Nafpaktia loop, 20130406

Loop through hills of Nafpaktia.

0,0km - Start from Ag Vassileios east by the sea to the docks in Rio. I took a ferry to the other side of the bay to Antirio.

6,5km - Antirio. Route goes north by the main road until crossing with national road to Agrinio. On the traffic light goes straight in direction to Itea/Nafpaktos, but after 200m turns left to Molikreio. After passing Molikreio, route still follows the main local asphalt road to Pano Platanitis.

12,5km - sharp left. Route turns sharply left to go up with steep climb, and after 300m turns right to dirt road. After another 700m route goes left up to start a bigger climb. This was my originally planned route to get to Velvina, but unfortunately I met some not really friendly dogs "protecting" the road and there was nothing I could really do so my only option was to get to Velvina from the other side, going around through Nafpaktos and later by the national road Nafpaktos-Thermo.

25,0km - Turn to Velvina. Route exits the national road and turns left to Velvina. In less than 1km of climb (about 160m above sea level) I have reached the village, nicely located in the valley between smaller hills. After passing the village there is a sign to archeological site of Velvina to the left - the route follows it. Here a long and steep climb starts until the archeological site at 490m.

30,9km - Archeological site of Velvina. From the main dirt road there is a sign left some 700m before the site. The last meters are really difficult and the road is in very bad shape. The archeological site offers some nice views in all directions.

31,7km - Church of Profiti Ilias. The main dirt road continues straight after the church, but the trail goes sharp left with smaller dirt road. The are some fences on the road in some places (I guess for the cows not to exit specific area) but they are easily opened to pass with bike.

34,1km - Agrapidokampos. I did a loop around the village.

36,6km - Start of hiking path. I decided to follow narrow and difficult hiking path from this point, instead of taking the main local road. This part is very dangerous but definately the best fun. Path follows small spring and offers great downhill and views. After about 2km, path becomes wider and easier to join main dirt road soon after.

41,7km - Left to asphalt road. Route reaches to bigger asphalt local road and goes left down. After about 600m there is a antient theater of Makineia but gate was closed and I could visit it :-/ Downhill continues with main road and goes under bridge of new national road (not finished) to reach Makineia and later old national road Antirio-Agrinio. With local roads I came back to Antirio.

49,5km - Antirio. Ferry to Rio and back to Ag Vassileios.

56,0km - back home :-D

Originally I have planned the route a bit differently. As I wrote before, I wanted to go to Velvina with dirt road from Pano Platanitis that would save about 10km compared to round trip through Nafpaktos. Later I wanted to do an extra loop from Agrapidokampos (about 17km), but had to cut it due to delay. Anyway, route is very nice, offers great views (even though day was not so clear for me) and real fun in the hiking path part.
Level moderate (up to high just for hiking path section).

For all photos from this (photos 1-17) and other rides in Nafpaktia, visit my google gallery:
https://plus.google.com/photos/107064915676715871291/albums/5869555900622227425