Lara Bay...

John was up and off early this morning.  He had organised to walk with Liselotte to Lara Bay.  Liselotte is a keen walker and always looking for new routes even though Covid-19 has meant her normal walking group has not been operational.  It was a good job then that the weather was slightly cooler today with a bit of cloud affording some respite from the sun.  Their planned route was about 10k and mostly downhill so they set off at 10.00am and the other John and I were to meet them independently at the taverna so we could have lunch together.

I set off around 11.30, stopping to have a chat with Bassam beforehand as he is currently working on our neighbour's house and I wanted to go in and have a look at progress.  You wouldn't know that they had had an issue with their flat roof as inside it is all repaired and redecorated and looking good.  

I was glad that we had recently driven the route (and made some wrong turns) because today I was confident I would get to my destination without problem.  I didn't need to go and pick up John - he had things he needed to do before getting to the taverna for lunch but he did want a lift back.

It was a glorious ride down to the coast, in fact I would have quite liked to have done the walk myself but that would have left us with a logistical problem about getting back because I am not so keen to do the return uphill leg!!!  I met only one truck and one couple of tourists on a motor bike.

The sea was a stunning colour today and although there were a few more people dotted around the beach and at the new beach bar they were way over the other side so directly below where we were there was not a soul to be seen.  There were a few other people having a drink at the taverna and John, John and Liselotte were there sitting in the shade when I arrived.

There are a number of animals at the Taverna, including this friendly and attractive little grey and white cat.  I remember going to this taverna years ago and taking a photograph of a very similar looking cat sitting on one of the blue plastic chairs.  That grey and white cat was considerably bigger than this one so am guessing it was probably Mum or Dad.  This little one was a girl and had a sister (without the grey smudge on its nose) who was pregnant - as were most of the other cats that were roaming around the tables.

Today there were two other donkeys outside making a total of four - they all look a little thin and scraggy and John and I were cross that we had forgotten to put some carrots in the car for them which we had intended to do when we saw them the last time we were here.

Liselotte and John normally have an omelette and chips if they stop here and we were happy to do the same.  It was just so lovely to be sat listening to the sea feeling a million miles away from all the stresses and strains of Covid-19 restrictions.

No-one seemed in a great rush to move but Liselotte was playing badminton later on so she set off back to Paphos and the two John's and I went back home.

What a lovely way to spend a morning and lunch - we really are very lucky to have this on our doorstep - literally 20 minutes away by car.

We did very little for the remainder of the day but that was fine.  John's knee stood up well to the walk although he did manage to collect a small blister on his toe.  He reckons that he might ache a bit tomorrow though!  Really wouldn't be surprised as we have a good six months without any exercise to talk about.  Still hopefully pickleball might restart soon - that is if we can find some additional players soon as we have lost four during the break.