The Corfu Trail

Day 5 Pelekas to Liapades 22 km

The Portsmouth lads were just leaving as we went down for breakfast. We wouldn't see them again as they were not staying at our accommodation in Liapades and, unlike us, wouldn't be having a rest day there.

We began our walk with a descent to secluded Myrtiotissa Beach which Gerald Durrell described as the most beautiful beach on the island and which is now a nudist beach. We passed above the sand and after reaching a monastery we joined a concrete track and began a long climb inland to reach Vatos village.

Pelekas

Leaving Pelekas

Taverna at Myrtiotissa

Myrtiotissa

Myrtiotissa Bay

Big butterfly

It's quite a climb to Vatos and we were soon very hot. I stopped every 30 minutes or so to drink water and when we finally reached the village we paused to sit in the shade with ice creams and fresh water from the shop.

Leaving Vatos we crossed a bridge over the Ropa River and walked alongside a golf course before entering the uncultivated fields of the Ropa Valley. These grassy fields make easy walking and as we crossed them we were delighted to meet a tortoise, which disappeared into its shell as we approached. Carole reckoned she had been told when young that tortoises cannot resist being tickled under the chin, a place they cannot reach themselves. We decided to put this to the test and sure enough the tortoise soon appeared to be in a state of bliss. It turned its head from side to side to stretch as much of its neck out of the shell as possible.

Climbing towards Vatos

Phew! We get very hot

Ice cream at Vatos

Leaving Vatos, the Ropa Valley ahead

Entering the Ropa Valley

Our path becomes indistinct

We meet a tortoise

Carole tries out her theory

"Back a bit!"

We walked on through the Ropa Valley for about a mile before emerging on a tarmac road where we turned left. After about 400m we reached a junction where we saw a taverna called Tristratos (3 streets). We saw that the Belgian couple were eating there and they called us to join them. We ordered a Greek salad and chatted about our shared interest in walking. They were doing a six day walk, starting in Benitses and ending at Barbati with no rest days. This meant that they would also be leaving our walk after today while we remained in Liapades.

We told the Belgian couple how on a previous Corfu Trail we had met the Trail's originator, Hilary Paipeti, quite by chance, as we walked through the Ropa Valley. After a while they went on their way and as we packed our own bags to leave who should walk up the road but the very same Hilary Paipeti. Seeing our bags and poles she stopped to ask how we were enjoying the trek.

We had an interesting conversation about the trail and the improvements to Corfu's habitat because of recent ecologically friendly changes in agricultural practices on the island. Hilary was with a man from Corfu Tourism and he was more interested in how many times we had walked the trail since it was created in 2003 (5 times) and also our age (I'm 75). He took our photographs with Hilary and told us that we would be featuring in social media on the Corfu Tourism website but we told him that we don't do social media so unfortunately we would never know.

Lunch at Tristratos

Greek Salad and Ginger beer

We meet the creator of the Corfu Trail, Hilary Paipeti

Waving cheerio to Hilary we walked on, soon reaching the village of Giannades, where there is another cafe and a fantastic viewpoint over the Ropa Valley. We pressed on and most of the next 8 km was spent walking through olive groves. Always sticking to the main path we kept straight on through this peaceful 'Olive Way' as our walk notes described it.

Eventually we joined a concrete track and descended to meet a road running into the village of Liapades, passing its pretty paved square before heading downhill to reach our accommodation at The Cricketers Taverna.