It has long been my ambition to get this abandoned but previously well-used route reopened. Being the main way to the kalivia of the Karya area, it was once in regular use. The mules would be loaded up and everyone had their last drink at the Tzilali spring before setting off.

However, with the creation of the wide EU road, positioned directly above the gorge (made ostensibly for bringing the household refuge from Elios to Papou XTA) many landslides occurred during the road’s construction and by the laws of gravity, rubble and boulders tumbled downwards. Thus, the trail fell into disuse.

Fearing the worst, and believing what I was told, I didn’t even bother to check the trail out to see how bad the blockages were. Well not until recently that is and I was pleasantly surprised. It is obviously overgrown having been neglected for forty odd years but there are portions of beautiful man-made trail surviving, particularly near to the top end and of course, the semi-circular stone bridge is still intact.

Having cleared the trail from the kriavrissi end down to the bridge last year, we will soon be making a start to clear from the bridge down towards Tzilali junction.

The opening of this route will automatically create several long, circular hikes. The other connecting trails have already been reopened and were just waiting for the last piece of the jigsaw to be put into place.