A day in a remote part of the Troodos range among steep sided, wooded mountains visiting a fire watch tower and "Cedar Valley".
After decamping I was delighted to find the cafe open at 7:30 a.m., serving forestry workers cups of coffee before they started their shift at 8:00 a.m.. A strong Cypriot coffee (which is the same as a Greek, Turkish or Arabic coffee) is a good way to start the day. Further good news was that, after a short distance of tarmac, the E4 followed a proper footpath, part of a nature trail with informative signs. It was also steeply uphill.
After decamping I was delighted to find the cafe open at 7:30 a.m., serving forestry workers cups of coffee before they started their shift at 8:00 a.m.. A strong Cypriot coffee (which is the same as a Greek, Turkish or Arabic coffee) is a good way to start the day. Further good news was that, after a short distance of tarmac, the E4 followed a proper footpath, part of a nature trail with informative signs. It was also steeply uphill.
Although the path was through sizeable pine trees, there were smaller trees in the "under canopy". One of the helpful signs described these as oak trees, called Golden Oak ("Quercus Alnifolia"). The oval leaves were not like the oaks I was familiar with, they had distinctive "golden" undersides. Looking closely I could see there were indeed a few thin acorns. It is the national tree of Cyprus. At bush level there were various aromatic herbs. The cafe was selling wild oregano, no doubt from among these trees.
At the top of the (first) hill it was back to a gravel track. As was the case yesterday, the road took a circuitous route, in and out of the mountainside to maintain altitude or doubling back on itself to gain or lose height on these steep slopes. In due course I reached the summit of Tripylos, on which a fire watch tower stands. The forestry officer on duty let me climb up the stubby tower to see the 360 degree view and pointed to various sights including places I had been and ones I was to visit in the next few days, including the Kykkos monastery and Mount Olympus. I hoped to camp near the monastery tonight, but although not far away if reached in a straight line, the E4 takes a much longer and roundabout route.
"Cedar Valley" starts at the Tripylos summit, it is an area with a large numbers of Cyprus Cedars. Not as elegant as the Cedars of Lebanon, they are a protected species, present at only a few places on Cyprus. Walking down the valley to the tarmac road I met a number of people walking up, some looked red and struggling with the heat and had possibly unwisely exposed too much skin.
The tarmac led me to another track, closed to vehicles. It looked like it had been ploughed up to make it unusable to wheeled transport but the uneven surface also made it hard for walkers. In addition the track was taking me away from my destination rather than towards it, a typical trick played by those who created the route of the E4 in Cyprus. Eventually it joined a dirt track used by vehicles (of which I saw only one, an old Volvo on a family outing), that headed in the direction of the Kykkos monastery. However, as I walked back and fore on the numerous loops in the road it was evident that I was not going to get close to the monastery before nightfall. I started to look for places to camp, not easy with the very steep slopes restricting me to the road. I finally chose an abandoned track, where I pitched my tent on very stony ground among sage bushes growing on the old track. The sky was still pink on the horizon as I ate some diner.
33 kilometres walked today with a 1080 metre total ascent. A gps file of my walk can be downloaded from wikiloc.com or ViewRanger under short code johnpon0045.
At the top of the (first) hill it was back to a gravel track. As was the case yesterday, the road took a circuitous route, in and out of the mountainside to maintain altitude or doubling back on itself to gain or lose height on these steep slopes. In due course I reached the summit of Tripylos, on which a fire watch tower stands. The forestry officer on duty let me climb up the stubby tower to see the 360 degree view and pointed to various sights including places I had been and ones I was to visit in the next few days, including the Kykkos monastery and Mount Olympus. I hoped to camp near the monastery tonight, but although not far away if reached in a straight line, the E4 takes a much longer and roundabout route.
"Cedar Valley" starts at the Tripylos summit, it is an area with a large numbers of Cyprus Cedars. Not as elegant as the Cedars of Lebanon, they are a protected species, present at only a few places on Cyprus. Walking down the valley to the tarmac road I met a number of people walking up, some looked red and struggling with the heat and had possibly unwisely exposed too much skin.
The tarmac led me to another track, closed to vehicles. It looked like it had been ploughed up to make it unusable to wheeled transport but the uneven surface also made it hard for walkers. In addition the track was taking me away from my destination rather than towards it, a typical trick played by those who created the route of the E4 in Cyprus. Eventually it joined a dirt track used by vehicles (of which I saw only one, an old Volvo on a family outing), that headed in the direction of the Kykkos monastery. However, as I walked back and fore on the numerous loops in the road it was evident that I was not going to get close to the monastery before nightfall. I started to look for places to camp, not easy with the very steep slopes restricting me to the road. I finally chose an abandoned track, where I pitched my tent on very stony ground among sage bushes growing on the old track. The sky was still pink on the horizon as I ate some diner.
33 kilometres walked today with a 1080 metre total ascent. A gps file of my walk can be downloaded from wikiloc.com or ViewRanger under short code johnpon0045.
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| Pine trees on the steep slopes of the Troodos mountains |
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| A Cyprus Cedar |
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| View towrds Mount Olympus from the Fire Watch tower |
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