The Corfu Trail

Day 1       Asprokavos to Santa Barbara  23km

The Corfu Trail is a long distance trek of 220km which zig zags northwards from the southernmost tip to the northernmost.  This means that the harder parts of the trek, and the most beautiful, are encountered at a later stage as you become acclimatised to the weather and also fitter.

We arrived in Corfu in the late afternoon and were met at the airport by Marcella from Aperghi Travel.  We were given a briefing, trip notes and maps and were transferred to Asprokavos in the far south of the island in time for dinner.  We spent our first night at the Mediterranean Blue Hotel and after an excellent breakfast left the hotel to see our first yellow Corfu trail sign just a couple of hundred yards from the hotel.

Ready for the off!

We left the road to circumnavigate a lake and were soon completely alone, it was as if we were miles from Asprokavos, not just a few hundred yards.  

Circumnavigating the lake

Leaving the lake behind we soon entered the first olive groves of the trek.  We would see a lot of olive groves in the next two weeks but never tire of their charm.  

As we approached Spartera Carole spotted our first tortoise of the trek.  Quite an unusual colour, almost black and with a badly dented shell but we were fairly certain that it was a tortoise and not a turtle.

It shuffled off into the bushes.

Our first tortoise of the trek

"I'm outta here!"

The paths were overgrown in places

Olive grove

By now I was feeling the heat.  Twenty four hours earlier we had been in the UK where the temperature had been around 12 degrees, cool for early June.  Now my watch told me the temperature was 33 degrees and it would soon reach 35. I was starting to wilt.  This heat would continue for the first four days of our trek and then the temperature would drop to around 28 for most of the rest of the walk, which I found much more comfortable.

Our path today varied between mule tracks, gravel paths and the occasional bit of tarmac and as we reached one such bit of road we saw a snake crossing just ahead of us.  Pretty sure it was a viper we kept our distance and in fact when I googled it I discovered that it was a horned viper, aka a sand viper, Europe's most deadly snake.

The horned viper...

... AKA the Sand Viper, Europe's most deadly!

Walking through the olive groves

After 10km we reached Lefkimmi, Corfu's second largest town.  We crossed a bridge over the Potami river and stopped at a small cafe.  I was in need of cooling down and bought water as well as ginger beer, coffee and cake.  Ginger beer was brought to Corfu by the British and embraced by the population as it is so refreshing in hot weather.  It is now available at most tavernas. 

We had a pleasant rest in the shade for nearly an hour and set off much refreshed.

Crossing the Potami river

Refreshments, note Carole's wearing her Jubilee bracelet, courtesy the grandkids, it being June 3rd

Walking through Lefkimmi

After Lefkimmi we were soon walking through dense olive groves and it was so quiet we might as well have been the only people on Corfu.  The only sounds to be heard, apart from my occasional complaints about the heat, were crickets and tree frogs.  After another 8 km we passed through the Gardeno valley and crossed the Gardeno river.  Once again I was struggling with the heat and finding the going very tough but just as I reached my lowest ebb we came upon the Alexandros Taverna and quickly found a table in the shade.  More ginger beer was drunk together with a delicious plate of bruschetta and bitter olives from their own trees.  We bought more large bottles of water to fill our flasks and leaving the taverna climbed the steep hill behind, soon gaining a wonderful view of the west coast where, in the distance, we could just see Agios Georgios and Lake Korrision which we would pass by tomorrow.

At the Alexandros Taverna

Back in the olive groves

We soon descended to the beach and once on the shore we set off alongside the sea where the sand was firmer, for the last couple of miles.  As we neared Santa Barbara we walked through the beds and beach umbrellas of holiday makers, feeling very out of place amongst the sunbathers and very much no longer alone.  

We were staying at the Perfect Ten, a small hotel near the beach, but first we stopped at the Santa Barbara taverna and ordered large beers.

We descend to the beach, Santa Barbara in the distance

A long walk through the sand makes a tough end to the day

We get our reward!

To Day 2