We were awake mega early this morning even though we had had a late night last night.  We had drunk our early morning coffees, fed the cats, read the paper and packed a bag and were off and out just after 7.30am for an impromptu trip to Lara!!!!

It is quite some time since I have done this route.  John has done it more recently with visitors but somehow we always manage to take a different route or end up getting a little bit lost - I remember the time we took Hazel, not realising that she doesn't like heights and mountainous roads with crumbling verges and we ended up going right through the middle of a goat farm!!!  Anyway true to form we got to one place where we had the choice of five routes and took all of them before finding the one we were actually after.  We should have had the courage of our conviction and followed the signs for the Church even though we couldn't see it as this was the way we needed to go.

Eventually we made it to the old Taverna which sits above one of the horseshoe bays at Lara - this place has been here years and doesn't look like it has had anything done in the interim!!! 

There are changes down on the beach though as there is another ramshackle drinks caravan thing and bollards which look like they now prevent you from driving across from one bay to the other which is not a bad thing.  The illegal bar on the main road is abandoned but the building shell remains.  Whether the new beach bar is connected we have no idea but we went and had a quick look before heading back to the original place where we had a chat with the owner and then headed down onto the deserted beach.



We walked down the steps from the taverna and headed left to an area where there were some rocks which would afford us some privacy when we came to change out of our wet swimmers although, to be fair, there was absolutely no-one else on the beach!!!   It was perfect - a beautiful still morning with a warm breeze.

The sea was absolutely like a bath.  No problem getting in and not too pebbly either but if you plan to swim there you need to be aware that beyond the initial shallow sloping shelf there is quite a drop and a bit of a rip tide which could suck you out further than you anticipated. 

After a lovely swim we dried off and changed and wandered back up to the taverna to have a coffee before making our way back home and all this before we are normally out of bed.  Nicky had noticed the car leave early and text to make sure we were ok because she feared that something had happened to one of the cats or worse Mum - we just had to assure her that we were having a mad morning and had shot off to the beach.



As we left we went to see the two rather scrawny donkeys that were in the shade of the trees by a bizarre carriage which looked like it was something out of the Wild West complete with the obligatory old armchair and dumped mattress!!

What a lovely start to the day - I was ready for anything after that and we said to each other that we don't do that often enough.  Made me realise how lucky we are to have wide open spaces and our freedom unlike so many others who are locked down in some shape or another.