Walking in Crete

First of all ...... you DON'T have to come on our walks to stay with Footscapes! Although we aim primarily at walkers, we are delighted to welcome guests with other plans. When you look at our price lists, please note that there are "accommodation only" options for those who prefer not to join our walks. Also, we are happy to let guests join us for individual walks, priced on a "per walk" basis in addition to the basic accommodation package.

Some of our guests also prefer to walk on their own, without being guided by us. Again, we welcome anyone on this basis, and can usually help out with maps and advice. Many guests opt for a combination of one or two guided walks mixed with days of self guided walks or simply days at leisure. Please see below for how we can help with self guided walking in Crete (**).

We do, however, take the greatest of pleasure in inviting our guests to join us on our guided walk programmes, based on a one week (7 night) cycle. Our walk - inclusive price for the full programme includes 5 day walks during the week with a rest day in the middle. Our shorter walk - inclusive programme allows guests to select any 3 day walks of their choice.

We aim to show the highlights and contrasts offered by this beautiful island - perhaps a gorge ramble one day, a coastal walk (with swimming opportunity) the next, or maybe a visit to a historic monastery. Some of our walks are highlighted below, and several can be found in either the Sunflower or Rother guides if you wish to learn more. Please note that we have already walked and graded all of the routes that we offer on our guided programme.

There are further details below on walk categories and fitness levels (##), but on many days we can offer a two level option for different abilities. This may be by having an intermediate stopping point along a walk or perhaps by walking a gorge both ways. Those who wish to halt part or half way (often at an inviting taverna or kafenion) can do so.

Winter walking in Crete: We walk all year round with any size of group, weather permitting. Winter can be incredible, with sunshine, clear blue skies and daytime temperatures in the mid - teens Celsius. (It can also be cold, wet and windy!). You would be very unlucky to have a full week's walking lost to bad weather, but it does sometimes happen. Remember also that winter here is a time of great activity for Mother Nature - lambing begins in October and runs through to the start of the new year; many flowers that bloom in January and February are subsequently gone in spring (February is especially lovely with fields full of purple and red anemones); and of course all of the major harvests occur in autumn/winter - grapes in September/October, olives in December/January and citrus fruits in January/February. The Rethymno festival also takes place in February, and is the precursor to the fasting of Lent.

Just a taste of some of our walks (please click on the Walk Name to open a photo album):

Eleftherna. A fascinating walk for antiquity enthusiasts. 7 miles, varied terrain, moderate difficulty. We walk to "new" Eleftherna over open limestone country. From the new village, we descend to the valley floor via a spectacular Hellenistic bridge, later rising to the acropolis of ancient Eleftherna. On our return, we visit a well - preserved early Byzantine fortification, Roman cisterns and an Iron Age burial site.

To the Base of Kedros. A moderate - tough walk of 8 miles over some difficult terrain. Walking up from Kendrohori towards the massive bulk of Kedros, we ascend the southern slope via the E4 footpath. After reaching the ridge - top at 3000 feet, we drop to a shady spring for lunch. Descending across the agricultural plain west of Kedros, we return to our start point via Kissos and an old monastery site.

Moni Preveli. A moderate walk of approximately 10 miles, with some incredible contrasts. We start at Asomatos village, walking alongside the Megalopotamos river to its outflow in the Libyan Sea at Palm Beach. After descending to the beach and maybe a short swim, we climb back up and visit the historic monastery of Preveli before returning to our start point.

Lappa. A lovely walk of 7 miles over easy terrain. Starting off by following the E4 long distance footpath towards Asi Gonia (home of the late "Cretan Runner", George Psychoundakis), we pass through the tiny hamlet of Maroulou. After a picnic lunch, we complete our walk at Lappa, spending some time exploring  this fascinating town and its Roman and Venetian artefacts, including a spectacular Roman necropolis.

Summit of Vryssinas. Approximately 9 miles, with a moderate/hard ascent of about 1600 feet. We leave from close to the Minoan Cemetery at Armeni walking along the base of the Vryssinas ridge, rising to the village of Oros. From Oros, we continue a gradual ascent through shepherd country and a limestone plateau to the foot of Vryssinas peak. Our final ascent to the top of Vryssinas and the chapel of Prophet Ilias brings fantastic 360^o views of Psiloritis, Rethymno, Kedros and the White Mountains. Vultures often patrol this ridge top. Our descent is via easy 4x4 tracks back to the start, with views to Rethymno and the north.

Volika Mountain Refuge. Probably our toughest walk at 10 miles and 2500 feet of ascent. Starting at Kambi, a small village in the foothills of the White Mountains, we ascend a ravine to the Volika climbing hut used for overnight stays prior to treks to the White Mountain summit peaks. The refuge sits at just over 4000 feet altitude, so you gain a real mountain feel on this walk. Descending along an easy shepherds' trail, the views of the north west coastline of Crete are spectacular. Also a good opportunity to spot birds of prey, including the Eurasian Griffon Vulture.

We are always pleased to discuss the walking programme with clients at the start of their holiday and specific requests can usually be accommodated.

## Walk categories and fitness levels:

All of our walks can be accomplished by a reasonably active person, typically someone who might be thought of as a "rambler" in the UK. If you are joining us for one of our 5 day walking programmes, ideally you will be used to a couple of consecutive days walking back home. We usually try to follow a more strenuous walk by an easier day and vice versa. A typical Footscapes walk will be approximately 6 to 12 miles long, but most of the longer walks have an option to stop part way through. In case of problems, we will always encourage someone who is struggling (e.g. with the heat) to stop.  For mixed ability/stamina couples, we can sometimes offer a walk which will suit both.

We are not about dawn assaults on the summit of Mount Psiloritis! If this is your scene, please book an accommodation package with us and we will be delighted to pour you a cold beer when you stagger back down the drive.

** Self guided walking in Crete:

We are always happy to offer advice and a few pointers on good walks to try out under your own steam. We have available copies of most of the major guide books for the island - Rother West Crete, Sunflower East and West Crete and Cicerone White Mountains, as well as copies of the Harms Verlag 1:100000 maps of East and West Crete. We have walked all of the local routes written up in the Rother and Sunflower West Crete guides.

New for 2008: GPS data for self guiding in Crete. We are gradually walking most of our existing guided walks with a GPS navigator and collecting each walk's track and waypoint data. This data is freely available to our guests to use with their own GPS, along with some route notes to help with the trickier sections. This data is taken and used at guests' own risk, and we do not provide any loan or rental GPS units. (Data is held in GPX file format, and we use Easy GPS software along with a Garmin (Etrex type) serial cable for data transfer. For other GPS types or file formats, you will need to arrange your own method of data input to your machine). If you are interested in this option, please ask for details of Crete GPS walk data for self guiding at time of enquiry.