escape to pARKadia

MODERATE WALKSPhotographs
DINGLEY DELL WALK
2 hours

• Starting from The Ark, you will take the path below the grounds to the west as far as the first stone houseu. This is built around a huge "rock oak" tree and is traversed by a lower path.
• To the east, this lower path is initially edged by a concrete wall before it turns sharply down the hillside towards the pumping station that supplies the village (including your accommodation) with water straight from a mountain spring.
• Below the pumping station you will turn right to the west and, after 50 metres, you will see a large stone wall on your left. Part of the fortifications of the ancient cityv, it marks the turning into an enchanted area rich in vegetation.
• Following the wall, you will walk through a neglected modern day garden until you see a walnut tree in a clearing below.
• An old olive tree marks the easiest route down to this clearing. Do not be put off by branches blocking the path - these are to stop sheep not people.
• In the autumn pitted walnut shells (some still inside their split leathery casings) are strewn beneath the tree. You will also find pomegranates on trees nearby. Nobody will mind you picking one or two.
• To exit the clearing, you need to find the steps marked by iron posts. These are precarious but they lead to an ancient hanging garden made up of small flat expanses perched on huge boulders that once tumbled down the hillside.
• Then you will enter a dark wood - a place where children can be children and adults need to stoop to avoid overhanging branches.
• Eventually, you will emerge onto a limestone slope with wonderful viewsw.
• At this point you can make an detour west over a stone wall to an overgrown quarry where ancient Greeks extruded massive stones to build their walls and temples. Nearby is a cave which could be the elusive cave of Demeter but is more likely to have been used by ancient stonemasons escaping the sun.
• Otherwise, follow the steep zig-zag path further down the hillside until it joins the southern village trackx in Kato Rouga ('lower village') from where you have a choice of return journey.
• You can take the track east to join the tarmac road from Platania.
• Alternatively, you can follow the track west until it joins the steep road that climbs forever upwards through Kato Rouga.
• Other routes back to The Ark involve uphill village paths - the choice is yours.