Madari, Papoutsa, July 29 2019

Cyprus, day 4

Peaks visited:

Peak	Height	PF	Location
Madari	1613m	428m	Cyprus
Papoutsa	1554m	289m	Cyprus

 

Madari (1613m)

Monday: Our fourth day on Cyprus was foremost dedicated to hiking Madari (1613m) – 12km east of Mt. Olympos and the highest top in the 2nd highest mountain region on Cyprus.

But first on my agenda was to visit Sixth rental car company a few blocks away from the hotel. The backpack we forgot at the airport had finally made its way to the Sixth’ rental office in Limassol. It was really good to be reunited with my backpack – and the items inside…

Like when we visited Mt. Olympos two days ago, we took A6 westbound from Limassol, got onto B8 northbound, which we followed to Saittas, where we took E801 10,8km to the north. We then got onto E909 which we followed for 3,4km – in the direction of Kyperounta. Lastly, we turned north onto F944 and followed it 1,8km up to the Madari trailhead.

The trailhead was well organized with information and maps. It seemed that we very in for a nice and easy 3,75km hike up to Madari.

It was another HOT day but Norwegians seldom complain about these things…

After a while on the nice path, we got the Madari tops in view. Top*s* as we could see 3 tops, all seemingly of the same height.

We had some indications about the closest one being the highest, but we decided to visit all 3 – of course. We didn’t know that there was a fire lookout cabin here, but we would pay it a visit for sure.

Along the way, it was fun to pay attention to the small things in life…

The first top was clearly the highest. The official height is 1613m, and my GPS said 1611m.

Next, we moved onto the southeast top where my GPS measured 1609m.

And finally, we moved to the fire lookout cabin top where my GPS read 1607m.

Here, we had a nice chat with one of the watchmen, who spoke a fairly decent English. They offered us coffee and water, and Anne is a huge fan of Cypriot coffee.

Inside the cabin, they had a poster with view toward the mountains we could see from here. I asked what the highest top was called, and the answer was Papoutsa. I said to Anne that I wouldn’t mind paying that top a visit, once we were done here.

Papoutsa was seemingly the highest top – outside the Olympos and Madari massifs.

After a nice stay on top, we took the same route back to the trailhead.

Trip statistics: 8,7km, 550 vertical meters, 3h:03m

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike:

Papoutsa (1554m)

After returning to the rental car, we drove down to the town Kyperounta and followed E909 abd passed Agridia and Agros. 17,2km after the F944/E909 junction, we arrived at the E903/F139 junction and parked there. I was dizzy when I got out of the car. It was one of the curviest roads I’ve ever driven…

Papoutsa was only 0,8km away from the trailhead, but offered a steep 300 vertical meter ascent to the top, so Anne decided to wait in the car.

I struggled with locating the path at first, and was close to giving up. It’s impossible to hike off-trail in this type of terrain.

But after a few minutes, a found the path. Vague, but visible enough to follow. The ascent went partly on solid ground and partly on loose gravel. But I made progress and not in too long, I had the summit in view.

The summit was marked by a cross and a flag. It was really nice to visit the top, and it took me only 20 minutes from when I had found the path.

But there was another point – 120m to the east, looking equally high. So, I had to get over the and visit it. The GPS reading was inconclusive (as handheld GPS readings should be). I had 1551m on both tops.

From here, I had a good view towards the trailhead, and also to the Platys (1420m) on the other side of the road.  But, I decided to pass on that one. I was more than happy to get back to the hotel and enjoy a nice dinner.

So, I hurried down to Anne and we returned to Limassol via F1329 and E110.

Trip statistics: 2,9km, 305 vertical meters, 56min

Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike: