Lafkos – Mousges

We start from the town square of Lafkos and we follow the main road for 730m. Then, we find the old but intact cobbled path, hidden under the dense herbaceous vegetation and covered by soil. We walk closely to some rural cottages and orchard fields until we reach the top of a ridge called Rachi Kostoula (408m), the highest point of the wider region.

We now see the main road which we’ll shortcut, following an earthy wide trail. For the next 160m we walk on the same road but soon we find an earthy alley. This alley takes us to the middle of a forest stand, with scattered pines and dense understory of Mediterranean bushes, such as strawberry trees, mastic trees and heathers. Soon we see the trail which goes downhill and crosses another dirt road. We continue our route in the heart of a complex basin, walking on the river banks. At a certain point of the riverbed, we find the remaining section of the cobbled path. We follow it, overcoming some small-scale difficulties, due to the presence of dense vegetation of pine trees and high bushes, such as the Greek strawberry tree and brambles.

Finally, we meet the dirt road, in front of the entrance of the abandoned monastery of Agios Spyridonas. A nice and clear trail takes us inside of a beautiful ravine, covered with oak species, plane trees and aspens. We climb to the other side of the stream and continue walking on the trail. We soon find a secondary road crossing, which enables the car-access to the numerous olive groves and leads to the settlement of Platanias.

Consecutive dirt roads lead us to the riverbanks, from where we follow the main trail of the route Promyri – Platanias. This is a clear and well-indicated section, which takes us to the main road, a little higher above Platanias. After walking for 1200 on the main road, we arrive at the coastline, next to the estuaries of the stream. Although this is a very quiet village in the winter, we have numerous accommodation choices, during the summer months, and we can find many restaurants, shops and an information centre.

This hike is well-indicated all along its length. We can easily find the red marks on the trees and on the rocks. At most of the road crossings, round metal signs show our way, made by the club of Friends of the Kalderimi of South Pelion.

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