Channels – Veneto
Distance: 13,3 km
Duration: 4.5 hours (with stops)
Starting point: 150 m. after the turn from Kanalia to Kerasia, on a dirt road to the left
Maximum altitude: 680 m.
Drinking water on the route: no
Marking: red signs, signs
One of the most beautiful routes of Pelion, which fortunately wanted to remain almost untouched by barbaric alterations, in order to be able to transport us in a magical way to another world. Initially we ascend a path-calderimi with Lake Karla on the horizon, then we walk on a wonderful cobbled path through an oak forest and finally we descend through lush vegetation with the Aegean Sea in front of us. Veneto, where we will end up, has a hostel and a restaurant in the square, but we will have to take care of our return as there is no public transport. One solution is to call a taxi from Kanalia (tel. 6945277835) or Keramidi (tel. 6977893576). Another, if we have the comfort, is to stay overnight in the village and the next day continue on the O2 path to Keramidi or Puri, or even to the Flamourion-Kerasia monastery and from there we can return by bus.
The beginning of our route is 150 meters after the exit of Kanalia on the asphalt road towards Kerasia. We follow a dirt road to the left, heading east. At the beginning of the road there is lime. We pass a church on our left which is a monastery of the Flamourion monastery and then at a junction we go right and pass a small stream. At a new junction we go straight east, leaving a waterhole on our left (the area is called Vania) and we come out in a clearing, where we go to the boundary of the vegetation on the left following an obvious path, which goes uphill sliding on the ridge between bushy vegetation. On our left we have a large ravine, and if we stand and look behind us, we see Lake Karla.
We pass a clearing with a corral and further up there is a bollard of the Army Geographical Service on our left (349 m). In front of us and a little further to the right, steeply cut rocks appear on the slope. The path passes in front of their base and in a short while we come across thirty meters of cobbled path. After the cobbled road (be careful) at a junction we do not go straight ahead, but left uphill. Meeting other sections of cobbled road, we come out in a clearing where a rural road ends. The path initially climbs a little to the right of the road, then crosses it and continues parallel to the left. Eventually it rejoins the road and immediately turns left northeast. Continuously climbing uphill on rocky ground, we get back on the road and follow it. The path is maintained a few metres to the right of the road for quite some time, and we can alternatively walk there. We pass a low dry-stone wall, and further up we see twenty metres of cobbled road.
A little further on, the road passes by a waterhole (souvala Trachanatzi). On the upper (northern) side of the souvala there is a path that comes from Ano Kanalia. Its beginning is in a hairpin bend that the asphalt makes just above Kanalia going towards Keramidi, a hundred meters east of the Kanalia-Keramidi cobbled road that crosses the asphalt near there. So we could, if we wanted to, go back from there back to the Canals and go around in a circle.
For Veneto, however, we continue walking on the dirt road to the northeast. We are now in a nice oak forest mixed with beech trees. After a while we see the continuation of the path on the left of the road and we follow it. Walking for an hour, alternating between a path and a cobbled road, we reach the location of Chorafi Giannina. Here we join the Ano Kerasia-Veneto route that comes obliquely from our right and now we walk on a cobbled road in excellent condition in a heavenly setting, untouched and authentic. The magic of Pelion cannot be described in words, one has to experience it by walking in such places, as many as are left before a bulldozer passes by to damage them irreparably.
Going down we have on our right a large ravine, the Kakorema. We turn right on a rural road and after 150 meters we turn left again on the path. Our course has now become almost north. Approaching Veneto, we can hardly walk through the lush vegetation.
The cobbled street is not lost though and eventually we reach the first houses. We turn left on the cemented road, pass the church of Agios Nikolaos and after a while we reach the square, which is on the right, just below the road. An ideal ending for our course, in a place that preserves the atmosphere of the village, without the usual tourist exploitation.
