Summer holiday, day 4
Index
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location |
| 07.07.22 | Vouni | 479m | 295m | Lefkada, Greece |
| 07.07.22 | Cape Doukato | 59m (est.) | 29m (est.) | Lefkada, Greece |
| 07.07.22 | Porto Katsiki | 0m | – | Lefkada, Greece |
| 07.07.22 | Megas Lakkos | 732m | 184m | Lefkada, Greece |
Continued from day 3…
Vouni
Thursday: The main goal today was to visit Cape Doukato, aka Cape Lefkatas – the lighthouse on the southwest side of Lefkada island. But it was also in the cards that we would do a hike on our way there and the choice fell on Vouni – a mountain between the villages Sivota and Evgiros on the south side of the island.
But first, Anne’s regular morning bath before we had breakfast…
Thanks to the combination of the maps on peakbook.org and my very basic GPS map (roads and contours only), we stood a good chance of finding our way up the mountain, as the peakbook.org map indicated that a road ran all the way to the top.
We drove to the village Evgiros and headed up the village roads, carefully checking the GPS. Along the way we had a good view towards Stavrota – the island high point that we visited the day before.
After a while, the map suggested two possible routes to the top. We chose the southernmost one. That was a no-go. We couldn’t even see the trace of a road or path. So we went back and took the first road going up the mountain. That was the right choice. We were clearly on our way to the top now.
My heart skipped a beat when a fat snake crossed the road in front of me. I was a bit perplex and didn’t react quick enough to get a picture. But it was ~1 meter long and looked like a Boa-type snake. As some kind of comfort, I did get this cool bugger on disc…
While hiking in Greece, one just has to pay attention. Snakes on the ground and spiders in your face…
On top, we found the summit marker and just below – a building – probably used for farming purposes.
It was hot up here, so after a short break we headed back down.
Back in Evgiros, we stopped at the Taverna for coffee and a cold drink…
If you plan to repeat this route, here’s instructions:
Park in Evgiros and locate the Lefkada signpost (N38.62039 E20.65591). Then head up the road for 0,1km and turn right by a café (taverna, N38.62132 E20.65615). Head upwards southbound for 0,3km until you join another road (N38.61894 E20.65736). Follow the other road northbound (go left), then it turns northeast for 1,2km. In a fork (N38.62635 E20.66306) turn right and follow a dirt road for 0,8km until you see another dirt road on your left (N38.62134 E20.66392). Follow this road 0,7km to the top.
Trip statistics: 6,9km, 270 vertical meters, 1 hour
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Cape Doukato (Cape Lefkatas)
From Evgiros, we drove to Marantochori and followed the main road westbound. At Vasiliki Beach, we were forced to drive through the village centre (tedious…) before we got onto the northbound road to Agios Petros. A bit further north, we turned left onto a road that took us across the ridge and onto the road above the seaside.
We passed the village Athani and held right at Taverna Oasis. We went left at the Porto Katsiki fork and continued southbound. If you’re following these instructions, do not turn left towards a monastery but keep on driving right ahead. Eventually, we got to the lighthouse that marks the southwest corner of Lefkada island.
We were not alone down there. But, as our fascination about lighthouses has a limit, we settled for a 0,4km walk up to- and down from the lighthouse. The heat was indeed notable, and we felt for cooling down.
Trip statistics: 0,4km, 20 vertical meters, 11 minutes
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the visit:
Porto Katsiki
From the lighthouse, we drove back the way we came and turned left at the Porto Katsiki fork. We expected to see some cars down there, turquoise water and if we were lucky – a beach. We found a parking chaos, hundreds of tourists, a nice beach and stunning cliffs.
We had to pay 10 Euro for the parking, and we went down to the beach for snorkeling.
But it turned out that it was impossible to see anything below the water and the waves were vivid enough to pose a threat with respect of sending us into the rocks.
We didn’t stay for long. This wasn’t our cup of tea…
Megas Lakkos
We agreed to return to Nydri, but we had room for one more hike. The choice fell on Megas Lakkos, which we could reach from the pass on the ridge – above Agios Petros. Megas Lakkos is the highest point on the ridge east of Vasiliki.
Thanks to the paper map Anne bought, we found this top. It was not on my GPS map, not on OSM and not on peakbook.org. According to the OSM map, Pyrgiokati (730m) seemed to be the highest point. But the paper map showed Megas Lakkos (732m) just north of Pyrgiokati. And according to the OSM map, mountain roads (or trails) would at least take us close to the top.
We parked in the pass (approx. 580m) and followed the mountain road on the south side of the pass.
This road led us up to a top with solar panels. From here, we had a clear view towards Megas Lakkos and by the looks of it, we could follow roads and paths to the top.
That was almost true. A bit before the top, we lost sight of the path, but the terrain was easy enough for off-trail hiking.
It wasn’t clear where the high point was. There are ruins of old stone huts on top and after walking around a bit, we settled for a point.
Norwegian sheep has an easier life, when it comes to finding grass…
Eventually, it was time to call it a day and return to Nydri. We took the same roads back to the hotel and jumped into the ocean before going for dinner. This time, we decided to try another restaurant and ended up on the Delfini restaurant – in Nydri centre. The food was OK, but nothing more. We agreed that there was no reason to NOT return to Kalypso the next day. And – the guitar player also came here to play…
Trip statistics: 6km, 205 vertical meters, 1h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Continued on day 5…
