Greece: E4 European Long Distance work from Karpenisi to Delphi and Itea

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Photo ofGreece: E4 European Long Distance work from Karpenisi to Delphi and Itea

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John P

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Trail stats

Distance: 110.1 mi
Elevation gain: 25,144 ft
Technical difficulty: Moderate
Elevation loss: 28,301 ft
Max elevation: 5,739 ft
TrailRank: 64
Min elevation: 16 ft
Trail type: One Way

Coordinates: 2915
Uploaded: June 25, 2019
Recorded: June 2019

4 Claps

near Karpenísi, Central Greece (Greece)

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Itinerary description

This is my effort to follow the E4 European Long Distance walk from Karpenisi to Delphi through the Pindus mountains and onto Itea on the coast. The trail is through mountainous terrain, over passes and along valleys. It is on tarmac roads, forest tracks and paths, the paths are sometimes good but are often have no expression on the ground making progress slow. I have waymarked two places where the path is difficult to follow but there are several more. Waymarking with yellow and black E4 signs and painted stripes is good in places and absent in others.

I walked the route at the beginning of May and there was still significant snow on the mountains, which my route generally avoided. My route was based on the Anavasi hiking maps and also the GPX files in a blog by Stefanos Stamelou http://e-onthemountain.blogspot.com/2015/08/4.html.
This route follows on from my previous walk into Karpenisi https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/greece-e4-european-long-distance-trail-from-meteora-to-karpenisi-37894706. More detail can be found in my blog JohnPonE4Greece.blogspot.com.

For my complete trek on the E4 across Europe read my book "Six Pairs of Boots: Spain to Cyprus on the E4 Trail" by John Pucknell available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, the Bookdepository.com, lehmanns.de, bookspot.nl, and other good online bookstores.

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Waypoints

Ancient Delphi

Arriving at Delphi is the culmination of the trip with its famous ancient Greek remains. There are plenty of hotels, restaurants and shops and a good path into and out of the town.

Village of Artotína

There is a taverna and accommodation in this village

Village of Athanásios Diákos

There are tavernas and accommodation in the village, named after a hero of the Greek War of Indepedence

Monastery of Agiou Ioanni

A monastery that no longer seemed in use but was well maintained

Difficult section of path

Another section of path climbing up to the Kalania plateau that is difficult to find

Difficult path down to Eptalofos

A downhill section where it was difficult to find the path

Gramméne Oxyá

The square of this village has a cafe and taverna

Village of Krikello

There is a taverna and accomodation in this village.

Path across scree

This is a particularly difficult section of path traversing a steep slope, across scree in places. Care is needed to avoid slipping and to watch out for the waymarks as the route of the path is not always clear. Fallen trees make following the route difficult. There is an alternate route along a dirt track in the valley.

Quarries

There are various quarries in this area, which I assume are associated with bauxite mining. They do not interfer with the E4 which follows the road.

River crossing

This was one of two river crossings on this section.

Track washed away and river crossing

This was the second of two river crossings on this section. The track that the E4 follows had been washed away making for additional problems. As this was in early May the river was swollen by snow meltwater. It would be less of a problem later in the year.

Choice of routes

There is a choice of three routes near this point. The official E4 follows a path along the river. The preceding path was overgrown and difficult to follow so instead I followed the road to Strome. An E4 alternative takes you over the Giona mountains. It which sounds attractive however the snow made me decide against it on this occasion, given there was on steep scree slope on the far side of the mountains that you descend, which would have been covered by snow and possibly damgerous without suitable equipment.

Turn-off for official E4

As this GPS track shows, I continued along the road to where a vehicle track up the mountain was marked. The official E4 is signposted here and there is a map on a noticeboard. This takes you up a path. As a the result of poor experiences with other "paths" followed by the E4 in this area, I did not attempt this path.

Ámpliane

Although the village was very quiet the taverna in the square was open when I passed through

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