On 17 September 2024, the mayor wrote to inform me that the Ministry had approved 600,000 euros for the Trails project, submitted some 4 years previously. I was then informed that the work had been put out to tender, the result of which would be by the end of June this year. I have now learnt that the amount of 275,000 euros has been allocated for the trails project and will be finalized by the end of September. Draw your own conclusions.
The first volunteer of the autumn season arrives on Sunday. Her name is Kirsten and she’s from Germany.
I’ve been asked several times, even though it is mentioned on this website, where my books can be purchased locally. Hoharoupa stationery shop, Puesto coffee shop are open all year round and carry stocks plus Juices & Books (summer only).
For those who don’t subscribe to social media (those who do can stop reading now) I have been finding eggs placed in the same location in Myli over a period of about 2 years now. On hiking this trail recently, there was not only two more eggs but also a clove of garlic. Among the comments, Sue has suggested it may be a folklore. Such things are often peculiar to certain countries and I’ve no idea if this one is for Greece and apart from the Blue Eye and strings of garlic, I’m not aware of any other protective measures folk here take.
Regular visitors will have noticed that vegetation has been removed around the area and steps cut into the slope near the archway to enable access to the upper level, where the remains of the water canal that fed the mill can be seen. This work has been carried out by Georgos Papalapas. He seems to have adopted the area and we can all benefit from his enthusiasm to keep it looking beautiful. He’s also dug in some steps near the water source where a trail leads up to the dirt road. Someone else has cut down several plane trees however, which has changed the landscape. This has been reported to the Forestry department.
As well as the above, Georgos has placed a bench beside the pond, no doubt made in his family workshop Made of Wood www.madeofwood.gr
This got me thinking…. would you perhaps like to sponsor a bench like this in memory of a loved-one, pet or simply because you’d prefer to rest comfortably and admire the view on one of your favorite trails? The bench can also be engraved with words of your choice. Skopelos Trails would install and maintain it. The cost would be €185 plus €50 for an engraving.
The last month’s have been spent removing cut down trees that have been abandoned thus blocking the trails. In this situation, we take pictures and GPS and send to the Forestry department. Not expecting a result I then tell them I will remove the blockage myself unless they contact me. I then get a message saying to go ahead. First all foliage is removed so we can see what we are dealing with. We remove with a chainsaw the branches facing upwards and outwards but leave the downward ones in case they are load-bearing. The owner is also contacted if possible to ascertain why the trees were cut in the first place and to inform them of the consequences of their actions. This has happened in Pera Karia, Potami, Vouno Glossa and Moutero.
In spite of the obvious disadvantages encountered in 2000, we still managed to reinstate 4 old trails as well as maintenance work.
In February our first volunteer arrived; Kiki Kamo from Japan. Due to transit problems she was here for just ten days but we were able to carry out maintenance at least.
Next up was Avery and Julia from the USA. However, their stay, 7-10 March, was curtailed due to the first lockdown. We made a start on the huge Mikalaki clearing project plus the Loutsa tower project which I finished off alone during lockdown.
In May, I was lucky to have the help of Zoe and Leo from France. They had decided to spend the lockdown here on the island. During that time we reopened an old trail from Pera Karia up to Sendoukia. It took us 5 days and included not only the clearing of vegetation and fallen trees but also the installation of ropes to help hikers up/down steep cliff faces.
There was a long break until the arrival of Emanuel from Romania, who stayed 3-30 September. Emanuel was an amazing volunteer. He didn’t want any days off or feeding and arrived by car with 4 hand made metal gates ready for installation. Emanuel has his own forge in Romania. During his stay we had the use of a forge, kindly put at our disposal by the Patsis family. The gates replaced fences at Kimissia and Ag Marina and Emanuel worked very hard installing them. He also worked extremely hard in flighting through to expose the beautiful aqueduct bridge at Mikalaki.
From 12 October-1 December, Camille and Aris from France became part of the furniture (one month intended and then extended due to Covid restrictions.) During that time, we also hosted Vailva from Lithuania (26 October-23 November). Here is the list of work that was carried out during that time:
4 days at The Mill, clearing away more vegetation, exposing walls plus an old path beyond the aqueduct. We also attempted to find the spring water source.
6 days clearing the Palouki forest trails between the examini, Ag Triatha turning and Ag Anna turning.
3 days reopening 147m of blocked trail near Ag Iannis Kambos.
2 days of trail maintenance at Abuzali – 359m.
3 days back at The Mill Mikalakis
2 days maintenance behind the Episkopi monastery – 105m
3 days in the area of Tjelili near the deer enclosure plus on the valley floor towards Glysteri – 576m
4 days maintenance at Diakopi – 299m
2 days maintenance on the Tower Loutsa trail – 374m
Aris, Camille & Vaiva
6 days maintenance at Ypermaxou
I also had a few hours local help from Maria Papavasiliou, Nana Kobra, Turid Stokkeland, Lefki Sohou, Kerasia Tamouridou, Ioanna Petsa, Georgos Papadavid, Silje Kramer plus a young French girl called Sofia! Thank you all! Thanks also to Peter Broadley for allowing us to use his home for volunteer accommodation. It made a huge difference and helped enormously.
There are five ways of getting from Skopelos town up to Raches/Ag Paraskavi/Pefkias: Kokala to the heliport, Kimissia to Pefkias, Kambos to Polimistria Aloupi to Ag Paraskavi and Abuzali to Raches. There are two extensions; Pefkias to Vromoneri and back to Ag Paraskavi and Polimistria to Petrovrissi then Aloupi or Abuzali. There’s also an alternative between Aloupi/Papathemou. All five have now been cleared so you can make short walks by going up one and down another in series or passing one by and taking the next to make a longer one. I’ve called these routes collectively The Five Kamares. I’m in the process of GPSing them and they’ll be available to download via the Skopelos Trails app.
2019 was a very busy year for Skopelos Trails. We started work on 12 January and continued through until 18 December (except July/August). We cleared some 30 trails, installed 3 flights of steps and hosted 39 volunteers from 13 different countries. Our sponsors #RigasHotelSkopelos and Pension Kyr Sotos continued to provide accommodation, Wolf Garden provided equipment, Nikos Orfanos kept the loppers sharp, Anne Perry helped me with this WP account Agapi Karamanli (Anna’s) and Machi Ambelakia provided a banquet, Gusto provided a giant pizza and Eva Karras donated some food. I thank you all!
There are exciting plans ahead of us. Let’s hope we can make them happen!
What a fantastic year it’s been. Starting on 13 March with Sam and Monique from Canada, we had a total of 19 Workaway volunteers and 9 tourist volunteers who donated days of their holiday.
Trails cleared: Potami to Diakopi, Kokala, Tzukala (Monks trail), Tzelali, Kimissia, Retsina trail (Pirgos area), Panormos and Moutero, Vromeneri/Potami and behind Episkopi. Emmanuel also removed one huge tree at Kimissia, another at Pirgos plus two enormous ones at Ag Iannis Skleri. He’s my chainsaw hero; brave and tenacious.
Here are the names of all the volunteers for 2018:
Sam and Monique (Canada), David (Spain), Jenna (US), Liesa (Germany) Steve (UK), Eleni (US), Nikos (Canada), Che (Scotland), Hannah (Wales), Alexa (US), Jennie (Germany), Leigh (Australia), Gloria (Majorca), Rory (Ireland), Allie (Canada), Polly and Austin (Australia) and Audrey (Singapore).
Tourists: Jackie and Dee, Anita, Felix, Bankje, Pamela, Dan, Clive and Amy plus locals Dimitri Palaeologos and Emmanuel Palaeologos.
