Stavravouni Trail

Two lines pass the church at Kornos — the 53, which runs between Pyrga and Alampra Bus Station, and the 410, which comes in from Larnaca through Kalo Chorio, Agia Anna and Psevdas — and this site measures the access walk from that stop: 3.6 km, about 50 minutes, and close to flat, since the stop and the trailhead sit within about ten metres of height of each other, with only a shallow dip between them. On Monday to Wednesday and Friday the first bus in arrives at 05:24, then 06:24, 07:49 and 08:27; on Thursday the early 410 is replaced by one at 09:48. Saturday gives you 06:27, 07:12 and 09:22, Sunday 05:27, 06:57 and 08:22. The last bus home from the same corner leaves at 21:52 on weekdays, 21:07 on Saturday and 20:53 on Sunday, and at Alampra Bus Station the 53 meets the lines towards Nicosia while the 409 runs on to Larnaca. The thing people underestimate is the finish. The recorded route does not come back to where it started — it ends 266 m higher, on the mountainside — and the same routing puts the nearest bus stop 7.1 km from the finish, about an hour and a half of walking down. So either you accept a day of roughly 19 km on foot, or you arrange something else for the end of it.

I walked it in December, and I would keep it in the cold half of the year. The hill tops out at 623 m, so there is no altitude to hide behind once the coast starts baking, and only three in ten of the samples along the route sit under mapped woodland — the rest is open path and bare ground, which in July means a long climb with nothing to sit in. Spring and autumn are the honest answer: the track holds a pace, the light is long, and the buses run often enough that a slow finish costs you nothing. December was better than I expected — cold hands at the top, warm light on the way down, and a stillness you don't get in March. What spoils a winter walk here is the ground and the clock. Two thirds of the route is unpaved and another third is natural ground, so after rain the same track that was dust in October is mud, and in December the sun is gone before five, which leaves less slack than the timetable does. If you come in summer, start before the sun is properly up and carry all the water you need.