The Vikos Gorge Bites Hard!

Thursday 19^th July

Last night’s revelries with Christian and Anja went on rather longer that anticipate, particularly once the Retsina came out… Therefore it was somewhat later than inteneded  that I set of back to Monodendri for the start of the Vikos Gorge walk.  I was really looking forward to it, as reading the tourist leaflets I had collected a couple of days ago and looking at the view from the rim near where I am camped it should be a spectacular day, also at 10 Kms length it should be well within my capabilities in spite of the grading of “hard”

I stopped for a coffee at a restaurant on the edge of town which also enabled me to stock up on ice cold water. I carry a 3 lt Camelbak when hiking (and riding) in hot climates and the brochure assured me that water was available at a spring towards the far end of the gorge all year round.

Parking the bike in the designated car park I headed down into the gorge. It was a decent of somewhat over 500metres to get things started and in spit of last night’s alcohol I was feeling good. The initial part of the walk was through a wonderful Beech forest on paths that whilst quite steep were not too difficult. Once at the bottom the path ran alongside the dry river bed which came as a pleasant surprise as I had thought it was actually along the bed which was strewn with huge boulders and would have made for very slow going. The brochure had estimated 5 to 6 hours andf I was confident that my level of fitness was at least equal to that.

I had my nice new GPS in my pocket so I could keep an eye on my progress and also out of interest see how high or low I was. It read 10832Km when I started… The walking was simply spectacular, everything I had hoped for and more, I was still missing that ultra-wide lens though!

I had one slight problem troubling me, which was how to get back to the bike from Vikos. I had been told that to get one of the locals to take me back would cost me 40Euro which made me wince just a little. So it was a question of do I walk to the end and hope for some good fortune in getting a lift back ( it was 30Km back by road) or do I walk to a little over half way, retrace my steps back the the bike and do the other half tomorrow from Vicos? I deliberated over this as I walked.

I found the water supply at about 6Km and replenished my Camelbak and had most of the picnic I had brought with me, then it was decision time! Of course, you’d already guessed it, I carried on, thinking I’d worry about about getting back once I got to Vikos; I hate leaving a job half done!. The worst that could happen was that I couldn’t get a lift this afternoon so I would get a room for the night and set out fresh by road back to Monodendri in the morning. After a short rest I pushed on, revelling in the scenery and the warmth of the sun. Temperatures have dropped just a little out here at the moment peaking at around 32c which is quite hot enough for hiking.

A while later I checked my GPS and it was reading 8km and showing  a further 7km to go, but that was on straight line reckoning as it could not calculate the distance along the path. OK so it was going to be a few Km more ! Of course a river rarely runs straight and that is particularly true through mountains and the Vikos was no exception… but the brochures had all said 10Km so…

At the 20Km mark I was starting to get just a little concerned as I could still see no possible way out of the gorge appearing and I was still right down on the river bed. A couple of times the path had risen quite steeply and I had thought that the end was within grasp only to drop back down to the river bed once more. Finally the path started to head up the side of the gorge… just as I ran out of water. That was nearly 6 litres I had consumed so far! I was a little concerned but not too much so, as I was surely now very near to the end. Well yes, but over 500 metres below the rim with no water and little food left. I walked on slowly, trying to breath only through my nose to conserve a little moisture in my mouth. Some time later I had my last tomato. Ah! Moisture, that tomato was the best I have ever eaten. Hmm now down to one small piece of cucumber which I decided to save for later. I was now on the steepest part of the track so far, and getting very tired. 24Km came and went, dehydration was starting to sap my energy and lack of food was also playing a big part. My blood sugar was at an all time low.

I was finding it hard to focus on putting one foot in front of the other on the steep, narrow rocky path, and the drop over the side was sheer and huge. Finding a shady corner on the track I rested. I made myself sit quietly for ½ an hour to try to regain some strength in my legs. I had the last tiny piece of cucumber, heaven! 

Surely it couldn’t be far now, the GPS was showing  just over 500 metres but I could still see no possible gap in the sheer wall of rock above me and I was only at an elevation of 560mts; Vikos was closer to 1000mts. The track twisted and turned, back and forth across the rock face. I was feeling so weak I didn’t see how I was going to make those last few metres, every step was an effort now, I had done over 25Km on supplies that had been picked for 10km plus a bit for contingency! I was completely exhausted with no energy reserves left to draw on. I virtually crawled those last few metres out of the gorge, it was as though I was very drunk! Hitting the road, thankfully there was a tavern almost opposite, I staggered in and ordered a large bottle of water and a Coke to try to rehydrate and get some sugar into my body. The owner must have seen it a thousand times as he was expressionless as he passed over the life-giving liquids. The Coke disappeared in seconds and the 1 1/2 lt bottle of water in not much more. I ordered a second Coke and a huge ice cream. I didn’t care what flavour I just needed the sugar! I was starting to feel better already!

I explained my problem to the owner of the bar, who said he could get me a lift back to my bike for 25 Euros; a bargain! I took the offer. By the time the car arrived, I think it was his son, I was feeling fine, even my legs were not aching and my boots had behaved splendidly with no more blisters. My exhaustion was purely down to lack of food and water.

One other very lucky escape I had en-route was thanks to my Dragon biking glasses. Somewhere around half-way I stumbled over a rock and as I lurched to my left a large and very sharp broken branch hit me directly on the left lens very hard. Had I not been wearing such strong glasses I would undoubtably have sustained a very severe injury to my left eye which given my location and the fact that I hadn’t seen a single person since starting the walk could have been a bit of a problem. Thanks Celtic Vision for the recommendation !

So what went wrong! I can only think that the distances given in the leaflets are taken as direct GPS or map bearing and that nobody has ever bothered to check out the actual distance walked; a very serious, indeed potentially life-threatening basic error. Had I known the walk was 26Km which it turned out to be, I would still have done it, but I would have carried far more supplies and even an emergency bivy bag for an overnight stop if required.

However alls well that ends well and as I returned to reset up my camp on the same field as last night I discovered  to my joy that my friends Anya, Christian and Julias were still there. So a quick pop back to town was made for some beers and Raki as we had drunk all their supplies last night. A quick shower and change and guess what? I was invited to share their meal of Greek salad with bread and lots of olives..all washed down with a couple of ice cold beers… What a way to end a day!

It’s now Friday morning as I sit in the sun quietly typing. My friends have not appeared yet so maybe they had another bad night with Julias, or maybe they are just relaxing.Either way I will not be making the same mistake as yesterday and walkng up to their camp which of course sets the dog off barking and so wakes anyone who may still be asleep!

Time to start packing away my kit, have a shower and head into Monodendri for a coffee and some WiFi before I once more ride those amazing hairpins up to Papigo where there is some sort of folk festival allegedly happening today. Where I sleep tonight I know not. I am now sitting here with a beautiful butterfly sat on my big Toe and I don’t have a camera to hand…Damn!

I wonder what adventures lay ahead for me today !