Walks North?

[Corixa]

First posting We are coming out for 2 weeks on 20th Sept staying at the Romanza. I have seen the great information on this site for walks South to Arillas, Afionas and Port Timoni which we will certainly try. However I have been looking at the maps and wondered if it is possible to walk North to Avliotes and Peroulades without using what looks like a fairly major road?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[maggiesaes]

I have only ever used the'main' road which is not very major if you know what I mean.

Might see you there,we'll be out on 16th for 2 weeks down at Little Prince.

[Jimbo]

Welcome to the forum!

It's possible to walk up through olive groves from the centre of the village - but from Romanza it makes more sense to go to Avliotes. If the traffic worries you, you can hop on a bus. Get off in Avliotes and walk down from the village square about 100 yards. There's a little, very quiet, road that goes steeply down to the left. That leads to Peroulades and Logos Beach, where there's a very nice bar, restaurant and viewing area. It's a lovely walk. If you're adventurous you can continue from Peroulades on to Sidari, and get a bus back from there.

Alternatively, walk back to Avliotes and have a nice lunch or beer in Ilios taverna, which is open all year and mostly patronised by locals, so it's very authentic and not tourist modified.

From Avliotes you can walk down through the olive groves and emerge near Sliver Moon. That's a great walk, but wear good walking shows. We saw one woman attempt it in flip-flops. and she was in tears by the time she made it to the bottom.

If you are fit, another good walk is to Afionas - over the ridge to Arillas and then a long climb to the beautiful village that superb views from high over Arillas, St George's and the islands.

I can give you more details if you want.

[telford_mike]

Good thread. We're coming for the first time on the 18th and hope to get a lot of walking done.

[Corixa]

Thanks for the responses - we are quite fit and do walk quite a lot. We will bring appropriate footwear and we will definitely walk to Afionas and probably on to Ag. Georgios.

Anymore tips/advice gratefully received

[maggiesaes]

TUI do organise breakfast walks sometimes.

[Grounded]

In 2017 we did the walk up through the olive groves to Avliotes and on to Logos Beach 5 or 6 times. It is very steep in places and loose underfoot so decent footwear is essential. It is beautiful in the olive groves and some of the views are stupendous. We even came across a wild (well mildly miffed) tortoise on the logos beach stretch. We are planning to return for 3 weeks in 2021 and are really looking forward to doing the walk again (even though we will both be pushing 70).
Cheers
Chris

[maggiesaes]

I wonder if the tortoise will remember you 

[Grounded]

Well we did take his picture. If we find him again i could try and jog his memory with it

Chris

[Corixa]

In 2017 we did the walk up through the olive groves to Avliotes and on to Logos Beach 5 or 6 times. It is very steep in places and loose underfoot so decent footwear is essential. It is beautiful in the olive groves and some of the views are stupendous.

Chris this sounds interesting, how easy is the route to find and follow? I am not expecting any way marking so any tips would be gratefully received

Thanks

Clive

[Grounded]

Whew. From memory the track is accessed just past the Thomas Bay and on the same side of the road. It is pretty easy to follow with, i think, just one right hand turn and then the incline becomes consistently upwards. We were told by locals that it is used by the football team for training runs, but they could have been having fun with us. The track exits on the Avliotes road and it is quite well signposted. You follow the road up past the petrol station and you come into Avliotes at a T junction. You turn left for the church (worth the visit) and right if you are heading to Logos Beach and 7th heaven. I think the Ilios Taverna is to the left. Great food and great views. I am sure there are others on the forum that could come up with a map but we did find it quite easy to find our way.
Have fun!
Chris

[geordieborn]

I don't know if it would help to look at (horrid) google maps here in satellite, it seems to show the way through the olives.

[Corixa]

Yes the map on the home website page does show the track quite clearly and I now see the map from your link has the route highlighted too. I will report back in a few weeks time when we have tried it out.

Thanks

[Jimbo]

It's a hard climb - we find it better coming down!

To go up: either by Thomas Bay or just before Silver Moon take the path to the right. It comes to a T-junction. Turn left and just follow the track upwards. You come out to a steep slope that emerges at the top of the road that goes up by the football pitch. Just to the left is the main Avliotes Road. Yes - you can walk almost directly across the road and come to the church of the Panagia. This has great views. On Google Earth you will see a patch to the left of the church that is highly pixelated; that's because it's a Nato early-warning radar station. You can see the big dish from the church.

Or follow the road into Avliotes village just near the petrol station. Right at the start you can either take the steep little track that goes to Avliotes via Garnades, or carry on to Avliotes. Walk down through the village and Ilios is on your RIGHT. A bit further down a road leads to Peroulades and Logos beach.

There's a great story, which I believe, about the radar station. Since the end of the Cold War, and the wonderful peace that the EU has brought, the threat of enemy forces surging down the Adriatic has vanished, making the radar station a bit of a token gesture. Greek boys and girls doing their national service are somewhat less than motivated unless they are in the Aegean. On Saturday night a local lad was on duty and wanted to go partying with his mates in Sidari, as you do. He bribed his mum into standing in for him. Unfortunately, that evening an officer in Athens wanted some information, and phoned the base. The mum answered.Oh dear! It was quite a while before the local lad saw his mum and his mates again!

The village has produced some more enthusiastic military material. Young Alex, who used to dance at Little Prince, is now an officer in the Greek navy.

[Corixa]

More good and interesting info - thank you Jimbo

I was just looking at google maps and wondered just how far one could get walking along the beach towards Katevasidi beach. It appears to end quite abruptly at a steep cliff. Is there a way off the beach there and then down back by the sea or maybe back inland to make a circular walk back?