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Which do I prefer - Verdon or Samaria? Well the Verdon wins but only just. Its a fantastic day out and, unlike the Verdon, you don't have to carry two tons of water as there's drinking taps all the way down - you'll see the pipes ruining the scenery in one of the pics.
We start at the top of the Gorge then go down the initially steep steps to where it finally reaches the dry river bed
A heavily laden group kept changing places with us all the way down
Finally you reach a point where the water starts flowing in the river bed but it soon goes back underground and you pass a point where two large valleys come in from the east - only goatherders know the way up these.
Next you reach the ruins of Samaria - the inhabitants dispossesed when the Gorge was made a National Park in 1962
We were told there were no donkeys any longer - but we found some
After the village the stream goes back underground and the Gorge starts to narrow to become more how you expected it to look - with some big avalanche debris on the left bank
Then the stream resurfaces
And you start to meet the "cheats" - who've come in by boat and are doing the shorter, flatter, walk in from the coast
You'll cross many of these bridges to reach the Iron Gates
And, when you're there, you may be so unlucky as to meet this scruffy wreck
Shortly after the Gates two bridges signal that the end is nigh - although there's still 3k of road to go before you reach beach and boat - that swim really was welcome (so was the beer!)
