – who helps every Saturday – were were at last able to saw it and remove it. It took Emmanuel’s 50 year old chain saw and his skill, to remove it without the enormous root system sliding down. We counted 50 years so it’s as old as the chainsaw. There were also lots of Woodcock Ophrys scolopax cornuta orchids on the trail plus we were visited by the lovely Eva Karras, who arrived armed with sandwiches and a huge cake. We are so very blessed to have such fantastic support.