Evaluation:
This hike
departs at an altitude of 650 metres, above the deserted village of
Vourkotí. Basically over the entire length it follows the hill ridges of
Goráki and Kouvára, at an average altitude of 800-900 metres. The hike
goes to the Profítis Ilías, the highest summit of Andros (997 m) and it
then continues for another 3 kilometres to Agii Saránta (990 m). The
trail is easy, but it is the panoramic views over the entire island in
particular that are amazing.
The hike deserves the
evaluation of ***.
[Update in June 2010 by Jean-Paul Ovigne and Georges Roubaud and by
Raymond on April 30th, 2015 and on April
23rd 2019.]
[The translation of this
walk is
made with some help of
Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]
[Pay attention:
during several years, until 2014, the first few
minutes of the path
from the tavern O
Vráchos were difficult, if
not impassable as the path was completely obstructed by
vegetation. Since 2015, the passage is possible
again; if in the future, there would be problems again,
you could start a little
further: one should therefore follow the
asphalt road for 1
kilometer, and a few hundred meters beyond the
sharp left turn
and the road to Achla
(road sign), there is a small
rocky gravel road that goes up to the left.
You have to take this road, you pass
under a
power line and a little
later, after a total of 2
minutes, you will see on the
right the trailhead [12]
-
see below at the point
(0h15).]
Estimated time:
From Vourkotí to the top of the Profítis Ilías it takes about 75 minutes
of going up (actual walking time); you then continue for some 55
minutes, on the hill ridge to Agii Saranta. You should count on exactly
2 hours for the return route, which means that the actual walking time
is 4h15 all together. The total hiking time will easily mount up to 6-7
hours – we hiked from 11am to 6pm.
Important: it is really necessary to select a sunny and entirely
cloudless day for this hike. When there are clouds, they tend to cluster
around the summits of the Profítis Ilías very quickly. The entire hill
ridge is then covered with clouds and mist, which is cold and
unpleasant, but sometimes also dangerous! Additionally, the main reason
to make this hike is the panoramic views, and you can only enjoy these
views when the weather is clear.
Route description:
[To start this hike, you better take a car or motor bike to the village
of Vourkotí. You can then park close to the tavern O Vráchos. Once or
twice a week there is also an early bus.
In theory, it is possible to first make the hike from Chóra to Vourkotí,
but this means that for the entire trajectory you should count on an
extra 2h20 actual walking time. This would then really become a very
tough, even impossibly long, hike!]
(0h00) To the left of the
tavern 0 Vráchos, there is a white-painted staircase that goes up –
there is a hiking sign [12] Profítis Ilías 4 km / Agii Saránta 7,4 km /
Arní 7,1 km. The concrete or rocky steps climb fast; after 2 minutes,
there is a wooden gate and then you follow a rocky trail that continues
more or less flat. The trail veers right and after 4 minutes, there is a
gate in reinforcing steel.

The beginning of your walk, next to the tavern O
Vráchos.

A little bit further, a beautiful path starts.
Soon, the narrow path
is sometimes narrow because of ferns, you still veer to the right [12]
and after 8 minutes you go down into a small valley with again a wooden
gate, made of pallets. A rocky little road goes up (hiking picket [12])
and further, you arrive at a stony gravel road that continues to the
left of the old rocky path [12]. You still continue 2 minutes, then you
discover a trail that climbs to the left, just before a power line –
there is on the left side an obvious arrow and a [12] which clearly mark
the path.

The path goes up on the ridge to the
Profítis Ilías.
(0h15) You thus are going up
to the left following goat paths, but after 2 minutes, you come against
a wall [12]. You follow it for about 6 minutes on goat paths that
sometimes deflect from it for a while, and after 9 minutes, you reach a
false flat, where you keep to the right [12] in the direction of a
gravel road that goes up.
(0h24) You thus move away from
the wall and so you head more to the middle of the ridge (hiking picket
[12]). You climb gradually and so you
pass to the right of a striking rock, which consists of two parts that
are detached (see photo); in a depression, you see
the old path coming from the left and you continue to climb.

The old path
passed to the left of the rocks...
(0h36) The ridge
becomes wider again [12] and you go up gradually passing some heights; the road
turns left and right and eventually you reach the first height, with to the
right the first geodesic pole, indicating a height of 949 meters.
(0h51) The road goes down, then goes
up again on a steep slope to the next hill;
halfway, after 2 minutes, a picket sends you obliquely to the right, and so you
pass on a path below the height of 972 meters (marked by a small square post).
When sitting on the rocks at the hill top you have a magnificent view of
the northern half of
Andros, with on the right the bay of Achla and on the left the coast and the
little islands in front of the harbour of Gávrio. In that direction, so to the
northwest, you can also see the enormous boulder with the little chapel of
Profítis Ilías. In front of you there is the round top of the Profítis Ilías;
997 meters high;
when continuing, you first walk to the slight
depression, then you go up again on a grassy slope or on a kind of road.

You go now straight to the round summit of the Profítis
Ilías.
[Halfway up the
slope to the summit, but just BEFORE a number of rocks, you get to the
beginning of a possible descent towards the large boulder with the
chapel. This is the road to Arni – see the hike Vourkotí - Profítis
Ilías - Arni - Batsí.]
(1h16) You thus arrive to the
right of the top with the geodesic pole: the large and round top of the
Profítis Ilías is,
with its 997 metres, the highest summit of Andros and the third highest
of the Cyclades (after the Zas and the Kóronos on the island of Náxos).

On the summit of the Profítis Ilías (997 m)!
You obviously have
a marvellous panoramic view: to the north, with the west coast and far
away also the island of Evia; to the south, with beyond the hill ridges
of Andros also the vague isle of Tínos. You can also see the
continuation of the hill crest you are situated on right now, with still
two more elevations that look higher than the place where you are
standing now – although in fact they are definitely lower…

Panoramic view from the Profítis Ilías to the
north.

View to the south.
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You now have to
follow the hill ridge of the Kouvára for yet another 3 km; two more
times you have to do down and go up again, all the time at an altitude
above 900 metres.
To the right of the top of the Profítis Ilías, you get again to the
road: first, it goes down, then it goes up for quite a time. You
continue just below the crest of the hill, you wind between the rocks,
then you pass to the left of a few strange rock formations.

You continue your walk on the Kouvára.
(1h31) Once arrived almost at
the top, you keep a little to the right in order to reach a trail: you
now continue more to the right and below the hill ridge and you head
towards the next rocky summit and a large solitary rock.

The slopes of the Kouvára are strewn with strange
rocks...

A weird rock.
(1h35) You get to a kind of
track that passes to the left of a similar rock and you go down a
little, agreeably continuing on the grass to the left of the path.
(1h44) You cross a rocky
depression and you attack the last climb: the vague path veers left,
next to a pock-marked rock, then it turns slowly to the right and so you
get to a broad gravel plateau where the gravel track continues while
going up. You get again to a kind of plateau, the road zigzags right and
left between the rocks, and then it goes down and then up for the very
last time.
Finally you reach a stony plain with a little grey building at the far
end. You notice a geodetic pole on the roof of the building, which is in
fact the chapel of Agii Saránta (2h12)

You approach the chapel of Agii Saránta.

The geodetic pole of Agii Saránta (990 m.)
You are now at an
altitude of 990 metres. The panoramic view is magnificent again: on the
right you notice Batsí, the harbour of Gávrio and beyond the vague
hills of Andros also Evia, with the island of Kéa more to the right.
Beyond the hills on the left you can see the island of Tínos, and Sýros
(towards the right in the sea). Deep under, you have a splendid view on
the sunken ruins of Paleópolis.

Panoramic view to the north.
(2h12)
For the return route you follow the same road of course, which is in
fact fairly self-evident.
You return to the rocky plateau and it is in the farthest corner on the left
that begins the little road that passes to the left of some rock
formations. It then turns right to stay in the middle of the ridge. Two
times, the trail climbs to the right after a slight descent in order to
continue onto the hill crest, but eventually, you cross this ridge.
(2h27) You walk straight ahead
for 6 minutes until you get to the gravel plain; you now continue until
you arrive to the right of the rocks, then you descend slightly to the
right, so that you get back to the gravel road. You veer left, you get
to a rocky plateau – and there, you keep a little to the left: in this
way, you will pass to the left of a depression, but to the right of a
large solitary triangular rock. The vague track becomes clearer later on
and you arrive on the left slope of the ridge, which is dotted with
large boulders. The grassy track becomes more vague again, it becomes
stony later and still passes between a triangular rock, to the left, and
some rocks on the right.
(2h52) You continue straight
to the rounded top of the Profítis Ilías; beyond the plateau, the road
becomes clearer and so you get in 16 minutes to the summit.

The way back to the summit of the Profítis Ilías.
(3h08) After the descent, you
go up to the next summit, which is crowned by the square geodesic pole,
then you descend and ascend for the last time.
(3h32) After a flat stretch,
you arrive next to a wall, you continue the descent and you remain to
the left of the last hill. The path becomes very stony and you go down
again.
(3h52) Suddenly, some marks
[12] send you to the right to follow the old path between the road and a
wall. You arrive against the wall [12] - you already see Vourkotí below
you - and you continue to follow it, until, to the end, you veer a
little to the left [12] and get in this way to the gravel road.

The green valley of Vourkotí.
(4h00) You take a right, the
road becomes very stony, but a little further, after 2 minutes, it ends
in front of a gate in reinforcing steel: you go to the right on a rocky
trail between walls [12] . The stony trail descends quickly, it crosses
a valley and passes through a difficult gate in reinforcing steel, where
you go up immediately to the right [12]. The path becomes narrower as it
is overgrown with ferns [12], you still pass some obstructions of
branches and a wooden pallet, and you finally get to the asphalt road,
next to "O Vráchos." (4h14)
[If you came
to Vourkotí by bus, you probably will have to continue to Chóra on foot.
Straight ahead you find a staircase going down to the houses of Vourkotí
(hiking sign [6] and [2] Apíkia 3,8 km / Chóra 7,1 km); in the village
itself you get to a three-forked junction – hike [6] to Agios Nikólaos
and Achla starts on the left. You have to go straight on and you follow
hike [2] to Apíkia and Chóra – see the second part of the hike Chóra -
Katakaléï - Apíkia - Vourkotí.]
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