White Mountains, Crete

I had been walking in the White Mountains (Lefki Ora) area of Crete in 2004 and had always wanted to go back and explore further. I do not know what it is about Greece that appeals so strongly, and at such a deep level, but clearly many travellers before me have felt the same attraction – I love Nicholas Urfe’s initial impressions of Athens and the Attic plain in The Magus. As in 2004, I had to fly to Heraklion (Chania would be much better for the White Mountains) and I had to use an expensive charter flight.

Costs. Flight £250. Car parking £31. Heraklion hotel (B&B) €62. Paleochora hotel (B&B) €40. Sougia room €30 each night. Omalos hotel €25 (was €10 in 2004). Ag. Roumeli hotel €25. Hora Sfakion room (B&B) €33.50. Heraklion–Chania bus €12.60. Chania–Paleochora bus €7. Sougia–Ag. Irini gorge bus €2.60. Sougia–Xyloskalo bus €4.20. Xyloskalo–Omalos bus €1.40. Loutro–Hora Sfakion ferry €3.50. Hora Sfakion–Vrisses bus €3.30. Vrisses–Heraklion bus €9.30. Heraklion–Knossos bus €1.30 each way. Heraklion–Airport bus €0.90. “Reduced” Museum+Knossos entry €10. Typical evening meal with drinks €14–€18. Travel insurance £5. Total cost of trip £740.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Sofia, Heraklion (Day 1, Read my review); Hotel Rea, Paleochora (Day 2, Read my review); Neos Omalos Hotel, Omalos (Day 5, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Crete (Rough Guides, 11th revised edition); Western Crete by Jonnie Godfrey (Sunflower Books, 9th revised edition); The High Mountains of Crete by Loraine Wilson (Cicerone, 3rd revised edition).

Maps. Western Crete, 1:100,000, Road Editions. Plus the maps in the guidebooks.

Day 1: Travel to Heraklion. Caught 4.30 pm flight from Glasgow, arriving 11.30 pm local time in Heraklion. Walked 20 min from airport to excellent hotel (pre-booked).

Day 2: Travel to Paleochora. Left hotel about 11.15 am after a swim and breakfast, walked into city centre, and caught 12.30 pm bus from Heraklion (Bus Station A) to Chania. Then caught a second bus at 4 pm onto Paleochora, arriving 5.30 pm. Found hotel, explored ruins on headland, and had dinner.

Day 3: Walk to Sougia. Left hotel about 9.20 am and followed E4 coastal path to, first, ancient Lissos and, then, Sougia, following Walk 17 in Western Crete in reverse (see Books), arriving 4.45 pm (so 7 h 25 min walking). In the heat, the walk was gruelling: I had stopped for a swim after about an hour, but then there was a hot, thirsty climb up over the headland and down into Lissos. Fortunately, after a bit of searching, I found the spring in Lissos and refilled my two 1.5-litre water bottles. I then looked at the two Orthodox chapels and the ancient Greek ruins and continued to Sougia and a well deserved beer (and plenty of water). Found a room and had dinner.

Day 4: Walk down Agia Irini gorge. Caught 7 am bus from Sougia to start of Agia Irini gorge. Started walking down gorge (cost €2) at about 8 am, following Walk 16 in Western Crete (see Books), and, initially, in the shade of the gorge, the air was pleasantly cool. Were those large, dark dragonflies that never settled Cretan Spectres? Sadly, I will never know for sure. The last section of the walk (about 1 h 30 min) was back along the road into Sougia and this was unpleasantly hot. I arrived in Sougia about 12.30 pm (so 4 h 30 min walking) and returned to my room for a swim and then dinner.

Day 5: Bus to Xyloskalo; walk up Gingilos. Caught 7 am bus from Sougia again and changed onto bus coming from Paleochora to arrive at Xyloskalo (“The Wooden Steps”) at the head of the Samaria gorge. Started walking up Gingilos at about 8.15 am, following Walk 19 in Western Crete (see Books). The route is to follow the E4 up to the col at Linoseli and then take a sharp left and scramble over some very rough terrain (take care and watch out for the “bottomless pit”!) to the summit (altitude 2080 m), which is a magnificent viewpoint. In actual fact, although I had visited the true summit in 2004, this time I was content to avoid the final scramble and stopped just a few (vertical) feet short. Retraced my steps for the descent, arriving back at Xyloskalo at 2.15 pm (so 6 h walking). Caught 3 pm bus to Omalos (only 10 min away), found nice friendly hotel, watched the rain (!) fall for a bit, and had dinner.

Day 6: Walk down Samaria Gorge. At 9 am, after breakfast, the hotel manager gave myself and a party of nice French walkers a lift in his minibus from Omalos back to Xyloskalo. Walked down spectacular and famous gorge (cost €5), which I found to be disappointingly crowded with noisy Cretan locals out on a Sunday day trip. This is Walk 21 in Western Crete (see Books). Reached a very windy Agia Roumeli at about 3 pm (so maybe 5 h 30 min walking), had late lunch, found room, and then had dinner.

Day 7: Walk to Loutro; ferry to Hora Sfakion. Left hotel about 8.15 am (I had learned my lesson from Day 3) and headed along coast to Loutro, following Walk 22 in Western Crete (see Books). Had a coke (many brands available) at the little taverna at Agios Pávlos and looked at the chapel (one of the many places commemorating the site of St Paul’s arrival in Crete). Walked through delightful pine forest (reminiscent of that on Phraxos...) and had extended lunch in taverna at Mármara. Completed walk to Loutro, arriving 3.35 pm (so 7 h 20 min walking, but including 2 h in tavernas). Caught ferry to Hora Sfakion, found room, and had dinner.

Day 8: Travel to Heraklion; travel home. Left Hora Sfakion at 11 am on bus to Vrisses. Transferred to Heraklion bus, arriving 2.15 pm. Killed time by going around what passed for the Archeological Museum at that time and by taking the bus out to Knossos (delightfully quiet in the late afternoon but still very concrete...). Returned to city centre by bus and had dinner. Caught bus out to airport, arriving 8.30 pm, and got 11.30 pm flight back to Glasgow, landing 2.15 am local time. I was home at 3.50 am.

2004 version. My 2004 trip was in the pre-digital camera era (for me) and too long ago to report here in detail. I landed in Heraklion (1st night) and, after doing the full Museum and Knossos, took the bus to Chania (2nd night) and then Xyloskalo, to walk first up Gingilos (Omalos, 3rd night) and then, the next day, down the Samaria gorge, taking the ferry to Loutro (4th night). I then walked up the Aradhena gorge, following Walk 23 in Western Crete (see Books), and caught the ferry to Hora Sfakion (5th, 6th and 7th nights). The next two days I walked down the Imbros gorge, following Walk 25 in Western Crete (see Books), and the Asphendos gorge, following Walk 26 in Western Crete (see Books), before catching the bus back to Heraklion via Vrisses.

Wildlife seen. Red-veined Darter, Cretan Wall Lizard, Cretan Ibex.

Other useful links. Ktel buses

South coast ferry services

Reflections. Crete, as expected, was wonderful. There is something about the light and the slow pace of life. It was blisteringly hot, which made walking at low altitude very hard going at times (Gingilos was perfect) – ample water was an absolute necessity. I would like to get into the high, central area of the White Mountains but this is so rough and so arid I feel I would need at least one companion for safety. Having to pay £250 for the flight – more than a third of the cost of the entire trip – was not good but there are signs that the low-cost airlines are slowly moving into Crete.

© 2014 The Untravelled World