Introduction
My 2nd Hiking Sundays hike was a participation at "The Viros Forest" Hike organised again from the Corfu Hiking and Climbing club on January 2024. The Viros Forest is situated at the central Corfu county between the villages of Viros, Kalafationes and Varipatades and unfortunately it has been a target of arsonist in the past. Yet it managed to regenerate and thrive providing an awesome natural reserve of the island.
The Corfu Hiking and Climbing Club
Corfu Hiking and Climbing Club is a well established hiking club in the island of corfu organising hikes and climbs not only in the Corfu countryside but also in the more mountainous Greek mainland especially in the closer regions of Epirus, Macedonia and SW Greece.
As it was translated from its website, its purpose is
...the systematic cultivation and dissemination of all forms of hiking, as well as the protection and promotion of the Greek mountainous area and environment. Some of its individual goals are also the strengthening of every event related to cultural, spiritual and social development and the dissemination and preservation of the folklore tradition of the place. Also, the objectives include its active involvement in matters of protection of the mountainous nature and the environment in general, either autonomously or in collaboration with other relevant Greek and International organizations and associations private or public. It also takes care of the cleaning and maintenance of the paths within the regional unit of Corfu.
Founded in 2017 by a mere 28 founding members, it now consists of more than 250 members participating in weekend hikes in Corfu but also in the Greek mainland according to its annual schedule.
The Trip
The trip started at the outskirts of Viros village and soon instead of following the main road to the village we turned into a path that lead us at the forest around it.
Nevertheless, after less than half an hour we entered the village of Viros and at the square of the village we were welcomed by the locals and we we had a small break, our induction and presentation of the hike. We also enjoyed the view of Corfu town above the roofs of the houses as we started hiking in the narrow paths of it
On our way to Kalafationes, just before the end of the village we came across a horse that was left free. Unfortunately, it was a bit aggressive against the people who raised their hands to take a photo of it with their smartphone, just like it had been annoyed from our curiosity.
Unfortunately, due to the downpours during the previous days, the paths were full of mud that made our boots, clothes and equipment extremely dirty.
And the forest in several areas appeared to be so dense that we could hardly walk in a row one by one.
The Viros Spring
One of our visits in the forest was the Viros Spring once full of clean water now completely drained even during January a result of the climate change but also the human activity. Unfortunately, the locals have heavily drilled the land to provide enough water for their airbnb rooms to let and waterpools and now the Viros Spring has remained just a little waterhole.
Silva Land Riding Club
The final stage of the hike lead us to Silva Land Riding club known today as E.M Corfu Equestrian Center. A refugee for old horses and an Equaestrian Arena.
During our free house stay at the club's canteen, the organisers brought some wine low in alcohol wine mixed with soda offered to everybody with nuts and traditional Greek sweets from Konstantinople called "loukoumia".
Analytics
Since I have been recoding the the whole trip in Strava app, I managed to obtain few analytics of the trips. As it is shown below, overall I covered a distance of just 6.06 miles within 02:46:16 hours, which is quite a short distance and time but the forest wasn't a huge one in an overpopulated and over constructed island. Mind also that this a clean hiking distance without the breaks and stops that we had to take during the hike. Overall elevation gain was the astonishing 913 feet and I managed to execute just 16,364 steps which is still a way a huge number comparing to my lazy winter CryptoSundays.
Max elevation was just 578 ft since the central Corfu is mainly flat with small hills. Also I managed an average pace of 27:24 minutes per mile. Moreover, even the Elapsed time of the hike was 04:41:44 hours, the moving time was just 02:46:16 due to our breaks and our long stay at Silva Land's canteen.
Final Thoughts
Overall it was a great experience and a great hike to fight the January Blues. Unfortunately, during winter days are shorter and colder without many opportunities to go out and most people spend them indoors in their houses isolated from the society in front of a screen either this is a television screen, a mobile device screen or a computer screen. Although, the Viros Forest is situated not long from the "civilisation" and Corfu town, close to a highly populated area, I've never had the opportunity to explore it and I would like to thank the Corfu Hiking and Climbing Club for providing this opportunity. The only negative of the hike was the muddy paths that made my boots completely muddy but when we reached SilvaLand we managed to find an outdoor water faucet to clean them out. Nevertheless, the hike was a great opportunity being close to the nature of the Viros Forest and socialising with my hiking companions and I really enjoyed it.
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