Walks outside the UK

Mount Aenos

Date: 5th May 2009
Distance: 8 miles
Ascent: 2000ft
Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
With: On my own

Walk Summary:
A simple walk to the top of the tree covered Mount Aenos, the highest mountain on Kefalonia.

Route Summary: A simple there and back route to the top of Mount Aenos using the forest track from the entrance to Mount Aenos National Park.

Photos: Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Walk Detail: My first foreign mountain walk also meant my first foreign driving experience as I had to hire a car to get up the mountain road. All things considered, not least of which was that Kefalonian rules for roundabouts seemed quite different to ours I did fairly well. I was certainly pleased with myself that I managed to find the mountain road which climbed about 3000ft to the starting point of the walk.

In some ways the drive was more exciting than the walk itself. This was mainly because the track to the top, as well as most of the summit itself, is almost completely shielded by trees. This made for a very unusual walk – Skiddaw Dodd but on a much more massive scale and without the reward of open views at the top.

It didn’t help that the views I did have, impressive though they were, were a bit hazy. If it had been clearer I would have had a cracking view over to the island of Ithaca. The one section of the island I saw from the summit, which was almost entirely taken up by trees and a compound containing numerous aerials and masts, did kind of make up for it though.

The most impressive thing about the walk was the sheer quantity of wild flowers – it was really quite amazing, in fact Kefalonia as an island was much greener than I ever expected. Mount Aenos is 5,338ft in altitude making it by far the highest point that I'd yet stood on and yet thanks to the gradual climb on a wide forest track this was about as easy a walk as you can imagine.

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