Text: Katerina Pantazi, Kimon Zafeiropoulos
Photos: Antonis Sassalos, Katerina Pantazi, Despoina Petta, Kimon Zafeiropoulos
Translation to English: Violandi Vratsanou

On Sunday 26 November, around 10 am, 17 people from many parts of Andros, but also from Australia, Holland and Germany, who were not discouraged by the bad weather of the previous days, gathered at the Evangelistria church in Remata. There a minibus was waiting for us to take us to the square of Katakilos, at the start of the maintenance hike on parts of routes 11 and 13. After the usual introduction circle, we started to ascend trail 11 to Ano Katakilos.

The uphill to the cemetery woke us up, warmed us up and rewarded us with a double view towards Katakilos, Batsi and the sea on one side, and towards Arni, Remata, the mountains and the forest on the other. We continued on the dirt road until we joined the path surrounded by the forest. On a detour, we visited the chapel of Agia Aikaterini. Crossing several streams and getting our shoes a little dirty, the path led us to the village of Arni. Just before we left path no 11 to catch path no 13, we picked up broken tiles and other debris that not only pollute but also visually destroy this green paradise of Andros. In total we collected 5 bags of garbage!

Entering the most wooded part of our route, we started to descend towards Remata. The whole route was a magical landscape where cyclamen emerged from the carpet of fallen yellow autumn leaves, giving colour to the approaching winter. At the end of the route, on the river of Remata that flows uninterrupted all year round, the Arnipotamos, among the plane trees and the waters, we shared the food that everyone had brought and drank a glass of tsipouro to celebrate the day.

Our sincere thanks to all those who participated in the maintenance hike who keep the trails of Andros open with their steps and work and especially to Kimon Zafeiropoulos, Route Angel of Route 13 who shared with us Andros raki and his highly tempting tasty creations!

We are waiting for you at the next maintenance hike on Sunday 10 December to discover together more wonderful routes of our island!