I actually did the westernmost stretch of the Crete E4, from Elafonisi to Paleochora, as a one day round-trip from Paleochora. Which is a shame, really, because it means I didn’t get to spend any time on the best beach in Crete!
By the time actually got to Elafonisi, it was so late in the day that I only really had time to sit for a cold drink before I jumped right back on the trail to return to Paleochora.
Down the trail, at the little chapel of Agios Ioannis, I snubbed the funky little spring of ‘fresh water’ and kept walking. At this point I was just hoping to make it back to Paleochora before dark!
Luckily, the trail and area is quite nice to walk and even though I was a bit rushed it wasn’t too much of a hardship.
Just outside of the next village, the greenhouse-covered plains town of Koundoura, I was dreading re-walking the road to Paleochora and ended up hitching a ride back with an Albanian couple who lived there. The next morning, though, I’d be up and off again as I left Paleochora for points unexplored.
Great to hear you crossed back and forth safely! I did this walkin 2006 and there was a stretch of shale that was very precarious. Is it better now? I have been back to Paleochora every year since and finished all “the walks”, 20 of them, but I have been a little nervous to risk this again. Am I being paranoid?
So granted this has been over a year ago now, but the only problem I recall was the fact that the water was pretty grubby at the chapel. I think I ended up on the road one of the directions between Agios Ioannis and Koundoura though, so perhaps that was a contributing factor.
I’d say give it another try, but I would very much suggest hitching the road portion from Paleochora to Koundoura.