Spain to Cyprus on the E4 Trail

From Spain to Cyprus between August 2014 and 2019

by John Pucknell

Refuge A on the slopes of Mount Olympus was full of men and women considerably younger than myself, tough looking people with big muscles, mirror shades and smart looking kit.

I wondered if I was foolish in my plan to climb the mountain’s highest peak, Mytikas. Not a rock climber, I knew a Grade 1 scramble was the limit of my abilities. I decided on an early start but failed to beat the queue for breakfast and several people departed ahead of me, but to my surprise I passed them before the rising sun coloured the exposed rock faces an attractive shade of pink. Crossing from the summit of Skala to Mytikas was the difficult bit, but I was mentally prepared and did not look down at a gap where the west face drops thousands of metres. Although not first on the summit, a scrawny looking couple and a dog from the refuge were ahead of me, I felt proud to have reached it so easily, before the crowds.

Maybe not so surprising. I had been walking the E4 across mountains in Bulgaria and Greece for the previous five weeks, so I was fit despite being over 60. The E4 is one of 12 European Long Distance Paths or E-paths, which spread like a web across the continent. My retirement project was to walk from its start in the south of Spain to its finish in Cyprus. I completed it in 12 separate stages over 5 years. There were a few hills on the route.

The E4 in Spain principally follows the GR7 which winds its way through hills and mountains 25 to 100km inland of the south and east coasts. In each country the trail has a different character. In Spain it heads over passes avoiding summits, following the south side of the Sierra Nevada among the white villages of the Alpujarra. The Pyrenees were the first mountains over 2000m which I crossed on the GR7. In late June the meadows of flowers were extraordinarily beautiful with gentian, Pyrenean buttercups and myriad other flowers bursting with sunlit colour. Unfortunately, a very steep snowfield forced a time-consuming detour so I arrived at a refuge late, to find it full of school children. The guardian let me camp outside and enjoy dinner with a group of fishermen from Toulouse, one a little intoxicated on the homemade pastis.

I crossed France first on the GR7, with its gorges, mountains and monuments to the casualties of war, before joining the GR9 on the east side of the Rhône. This trail defiantly climbed up the steep side of valleys, aiming for cliffs at the top. The cliffs looked impossible for me to climb but at the last minute a path through a cleft would appear. In Switzerland the E4 follows the Jura crest trail on a limestone ridge which arcs across the north of the country. Easy walking, exchanging greetings of “Grüezi” with other walkers, and views of the snow-capped Alps far to the south.

For my next trip I joined the AAC(UK), attracted by its discounts on mountain huts and its free insurance for members. There was a choice of two routes, a higher one for “experienced Alpinists only” and the one I followed on the Maximiliansweg, through the Bavarian Alps of Germany, then over the Salzkammergut Mountains in Austria. Unlike other mountains on the E4, at every summit there was a restaurant full of people who reached it by cable car or mountain railway. There was also great scenery, flowers and mountain huts feeding me Sauerbraten.

The hills and old volcanoes of northern Hungary followed, then a thousand miles of very flat ground across the great Pannonian plain to Belgrade. Southern Serbia has many mountains. I climbed into the Homoljske range in a year when unseasonal weather meant spending a few nights camping on snow. Although the white landscape looked fantastic, walking could be hard going. On one memorable evening, as my water bottle was starting to freeze, I was invited into a dining area of the Tumane monastery. Placed by a wood burning stove to warm my outside and fed rakija and vegetable stew (it being Lent) to warm my inside, they let me pitch my tent in the grounds for the night. The snow eventually melted and I spent many days crossing mountains empty of people, with dramatic scenery such as the Lazarev Kanjon (Canyon) and Mount Rtanj.

In Bulgaria the E4 runs down the ridge of the Pirin and Rila mountains, 2000m alpine scenery blessed with rugged peaks, meadows, lakes and mountain huts (of varying quality). Unlike my solitary walk in Serbia, many others (although few British) were following the same route. The guidebook advised that there were some more difficult bits, of which the Koncheto ridge is most famous. A knife edge ridge at 2800m, the sides drop steeply for hundreds of metres each side. Although a cable is installed to help you across, there are plenty of foot and hand holds on the southwestern side. The people travelling in the same direction as me, despite being inexperienced, had few problems apart from it being a long day if you also climb the following peak of Mount Vihren (2914m).

Greece is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe and in late April/early May I had the Pindus Mountains to myself. Snow prevented me reaching the highest peaks, but I was rewarded by the scenery and the welcome I received in coffee houses in villages across Greece, where the local grey-haired men would buy me a coffee and bemoan the loss of people, emigrating for more wealthy lives elsewhere. At least in the Peloponnese two men, George and Rolf, were doing their best to maintain and promote the E4 to tourists who bring money and life into rural areas.

In Crete I watched people in swimsuits enjoy the turquoise blue waters of the Mediterranean, then a week later, after walking the length of a few gorges, I was camping on the snow at the top of the Psiloritis Mountains (2456m). The snow was fortunate as the exposed ground was covered with rocks and thorny plants, impossible to pitch a tent on. Cyprus was my last trip on the E4, an easy walk across the conifer-covered Troodos Mountains.

Members seeking more details of John's epic can find it in his book Six Pairs of boots: Spain to Cyprus on the E4 Trail.

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