It was in January 2020, during a dry day, and there was a pleasant stream flowing thru. Not sure if this would be the case in summer. Now I am sure that the gorge has been cleared, new bridges and paths created, and it will make a lovely shady walk in the summer. But back in the winter of 2019-2020…

You drive up from the Ethniki (turn off is for Amari) and climb up the side of the valley. Its not a fearsome gorge with high vertical sides, but has lovely greenery and verdant vegetation. In summer the shade will be wonderful, and there are pools to take a dip in on the way down.

See Rethymno from the top, there are two entrances to the gorge. The upper one gives a longer walk along the brook.

These are the steps down from the first entrance.

Unfortunately the winter has taken its toll, and the floods have dislodged several of the wooden bridges, smashed some and forced others into crazy angles. 

Its not a big problem though as the stream can be easily crossed by using stepping stones.

There were also some landslips on the way down – at first nothing too onerous, and easy to walk around. 

The Water Mills

The gorge once had 30 mills (hence the name). These use to supply all the flour needed in Rethymnon and were active up until 1972.  They’ve partially restored one near the top.

Its fun to sort out amongst the ruins how the mills worked.  The water follows a channel (red arrow) leading from above the mill wheel (blue) .  It drops 4-5m into a chamber below the wheel, and runs out to the side (yellow). 

Along the way there is a spot with three mills one above the other. 

See the channels at each level from which the water falls onto the mill wheel, The upper one is bridged over the path, with a charming pointed archway.

There’s a lovely view across the gorge to a little church on the other side. 

Mili Gorge Adventure continues…

There are plenty more bridges at crazy angles or smashed to bits.

Lots of seats on the way down, including a lovely picnic area just before Ag Nicolaos church, the sign for the church points a little way off the route.

See again the ramp up to the bridge has been washed away, but you can easily get over the stream using the stones. All seemed to be going well, the path is good, mostly gravel and earth. The crossings of the water, mostly on stepping stones, are easy enough. The landslips, mostly looking a year or two old were manageable.

And then came this!

The vegetation had been trapped under the rocks and there were still some ominous cracks in the side of the rock, which rose sheer for 15m or more. 

It is possible to get onto the top of the pile to survey the damage, and now a new route has probably been cleared.

This would mean you could complete the gorge walk and get to the Cantina Banana in less than 20min.

But you will have seen most of the sights by the time you get here.

Map of the Gorge Walk

There’s a good map and description at the entrance to the gorge. On it has been added (in rather faded felt tip) the Cantina and Agios Nicolaos church. We’ve made these a bit clearer on a section of the map shown here, and marked the approximate position of the landslide.

More about living in Crete

Whether or not you decide on Mili Gorge, there is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, hiking in the foothills of the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites.  Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.

What its like

It’s a stunning experience, because about 200m above the tree line (about 1600m) the landscape changes.  It becomes a totally alien moonscape.  Barren, harsh, unforgiving and inhospitable, the mountains and valleys stretch away in every direction in glaring white. 

There’s hardly any visible life.  There are brilliant white perfect cones, long knife edged ridges, deep circular sinkholes.  The quiet is complete, and, together with the landscape, a little ominous.  But above the sky is a vivid enticing blue, white clouds scud across, making a striking contrast.

How to climb Pachnes in a day trip

Unless you are a really keen (or insane) hiker, you wouldn’t want to climb the whole way in a day.   But there is a way to do it from the North coast. From the Apokoronas you first need to drive to Anopoli.  Its a wonderfully quiet and peaceful plain, high above the south coast. 

Then arrange to be driven up to the start point with brothers Manousos or Antonis at Anopoli Taverna

They will take you up in their pickup trucks to Rousies, a spot about 400m below the summit. If your bottom isn’t up to an hour long drive over dirt roads sitting on a hard bench, you can travel in comfort inside!

From there it’s a 2h walk (took us more but we are old!) to the top. 

To clarify this “walk”, it is a fairly chunky hike with a bit of clambering over rock faces, long traverses over sloping solid rock, and some long paths in shale & gravel.

Madares – the high desert

Up in the heart of the White Mountains, Pachnes forms part of the Madares – the high desert.  This is unique on earth, a limestone landscape subjected to over 200cm of rainfall, mostly as snow. 

This makes it one of the wettest places in Europe.   The word Pachnes means romantically “morning dew” or on the other hand more prosaically in Cretan “fog”!

Why is the Madares so barren?  Because the limestone rocks are porous, crumble into scree and thus break down into sand and silt.  There is nothing to retain water despite the immense rainfall.  This falls mainly as snow which when it melts, disappears into the sinkholes which dot the landscape.

And why are there so many perfectly conical mountains, all with the same slope ? which is apparently at an angle of 32 degrees?  That is caused by frost breaking up the rock into scree.  At steeper angles the scree rolls downhill.  Any hollow gets filled, any projection gets shattered by frost therefore creating this slope.

What lives at 2400m?

Even at this altitude we saw sheep “grazing” – heaven knows what on.  We saw tiny plants right on the summit.

There are thistles on the way up. However, you’d think the sheep spent more energy moving from one tiny plant to another than the energy they might provide!

Stand on the summit, take in the extraordinary views. For example, there’s the Aegean sea in the north and the Libyan in the south, the conical peaks, the sinkholes, the vivid whites and pinks of the rocks.  Its an awesome experience.

And how to get back down again!

Surprisingly perhaps, tho there is no mobile phone signal on the way up, there is on the summit. 

Very convenient to call Manousos to come to collect you.  It will take you about an hour to get back down, just about the time it takes him to drive up to meet you!  Then you have time for a great meal at the taverna before the drive back to your accommodation. So you can climb Pachnes in a day too!

More about living in Crete

There is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, hiking in the foothills of the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites.  Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.

From the Apokoronas plain the Lefka Ori, the White Mountains, stretch out from Chania facing north east, to beyond Georgioupoli towards Rethymno.  The foothills, up to 1600m high are split with gorges, sharp peaks rear up and vegetation is scattered thinly in patches down their steeply sloping sides.  Its a great place for a mountain walk.

It may look as if the terrain is pretty tough for walking, but there are paths up into these hills, exposed to cool mountain breezes and with the most spectacular views.  Read on so we can show you a few of them.

We’ve plotted some of them, linked them to the excellent walking guides created by Geoff Needle which you can buy thru Amazon. 

The routes are mostly on gravel tracks used by 4 wheel drives, sometimes over solid rock and the slopes are generally moderate.  In the height of summer you’ll be best to set off early, preferably shortly after sunrise, take plenty of water and wear hats because of the sun, and wear good walking shoes/boots. It can get quite a bit cooler higher up, so take a thin jacket in your backpack.

Madaro-Volikas Refuge

Starting from Madaro village, at 560m one of the highest in the White Mountains, this mountain walk climbs back and forth along the face of the mountain, until it disappears from view up the cleft to the mountain refuge.  From this height the views across the Apokoronas to Souda Bay and the Akrotiri are magnificent (Geoff’s Walk 43).

Kares-Gerani Gorge

This walk starts in green fertile lands but climbs into the wild landscape of the White Mountains.  The views are first across the Apokoronas, then the gorge and finally of the steep White mountains towering above you.  It ends with a small church Agios Pavlos. (Geoff’s Walk 41).

Melidoni-Profitis Ilias

The village of Melidoni has a big church with an atmospheric kafenio set in the square.  It’s the starting point for a couple of walks.

One of which climbs up around the edge of Tria Korfalia to a well known church, Profitis Ilias, well known because the Cretans celebrate the religious festival of Holy Spirit Sunday amongst others. 

After these events if you are in the right position, you can watch the line of car headlights nosing slowly down the slopes as the congregation make their way home again!

Melidoni-Agios Pnevma Spring

This route splits off from the Profitis Ilias route to zig zag up a foothill (in shade until about 0830 in the summer!).  It then crosses rocky ground via a stepped path to a tiny spring set in the hillside. 

It makes a fine mountain walk with splendid views, lots of beehives and shepherds huts and enclosures.

Fres into the Foothills

Described in Walk 36 in Geoff’s second book, this climbs from the Fres-Tzitzifes road, on quiet country tracks.  This leads to ever better views of the plain to Kalyves bay.  After that the final goat track section takes us over a brow, and the landscape of the mountains unfolds.  It’s a remarkable place, calm and timeless, because there is no evidence of man’s presence.

Most of these walks are described in the excellent books by Geoff Needle which you can buy from Amazon. 

And finally, after your mountain walk, how nice it is to come back to relax, maybe with a glass of Cretan wine!

More about living in Crete

There is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, climbing to the top of Pachnes in the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites.  Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.

The folding of the rocks, like crumpled paper, similarly the vast overhanging rock faces with cave like holes, their surfaces coated with marble, like stalactites and stalagmites – its all an experience of getting closer to nature and these forces.   

It’s a “not to be missed” experience when you come to Crete. So which one to pick?

Gorges: how did they come about?

Gorges are one of the really special things about Crete. There are over 50 in total, a greater concentration than anywhere else on earth!  Its fascinating to try to imagine the sort of forces which led to their formation – the movement of the giant tectonic plates. As a result the African plate forced its way under the Aegean microplate. You can see the arc running from just south of the Pelopponese beneath Crete towards Lindos. 

Currently geologists believe – as recent as 2013 – that this pressure along the fault line wasn’t even, as a result the plate fractured at right angles to its edge, forming a series of “teeth”.  The gorges formed between the teeth. Water, landslides and further quakes subsequently carved them out.

Samaria: the longest gorge in Europe

The longest and most complex gorge is the Samaria, at 11 km, the longest in Europe.  To traverse it is a great experience but there are some downsides:  its popularity. It is big but you will share it with at least 11 coachloads of tourists.  This often seems to degenerate into a “who can do it most quickly race” therefore the opportunity to stop and feel, admire and take in the extraordinary features is lost. 

Then it’s a massive undertaking for a single day.  For example, from the north west of the island you’d need to drive to Kalyves for 7am, then get on a coach to the Omalos.  The walk takes you to Ag. Roumeli where you’ve barely time to have a drink and a sit down before you need to catch the ferry to Hora Sfakion and reboard the bus for the return trip – home again by 10pm.

What we recommend

We recommend three gorges which differ in their degree of challenge, but all of which are much less crowded, give you the full “gorge experience”, and can be done comfortably in a day.

Imbros Gorge

The Imbros gorge is the easiest – a 2-3 hour walk over a relatively easy gravel base to Komitades. 

We suggest that you take your car to the village so that you can take it to the beach after the walk. We point out where to organise a lift back to the top – in the back of a pick up truck is the favourite – and also where to get off to start the gorge walk.    

Every taverna within miles of the entrance claims to be at the start of the gorge, but you can save yourself a long walk on the flat by starting at the right point!  Its good to take a packed lunch too, for half way down!

Then, at the end, its simple to drive to Frangokastello for a swim in the wonderful sheltered lagoon before driving back, stopping off at our favorite taverna, To Panorama, in the Askifou. 

Here Andreas provides such a gentle friendly service, whist his mother, who has won several gourmet awards, does probably the best genuine Cretan cooking you will come across on the island.

Kalikratis Gorge

A longer and more challenging gorge, but one where you will struggle to find another soul, is the Kalikratis Gorge.  Again its best to drive to the coastal plain, and pick up a lift from a taverna in Kapsothassos village.

From the plain it looks as if the villages are spilling out of the cleft in the mountain caused by the gorge. 

Christos, from the taverna Vigles, will take you up the new road, an exciting ride with an endless series of hairpins over 1000m up to your starting point!

This should be where the E4 path leads off the tarmac road, look out for the little sign! 

You could go on a bit for a coffee and snack at Janine’s, in the village. 

She has a wonderful shop with a great selection of dried herbs, essential oils (which they prepare themselves), and an eclectic collection of souvenirs. 

The shop is built around a massive natural rock which forms a centrepiece!

Aradhena Gorge

The Aradhena Gorge Is a spectacular day out.  The route there is thru Anopolis to the head of the gorge, where you cross a bailey bridge (the noise of the wooden sleepers when you cross in your car makes your hair stand on end!).  Here they organise bungy jumping for the brave (or stupid!). 

If you’ve got time you can stop at the kiosk there for a wonderful mountain yoghurt and Sfakian honey to fortify you for the journey. 

It’s maybe a 4-5 h trek, with some difficult sections involving a metal ladder bolted to huge fallen rocks. 

The alternative is a series of hairy sets of steps cut into loose rock around them. 

It’s a long walk at sea level out to the coast but Marmara beach is a blessing, and there is a lovely shady taverna perched in the rocks above for a drink. 

Its possible to get someone to bring you back, and Manoussos or Antonis from the Anopolis Taverna will come down with a pickup to meet you a couple of hundred metres up from the beach. 

After the trek…

Back to your car, you can drive to this taverna in Anopolis village.  Its  our recommendation, as the one serving a really  genuine Sfakian meal whilst you are looked after by the family, before the drive back to the north.

Whichever of these gorges you fancy doing, its easy from the North West – the shortcut to the best of the south west of the island runs from Vrysses!

More about living in Crete

There is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, hiking in the foothills of the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites.  Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.

There are so many lovely walks in the Apokoronas, in the foothills of the White Mountains in western Crete.  They follow dry stream beds winding thru gorges, or amongst the orange groves.  Everywhere in Crete is dotted with a white chapel, sometimes on the most inaccessible locations, so they can form an interesting end point to a walk. Here is one which you can walk from the village of Chiliomoudou.

What its like

Its a 2 hour walk down from the village on the road. Then on a mixture of good dirt tracks, concrete and tarmac lanes, so its an easy walk. After climbing thru shady vegetation eventually it reaches a pretty little white chapel in a beautiful setting with great views over the hills to the sea.  It returns thru a mountain village along a sleepy back road.

 After following a dirt track which winds up the foothills thru shady undergrowth, you pass a long disused football pitch – or was it a running track?

Then up towards the little white chapel which you can see.

Its worth the climb because the views from the chapel grounds are panoramic and spectacular, as far as the sea. 

Above all you can see Panokosmos, our first house, perched on the top of the Chiliomoudou village hill!

Where to Start

It takes thirty minutes or so to walk down from Chiliomoudou village, or 5 minutes in the car, you can park on the junction where the dirt track leaves the road.

The walk itself can take around one hour walking at a leisurely pace, but its worth spending some time up at the chapel.  Its good to make up a packed lunch which you can eat while you rest and enjoy in the shade of the plane trees in the grounds whilst taking in the views.

The White Chapel at the end of the Walk

The chapel is in a beautiful setting.  It was dedicated to Giorgos Matsamakis in 1909, whose family are a central part of Ramni, the nearest village. The family also own the dairy which makes delightful sheepsmilk yoghurt and fine Graviera. 

The inscription reads “Diligence”.  Inside the fittings are simple but moving, with incense burner, candles and pictures of Mary and saints.  The screen is a gift of Michalis Gelasakis of Tsakistra, the village on the next hill. 

Getting back again

In order to get back, we turn towards “Upper Ramni” and come out onto the road back into the village, which slopes back down to the starting point of the walk. 

Then, if you’re walking, it’s a bit of a slog back up to the village, but there?s the consolation of two other churches to visit’

If you’d like to take it here is the route in pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dCJVwHsrSThZ3Awj9

In addition a walking route on Google maps if you have a smartphone:

https://goo.gl/maps/yr5Vxfyw8G3SU6HB8

More about living in Crete

There is much more in our blogs. These show things to do in Crete, whether it be walking a gorge, hiking in the foothills of the White Mountains, or taking a drive to see the sites.  Chania is a great town to visit, particularly to go to the street markets, and of course you’ll want to get the benefits of the Cretan diet – be it the yoghurt and cheese, or the olive oil.