Hiking walks in Lefkada – Part 2

We continue our walking excursion at Lefkada, with the book “Lefkada on foot” by Lida Out.

Tsoukalades – Melissa Gorge – Kavalos – Tsoukalades
(4 hrs) 13.3 km

This walk takes you from Tsoukalades to the impressive Melissa gorge. [For a description of this gorge see the Sfakiotes walks (p.21).] You reach the gorge via the quarries. On the return track you will pass through the rural village of Kavalos and make your way back to Tsoukalades through the olive groves. The walk starts in the village of Tsoukalades but if you have a car you can choose to do the first part by car and start the walk at the concrete track (LKM3) on the road from Apolpena to Kavalos. This hike also offers the possibility to walk from Tsoukalades to the Melissa gorge and to return via the quarries. For this see walk no. 3B.

The walk starts at the taverna The Rose (To Poδov) in Tsoukalades (TS1). The taverna is on the left on the main road from Lefkada to Ag. Nikitas. Coming from the direction of Lefkada, you turn left at the Rose taverna, onto the small tarmac road. Keep following this ascending road, ignoring the side roads. After 800 metres, just past a newly built house on the right hand side, you turn right onto a narrow tarmac road (TS2). After about 15 minutes (1.1 kilometres) you reach the tarmac road leading from Apolpena to Kavalos (TS3). Turn right here and follow this road for about 5 minutes. Thirty metres past a road to the right (TS4) you see a concrete track on your left, going down (LKM3). Take this track. After 1 minute keep right and a little further on keep left, continuing the descent.

After about 10 minutes from the tarmac road you will pass a corrugated iron shed. Keep going straight ahead. The track becomes unpaved, then concrete again, and then stops all together. Where the concrete finishes you see a narrow track to the right, just before the cypresses. The entrance of the track is a little overgrown. Turn onto this track. The track has been eroded by the rain. It becomes wider and you come to an olive grove. You pass the olive grove on your left and descend left towards the old red car parked under a big holm-oak. The track continues past this red car. The track is closed off with a fence but you can pass by this to the right hand side. Follow the track to the right; on the left you see a quarry (LKM4).

Past the quarry you take the right hand fork, before a rusty steel construction (AP8). You have now walked for about 10 minutes counting from the corrugated iron shed. Keep following this track. A part of the track is blocked by stones but you can cross over them. After 5 minutes this track finishes at a dry river bed. On the left hand side you see ruins with a wooden bench. You have now reached the Melissa gorge (AP7).