Text: Kimon Zafiropoulos

Photos: Kimon Zafiropoulos, Clio Meentiz

Translation in English: Katerina Pantazi

On Saturday, November 8, at 10:30 in the morning, seventeen people and four dogs from several villages of Andros (Gavrio, Kypri, Chora, Remmata, Koumari, Chones, Ormos Korthiou) met at the church of Evangelistria in Remmata, for yet another maintenance hike on the routes of Andros. There, a small bus was waiting for us to take us to Katakoilos square, at the start of the maintenance hike on sections of routes 11 and 13. After introducing ourselves and getting to know each other in the village square, we started ascending route 11 in good weather and good spirits.

Our first stop was at the Katakoilos cemetery for a short breath after the uphill climb but also to admire the view towards both Arni and Katakoilos.

We continued through the autumn landscape towards Arni and it was as if the forest that was thickening was embracing us more and more. At the small chapel of Agia Aikaterini, we admired the waterfall and had our snack.

There, we took care of the wooden bridge that passes over the stream, cleaning it of leaves and branches so that the water could flow freely. At the same time, we cleaned parts of the path from briars and thorns and collected all the plastic garbage we found.

Continuing our hike, we reached the junction of paths 11 and 13 and descended path 13 through the dense forest. Descending carefully, we moved leaves and branches to keep the path clear and crossed the koumara forest.

Throughout the route, nature was present at every step of our way — cyclamen, mushrooms, koumara and a beautiful, harmless snake that discreetly made its appearance, reminding us of the living balance of the Remmata area.

At the end of the route, we stopped by the river for a small picnic: we shared leek pie, Cycladic tomato pie, lemon cake, cookies and tsipouro.

We warmly thank everyone who participated in the maintenance hike who, with their steps and work, keep the routes of Andros open and especially Kimonas Zafeiropoulos, Route Angel of route 13, who shared with us Andrian raki and his extremely tempting tasty creations!

See you at the next maintenance hike to discover and preserve more wonderful routes of our island!