Vourkotí - Profítis Ilías - Agii Saránta and back
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.
R
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.
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.
(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.
(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;
w
(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).
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…
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.
(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.
(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 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).
(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.
(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.
(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.]