Today I will continue the blog about the long walk between Filotheou and Dionysiou (look here for the map).

The Aeropotamos valley, with our destination in the background.

Here you see the writer of this blog with a garden scissor in his hand, cutting holly (photo by Peter Ariese). The old paths of Mount Athos should be well kept, because if you don't maintain the tracks, they wil be overgrown totally within a couple of years. This gives me the chance of giving my respect to The Friends of Mount Athos (Foma), who are doing a great job on Mt. Athos: every now and then a Foma-team is visiting the Holy Mountain to maintain the paths and they also place new signs at important spots. According to one of our readers, Andrew Buchanan, the paths content of their website is currently being updated. I think it should be a moral obligation for every visitor of Mt. Athos to maintain the paths by removing obstacels/stones and vegatation!

Pilgrim Jitze walking the Aeropotamos trail, probably one of the most beautifull on the Holy Mountain

Garden scissors and happy faces at the Aeropotamos

Crystal clear stream water 
 
 Almost at the end of the path to Dionysiou: mules shelter in the shadow of a clif  

And then, after a walk that started at 7.30 from Mylopotamos, and 9.30 from Filotheou, we arrived at Dionysiou at 16.30 h.: after nine hours of walking on a fabulous and unforgetable day. And this day is not over yet, because in my next blogs I will show you a lot of special pictures of Dionysiou !

Wim Voogd, 28/6