Kritsá gorge
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 4.08 mi
- Elevation gain
- 879 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 879 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,565 ft
- TrailRank
- 70
- Min elevation
- 879 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 2 hours 4 minutes
- Time
- 3 hours 22 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1037
- Uploaded
- November 18, 2021
- Recorded
- November 2021
near Kritsá, Crete (Greece)
Viewed 1552 times, downloaded 73 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
The Gorge is an impressive feature of nature that should be walked at a nice easy pace to allow you to enjoy the scenery better.
The walk is hard underfoot with massive boulders and small loose pebbles with little relief throughout the entire gorge.
Not to be walked after hard rain as it can become difficult to negotiate and very slippery underfoot.
I have walked this gorge countless times , so you will notice that I go off the centre of the pebbled walkway several times to follow the softer dirt trail running alongside to relieve the stress on my ankles of constantly walking over the rocks.
There are several parts that have iron rails drilled into the rocks to aide you negotiate up the larger boulders.
The walk can be done one of three ways, a shorter walk taking in half of the gorge and returning, the longer one which goes up to the village of Tapes, which will require a taxi back to the start and this one which runs through the gorge and returns via the old Minoan road which originally connected Kritsa with Tapas.
In the old days the folk in Kritsa moved up to Tapa for the summer to take their livestock to feed and escape the harsh hot summer and return to Kritsa for the Winter.
The later part of the walk follows this old Minoan road back to the car park.
Waypoints
Waypoint
928 ft
Panorama
View of the start of the Gorge. A new tarmac road makes it easier to drive up and park your vehicles. From here, go left from the road and follow a rocky path / staircase to the floor of the gorge and go right
Intersection
902 ft
Intersection
At base of the Gorge turn to your right and follow the pebbled trail
Waypoint
906 ft
First clambering Point
First of several points where railings or rope assist in scaling up the boulders
Panorama
928 ft
Panorama
Enjoy the fantastic views of the rock face towering over you throughout the Gorge
Waypoint
909 ft
Plenty of either Red or Yellow signs to follow
It's not really possible to stray from the trail, but there are still plenty of signs to guide you
Waypoint
942 ft
Another assisted area
Here you pass through a narrow area that has more rails and a rope to help you negotiate this area. It can hold water and be very slippery
Door
Intersection
1,040 ft
Best to keep to the right
It is far easier to go to your right here and go up onto the tree pathway and around than continue straight ahead and climb the boulders.
Intersection
1,060 ft
Turn off for shorter trail
This is where the shorter trail cuts off, follow the yellow signs from here back to the car. The most scenic part of the Gorge is now behind you, continue straight on following the rocky floor of the gorge. From here it flattens out and flows into a wood scene area, the footing underneath is still hard going. Also note that from here I deviate many times to softer terrain to escape the rocky trail
Photo
1,060 ft
View of more wooded landscape of the remaining part of the Gorge
View of more wooded landscape of the remaining part of the Gorge. Continue straight ahead following the old river bed
Intersection
1,204 ft
Intersection turn left for Tapas and follow trail, right to continue this trail
Intersection. Keep right and follow the old Minoan road
Panorama
1,411 ft
Stopped here for lunch
Lunch stop looking down on Gorge river bed where you have just walked
Photo
1,444 ft
Old Road
Continue on old road, watch out for thin wire at head height supporting the fence running alongside of the trail
Summit
1,565 ft
Highest point of the walk
View from the highest point looking down the Gorge where you have travelled through. Keep the low wall to your Right and continue straight ahead for a short distance. Here it becomes a little difficult as there are no signs to follow and the weather along with recent earthquakes has made the pathway narrow than it was previously. Go right and follow the narrow trail down dropping 40 metres down crumbling dirt pathway which then turns right back on itself for a little before straightening out and continuing to another gate. It looks not right after the well trodden previous part of the trail, but you are on the right track
Photo
1,345 ft
Vehicle road
Road to follow Follow for 700 metres where the road has a left hairpin bend. I didn't waypoint it, sorry. But at the hairpin, walk straight on, there are two dirt pathways that converge further on, so it doesn't matter which one you take. This puts you back onto the old Minoan road which will take you all the way back to the cars that you parked up. This road is a continuous downhill trail and probably one of the best Minoan roads in Crete
Photo
1,158 ft
Looking back on probably the best preserved part of this Minoan road
Looking back on probably the best preserved part of this Minoan road One can only imagine all the locals with their donkeys fully laden traversing up and down this road from Kritsa to Tapas and back
Car park
955 ft
Final part and end
Leading out to where the cars are parked and end of the loop walk.
Comments (1)
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Great walk. Rock scrambling kept my girls entertained. Top section of the gorge was fenced off. No gate or way through without causing damage. Had to double back and take the shorter loop.