Last year I was attracted by the walk down the Samaria Gorge, but in the end I didn’t attempt it – I blogged about my reasons here. This year, however, I’m going to do it. As I’d hoped, there are excursions from Paleochora to the top of the gorge and I’m booked on one tomorrow.
It starts at 7:30 am and takes us to Omalos, which is a small village some distance inland and up in the mountains, and is near the start of the gorge. I’m not clear if we get dropped in Omalos village (which is two or three kilometres from the top of the gorge) or whether we get driven to the top. I hope the latter – it looks as if there is a reasonable road to the start of the walk. Then after 15 (or 17) kilometres the weary hiker arrives at Agia Roumelli, another small town/village along the south coast. This is the one that doesn’t have any road links to anywhere; instead there’s a ferry from Paleochora that calls there. The ferry back leaves at 17:30, and takes a bit more than an hour to get back to Paleochora.
There are a couple of things that could still spoil the plan. First, if the weather is rough – specifically, if the sea is rough – the ferry doesn’t run. However I gather this will be known early in the morning and in that case the whole excursion is cancelled. The other problem is my propensity to tummy upsets – one of these was part of the reason why I didn’t do the walk last year. However, I’m reasonably OK so far this year, and I’m well-supplied with the appropriate medication! All being well, I shall do it tomorrow.
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