The Friends of the Kalderimi of South Pelion

Οι Φίλοι των Καλντεριμιών του Νοτίου Πηλίου

Path Care and Maintenance

Apart from finding and opening the kalderimia to make them safe and enjoyable to walk, we also care for and maintain these paths on a regular basis. However, it is impossible to maintain and keep all the paths open without the active participation of the Municipality and members of local communities. There are simply not enough volunteers available, nor are the funds from membership fees and donations enough to pay for maintenance all the paths of South Pelion that the Friends of the Kalderimi has opened. The association actively seeks cooperation of the Municipality, local entrepreneurs, and members of local communities in this work.

During the Covid pandemic (2020-2021) the association was forced to suspend most of its activities, including organising work parties for maintenance of the paths. However, we were able to use our association’s funds to employ local workers to keep some of the paths open during those years.

In 2018 our association provided GPS data on the paths to a researcher who was drawing up plans for the inclusion of the Municipality of South Pelion in the European Union Leader programme. Final approval has recently (2022) been given to the Leader programme work, so the Friends of the Kalderimi has paused its maintenance work on those paths that are included in the programme (around 40 paths), pending the start of work by the Municipality with secured European funding.

The Leader programme, however, will clear, repair and sign the paths only once – there are no funds included for ongoing maintenance, which will once again fall to our association, the Municipality and the local communities, if the paths are not to become impassable. Until recently, local communities have struggled to understand the value of the old paths and the need to maintain them, though there are hopeful signs that this is changing.