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Changes to Walking Routes:
 
All  revisions up to October 2007 are now in 'Update 2008' & 'Herziene Uitgave 2008'
and available to download from those pages.
  

March-June 2008:-
Walk 1, page 2, para 4:-(Nederlands:- pagina 2, alinea 4)
Mithimna Castle re-opened to the public in June 2008.
Page 3, para 3:- (Nederlands:- pagina 3, alinea 3)
The main drain across the Dapia is being replaced as part of major works to improve Mithimna's drainage system.  The contractors seem to be taking reasonable care not to obstruct the paths, but inevitably there may be some temporary disruption.
As of Spring 2008 the path down to the ruined mill has been blocked by a fence. To reach the fields, cliffs, and archaeological remains beyond. It is now necessary to go sharp left at the electricity pole and follow a small path across to a gate down into the street.  Turn right into the street, follow it round to the left, and then turn right into the car-park.  At the far end of the car-park a path leads across to the mill. The ancient house uncovered during the works has been encapsulated for protection and is in the process of being re-buried.

 Walk 8, page 19, para 3:-(Nederlands:- pagina 20, alinea 3)
The dirt road to the municipal tip has been re-aligned to cut out the final right-hand hairpin. Otherwise there is no significant change here, except that there are now two entrances to the tip, part of an attempt to segregate and recycle various types of rubbish.

Walk 9, page 24, para 1:-(Nederlands:- pagina 25, alinea 1)
The field has been fenced along the full length of its boundary with the road. There is one small gap (with a brushwood barrier) in the middle of a holly-oak thicket directly opposite the bottom of the track.
(NB If you are walking this route from the Vafios end, swing right uphill towards the small ridge after coming through this gap. It is all too easy to follow apparent paths and hit the river at the top of a cliff several hundred metres too far downstream)

Walk 17, page 43, para 2:-(Nederlands:- pagina 43, alinea 5)
Take care when crossing this fence and the land beyond not to disturb the fences or any animals. The farmer is not walker-friendly and there have been several altercations reported to me.

Roads

The new road at Stipsi is simply a much needed bypass running below and south of the
town (contrary to the local rumour mill that had it as an alternative route to Mitilene,
bypassing Kalloni)
Major excavations at the end of October 2006 turn out to have been simply site
preparation for a large new warehouse.

And ten years after the widening and improvement of the first section of the main road
from Kalloni to Mitilene as far as Lambou Mili, there is now major work going on
towards the Mitilene end.  This is widening and re-aligning the road almost as far as the
beginning of the one-way system leading in to the town, and is now (June 2008) nearing completion.
There is a spur by-passing the town and leading to the coast road near the power station.  This is now sign-posted to Mandamados and Thermi, but when I drove over it in June 2008 was still a under construction apart from the first few metres, and extremely rough in places.
Major drainage works all over the island (at the behest, and with the financial assistance of the EU) have left many roads dug up and only partially restored.  In particular, the main road out of Petra was awaiting full resurfacing, with new inspection covers protruding 4-5cm above the temporary surface every 100 metres or so, marked only with a ring of fluorescent paint and the occasional traffic cone.

July 2006

Snakes

The poisonous snake mentioned on page ix, para 6 (Nederlands:- pagina ix, alinea 6) is
the Nose-horned Viper, which is extremely venomous
(though it is also described as 'slow and rather phlegmatic, not
 very irascible'). However in ten years of wandering around
Lesvos I have only seen one specimen (Spring 2006, ten metres from my front door. As it
had just been beheaded by my neighbour the illustration above is taken from 'Collins
Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians'); you are more likely to encounter the
Montpellier Snake:-                                European CatSnake:-

(photo Collins as above)


or the Large Whip Snake:-  
  I have also seen, but not photographed, a water snake, probably a
                                                       Grass Snake:-
  The first two of these have
   venomous fangs, but at the
   back of the jaw where they
are unlikely to do any damage to humans;
the others are harmless.                                       (photo Collins as above)

April 2006

Several readers seem to have had problems with gates during 2005.  I'm not sure why;
they were neither more or less prolific or complicated than in previous years.
Briefly, any barrier across a path or track is a gate, whether it's made of
an old bed-frame, a length of concrete reinforcing mesh, one or more wooden pallets,
a pile of brushwood, or, rarely, a professionally made steel construction.
Unless it's padlocked shut and set in a high fence or wall, you are free to go through it.
Fastenings may be any or all of a forked stick, a length of rope, or most often,
a more or less intricate array of twisted wire - skill in working out puzzles is an
advantage. Try to leave the fastening as secure as you found it.

Incidentally, I have been told that legally one is entitled to climb over any fence
less than 1 metre high - I have not put this to the test!  Certainly there is a legal right
for anyone to go into any field to gather 'horta', the wild greens used in salads.

  Also still relevant:-
May 2005:-
Walk 17, page 43, para 3:- (Nederlands:- pagina 44, alinea 1)
My brother, who is visiting Lesvos for the first time, and who followed this
route without me, thinks this paragraph is misleading.
He points out that if you follow the cliff path to the bottom you are already on the
land side of the fence, and that the instruction should be to descend on to the rocks
before you reach the fence. 
I think my readers have enough intelligence to work this out for themselves,
but there you go.

As someone who walks a good deal in the English Lake District, he also thinks that I have
underestimated the difficulty of this descent, and that he would not normally undertake
it without boots. 
Naturally I disagree, and I have had no previous complaints, but would welcome more
comments on this.

Finally, be warned that with high water and an on-shore wind you may well
get your feet wet on these rocks and the narrow beach that follows.

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