Closed... nah, I’m sure it’s fine
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2010
1
5
96
Trip End
Apr 16, 2011
Vikos Gorge, Epirus, Greece
Monday, April 26, 2010
The next day we headed off into the Pindos mountains and the Vikos Gorge- a beautiful area of Greece that we at least had never even heard of. During a quick stop in the National Park information office we were informed that hiking the gorge itself was not possible at the moment because it is too wet. However, being rugged types we were not dettered by their pessimism and after asking a couple of leading questions (the path down the gorge is okay, right? It is possible to walk the gorge isn't it?) of locals in the area who we were fairly positive didn’t understand what we were saying and would therefore give us the answers we wanted, we trotted off down into the gorge at 9am the next day.
We soon discovered why the information office had advised us against the walk as the path kept disappearing on one side of the river and appearing on the other side necessitating crossing the thigh-high, quite fast running our water. Nevertheless, we pressed on, strapping our boots to our backs when necessary and cursing loudly at each stubbed toe on a rock in the river. However, after 3 or 4 crossings the path veered away from the river and we proceeded down a relatively challenging path marvelling and the incredible gorge that we had entirely to ourselves- we didn’t see another hiker all day! We did however see lots of turtles, fabulous wild flowers and a lone brown bear (fortunately at a distance!).
Crucially, we still beat the guidebook estimate of 7 hours for the overall hike, even having stopped for a leisurely lunch and freezing cold swim in one of the crystal clear rock pools.
