Richtis Gorge

So yesterday was our birthday – Dad and I - several years ago I popped out so now we share the day. We try to celebrate together but given that I went to boarding school and then moved away, celebrating together has always proved to be somewhat of a challenge. This year, at the very last minute and by the skin of our teeth, we managed to wangle it!

Having gone to all the effort to get us together we had to decide what to do … after a long discussion that went along the lines of whatever it is I don’t want to sit in the car all afternoon.  Dad and I tried to work out what we hadn’t already done that was close to home, we settled on Richtis George.

Richtis is a small yet surprisingly pretty gorge located just below Exo Mouliana. It is about a 15 minute drive from Sitia to Exo Mouliana and takes around 20 mins to descend down to the beach where you start the walk.

Loaded with sandwiches, water, cameras and a dog we started the trek up the gorge. It is quite an easy walk, though there is potential to get your feet wet at various points where you have to jump across the small river as it meanders towards the sea.

The dog was in seventh heaven, running up down and around. Jumping into the river puddles and generally anything which meant that the inside of our car would resemble a mud pit by the time he got home.

We only walked up to the waterfall but you can carry on up the path. At the foot of the waterfall there is a picnic bench which we made good use of, luckily we were the only ones at the waterfall, in fact we almost had the gorge to ourselves only passing a couple of small groups on our way in and no one on our way out.

The nice thing about the walk to the waterfall is that it’s really not that far, it’s shaded, and you don’t have to be superman in terms of fitness to get there. It took us about half an hour to get to the waterfall. 

 

Driving from Sitia towards Heraklion you will find the village of Exo Mouliana. As you’re driving through the village on your right hand side you will see the signs for the beach of Richtis, follow these they will lead you down a very steep road which eventually ends up on the beach. At the bottom of the gorge take a right, after about 15m you will find a parking bay. Leave the car here and start your walk.  

A pilgrim’s walk …

It’s been a long while since I posted an update … my tail is between my legs, I have admittedly been rather busy … that list just never seems to get any shorter and so I don’t get out to play as much as before which, depending on how you look at it is not necessarily such a bad thing.

Dynomite decided that he missed us so much he just had to come and hang out on the Island again – this, much to my business partner’s dismay, gave me the perfect opportunity to skive work and go out and play.  

Our first trick after a good portion of Raki drinking was a walk, supposedly it started in Sitia and ended up at a church in Lithenes - a village in the middle of the island. I suppose the walk is more of a pilgrimage for all those who have made a deal with god and promised to walk to the church to hold up their end of the bargain.

I am about the most unreligious person in the world, I still can’t get my head around the whole idea but I have a deep respect for all those who do. I guess everyone has a calling and I have yet to take the call. Despite my lack of religious belief the walk seemed like a good Idea and so Dynomite (suffering from a rather large hangover) and I got ourselves ready to take on the walk… We were walking with some friends who for whatever reason decided to cut the walk short and start about 5kms away in another village.

They picked us up from the house all dressed up and ready to go, I climbed into the car in trainers and gym gear immediately thinking I was extremely under dressed for the exercise.

I had thought that it would be a gentle stroll through the olive groves, by now I should know better… the walk was along the main road, the road which connects the north and south sides of the island. It is busy and has many sharp corners, apparently there is more to a pilgrimage than I had previously thought.

We weren’t alone, my friend’s mother and her mother-in-law had decided to join us which left us with a problem of who was going to look after her daughter. Daddy to the rescue the only problem is that it would take half an hour or so to get to us and if we didn’t start walking it would mean walking in the dark … I am not a fan of walking unlit roads with oncoming traffic in the dark so we started the walk, Dynomite with my friend’s daughter on his shoulders!

Granny Marching up the road!

Shoe swapping ... can't go to church in trainers!!  

Apparently this was quite a wealthy church  

All the priests making a late entrance 

Eventually we made it to the village where the girls got glammed up changed their shoes applied some lipstick and went to the church to light a candle. Dynomite and I – still convinced that if we walked into the church it would spontaneously combust - headed for the village shop originally for a beer, which turned into water when we rethought the drinking beer in a churchyard full of people!