Chóra - Sinetí - valley of Dipotámata - water-mill n° 5 and back |
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Evaluation:
By hiking up and down, leaving from Chóra, this hike makes it possible
to walk through the magnificent valley of Dipotámata in both directions.
The trails, amongst others the one between Chóra and Sinetí and the one
in the valley of Dipotámata itself, are really beautiful, and in the
valley you come across some interesting remains of water mills. The hike
is well signposted with the trail marker [3]. It gets an
evaluation of ***.
Estimated time:
The hike to Sinetí takes 1h10 in actual walking time and then it will
take you another 1h10 to reach the restored water mill at the far end of
the Dipotámata-valley
- the total distance of this way there is 6,78 km. For the return route you can count on the same
span of time, which means that the total actual walking time is 4h40.
Depending on your rest and picnic breaks, the total walking time will be
quite a bit longer.
Route
description:
(0h00) For
all hikes
leaving from Chóra you have to depart from the main street
near the large church of the Panagía tis Kímisis – which is visible from
all over this town (for more details you might have a look at the
description of the small hike in Chóra itself). Today you should follow
the main street to the right (facing the church) and soon you arrive at
the big square of Vas. Goulandris, where you find an information sign of
Andros Routes. You keep following the pedestrian street (little signs
[1], [2], [3], [8a], [17] and [18]!). At the end of
this street, after 70 meters, you keep to the left and continue
obliquely to the right, in the direction of the parking lots (signs [3],
[17] and [18]. You follow the concrete street obliquely to the right,
thus on the left side of the parking lot and you keep to the left on the
road next to the second parking lot – where walk [17] goes right.
(0h09)
After a bend, you arrive at the bridge over the Megálos Potamós: you
cross it to the right and continue to the right ([3] and [18]). A little
later, walks [17] and [18] go to the right on a smaller concrete road
(next to the old
bridge, now useless), but you should continue STRAIGHT for hike [3]
(hiking sign). The road veers to the left in the direction of the
football ground, but just BEFORE the tavern Parapórti, you should take
the little concrete lane on the right – there is a hiking sign Sinetí
3km / Dipotámata 5,5 km / Ormos Korthíou 10,5 km and the trail marker
[3].
The old hiking sign at the beginning of path [3], near Parapórti.
(0h13)
You follow a concrete alley next to a house, then you go up for some 8
minutes on a nice meandering staircase, with a view over the entire
valley; you can see Chóra with the villages of Ipsiloú and Lámyra
beyond. The monopáti to Sinetí.
After 7 minutes and 265 steps the staircase is destroyed and you go up
on the left in the direction of a chapel. After one minute you thus
reach the asphalt road that runs to the little heliport.
(0h22) On the opposite side and slightly to the right the trail continues [3]: it will lead through a small valley and you already can see the trail continuing on the opposite slope. Some 5 minutes later you cross the small valley – the water is bordered with oleanders and there was still water (with little crabs) on October 15th 2013! You now get to a marvellous climb on a very beautiful, but slightly overgrown staircase, with about 385 steps. Have a look at the way in which large, flat stones have been used here, in contrast with the vertical and smaller stones on the trail to Apíkia.
The huge flat slabs are sometimes more than 2 meters large!
Another 9 minutes later you cross the main asphalt road [3].
View on Chóra, during walk [3].
(0h46) You go up for some
moments and then go down slowly - Chóra disappears - and you climb again
during some minutes on a nice, rocky path, with the road and the deep
valley on your left side. Then,
there is a vague bifurcation - just past a nice threshing floor - where
you should keep to the right, and 1 minute later another clear
bifurcation.
View on Chóra,
taken from a side-path of walk [3]. [A few years ago, the hike continued here on the left and it followed the asphalt road for another 6 minutes. Just after a shelter on the left and just before a bench, there was a concrete path on the right, which entered the village ...]
Now you follow the road to the right for
7 minutes (1 sign [3]).
On the terrace of café I Vrýsi, in Sinetí.
(1h09)
To
continue on this hike you take the staircase that goes up on the left of the
well. You then take, halfway the stairs, the first street on the left [3] and
after 1 minute you keep to the right in order to follow the concrete steps [3],
next to some water pipes – these steps bring you to the top of the rocky valley.
After many steps and some 6 minutes after your departure you arrive at a
concrete road; at this point this road runs to a dead end at the water tank. You
follow the concrete road to the left, it goes up quite steeply and after 7
minutes you reach the asphalt road once more.
(1h28)
You have to follow this road now towards the left for about 1 km. (1h40) Gradually, you now proceed deeper into the Dipotámata-gorge, via a marvellous trail with beautiful walls, with gurgling water underneath and midst blooming broom (May 2005). Even in September 2007, after a very dry summer, there was still water in the valley! The gravel road comes to an end after 6 minutes, but you continue on your marvellous path [3].
The path that goes down in the Dipotámata-valley. After some 15
minutes all together you cross the small river on a nice bridge – next
to it you notice the ruins of a water mill. In earlier days there used
to be more than ten water mills, upstream from here towards Exo Vouní!
The bridge over the Dipotámata-valley with, to the left, the water mill. |
(1h56) On the other side of the bridge, a wonderful kalderími climbs higher and higher; now and then you have some great views on the right, on the gorge with the multitude of terraces and on the ruins of water mills.
Down in the valley, there is another water mill... After a while the trail becomes narrower, slightly
overgrown and also wet as a result of some streaming water. Thereafter it turns
into a very nice staircase path again.
About 12 minutes past
the bridge there is a junction: the trail on the left continues to Kochílou and
Ormos Korthíou (arrow + [3]) – see the hike Chóra - Sinetí - Ormos Korthíou.
The nice wall, to the right of your path to Exo Vouní. Right in front of you, on the other hill and running between walls, you can already see the continuation of the path. After 5 minutes you get to a T-junction, indeed, where you take a sharp right.
The obvious continuation of the path...
The trail is more overgrown now, and after one minute you have to
continue on its left-hand side; a little later you can walk on the old
path again. Some
3 minutes later you
get to an obstruction made of stones. [On the other side of the
obstruction the trail continues and it descends into the valley – almost
immediately you notice a nice taffoni, on the other side of the wall on the
right -, but this runs to a dead end after only 5 minutes...] (2h17)
Just past the obstruction you can take a vague trail going up on the LEFT, until
you arrive at the asphalt road
– there is even a cairn, left behind by Pierre Songis, an ardent French hiker.
You take a right on the asphalt road and you have to follow this road for about
700 metres or 10 minutes – until you get to a sharp turn at the end of the
valley. (2h28)
About halfway the curve you find a small gravel road off the left – a signpost
points to the "nerómylo
n° 5". You can indeed follow the gravel road for a short while and take the
steps going down on the left to reach a restored water mill. On the right of
this mill you can climb onto the roof, to find out how the water supply used to
work: a reservoir was made of upright stones and through a whole, with a bung
and a lever, which was operated from below, the water was streaming on the flat
and rotating wheel.
The reservoir on top of the roof of the water-mill. (2h32)
For the return route you follow exactly the same road. (2h51) You first keep going down and after 10-11 minutes you reach a nice bridge. The marvellous trail then goes up slightly, with sometimes really beautiful walls alongside it. Some 16 minutes later you arrive at the asphalt road again.
The paths and walls in the Dipotámata-valley are really beautiful. (3h17) You
take the road to the right and after
10-11 minutes you follow the
small concrete road off the right to Sinetí. Where this road runs to a dead end,
at the water tank, you go down the steps until you get to the concrete
cross-path, where you taje a left. After a little more than one minute, you
descend the staircase to the right and you get in this way to the little square
in the centre of the village, next to the café I Vrýsi – this might be a good
spot to take some rest? (3h40)
You go left and go down a
bit, and near a pole, you go up the first staircase on the LEFT; you veer right
and you thus arrive at the right side of the church.
(4h14)
The trail continues almost opposite (next to a road sign) ([3] on a stone).
After 350 steps, which are sometimes very large, you arrive in the river bed.
You go up for 6 minutes - a pavement with large flat stones - and about 110
steps later, you get again to the asphalt road.
Next to the chapel and especially
late in the afternoon, you have a magnificent view on Chóra all the way.
View on Chóra,
during your descent from Sinetí. Gpx-files:
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