Walk from Apollonia

 Thursday 22nd December 

Had a lovely dinner last night with my friends from Sifnos, catching up on their news and giving plenty of attention to their lovely dog. Slept well in my accommodation, it’s not noisy, the island is quiet now, like Serifos. We agreed to meet up outside my place in the morning, to go to Apollonia to do some shopping, chores and a snack for lunch. We happened to meet the friend who joined us for dinner last while we were eating our lunch. Then myself and their furry friend wandered back to Kamares by foot. Whenever I go to Apollonia, it seems we always meet someone we both know which is very strange. Here is a nice little house with paintings on its exterior.

As I am typing this in one handed, my right hand is rubbing the dogs tummy, he is next to me on the sofa, flat out relaxing after the walk. As he is half Spaniel, it will be no surprise, he wants to get everywhere in half the time, before darting off in a different direction. Last time we did this walk, which was June, there were building works stopping us start the walk where we wanted, and then a fallen olive tree caused us other problems later on. In the spring, we could not do it as the dried river bed was flooded. No such problems this time, and we met a larger four legged friend, one of two, we were to meet on the way.

There was quite a lot of horse/donkey droppings on the path, with a bit of goat/sheep too. It’s interesting to compare the two islands in term of vegetation and geology. I think Sifnos has more trees, certainly a lot more terracing with olive trees growing on it. Serifos has a much more mixed rock formations and colours/types of rocks. Sifnos has more larger centres of populations, and feels like a bigger island. It’s amazing how different they are, given how close they are to each other. Both have seen a lot of building relating to tourism, with the problems that causes in high season, traffic, utilities,  water supply etc. 

This church is very close to the start of the walk. The walk is in three parts I suppose, to start with following a walled path which is fairly easy going. Then the middle bit is harder, going mostly down towards the currently dry river bed, following more open steps, slightly difficult with my Spaniel friend. Finally walking beside the dried river bed, by which time you can see Kamares and the sea. The second bit of the walk is the most dramatic, but no photograph I have ever taken conveys the beauty and majesty of the mountain path. Beside us not surprisingly is the road that goes to Apollonia from Kamares. At the bottom where the path meets the river bed is this huge boulder, that is the marker for those doing the return walk to where they need to start climbing up. The walk is easier this way!

We did see some farm animals and of course, there is nothing better that a fresh piece of lamb or chicken, Ronnie made his intentions known, but he was safely on a lead. When you reach the dried river bed, there are small fields about, a lot of these are growing what looks like cereal crops. The big water tank that my charge slipped into in June, was ignored today, I had a look at it, and it had a goldfish in it! One of the final things we see on the walk is a small field of hire cars, ready for next years visitors. We did see some of the clover flowers which had opened.they have a very different flower to clover in the UK.

The path is well marked, all the way , with white and red flashes of paint on the rocks. There are also some finger posts, indicating destination and length of walk. But they are not quite as good as the ones on Andros.