The drying room

Next to the kitchen there is a small stone room that used to be the bakehouse. It has a wood stove, racks along the walls, hooks in the beams, and a floor that does not mind water. It is where your boots go.

Walk in the Zagori for any length of time and you will come back wet: from the river crossings on the gorge path, from the snow in winter, from the rain that arrives over Tymfi in the afternoon in spring. Leave your boots, socks and jacket in the drying room when you come in, and by breakfast they will be dry, warm and, if you ask Katerina nicely, waxed.

There are spare walking poles in the corner, gaiters in the basket, a box of maps, and a notebook where guests write what the paths were like today. That notebook is more up to date than any guidebook, and more honest.