The Witches Gorge...

I am not liking the world how it is at the moment.  Everything seems so very uncertain and I love to plan and there is nothing to plan for - save Christmas which normally excites me but this year does not.

The one plus to the current lockdown situation is that I have started walking which is something I never ever thought I would hear myself saying.  Dad used to walk right up until just before he died he would pitch up and do what he could manage.  He would have said that walking enabled him to see parts of the island he might otherwise not have done and now I am beginning to see the attraction.  John and I look like bloomin' Howard and Hilda from Ever Decreasing Circles - dressed in the same!!!

It was a glorious day - in fact ever so slightly too warm at times but today we tackled a walk I have wanted to do for some time - The Witch's Gorge.  We started at Arodes (driving there) and then walked and walked and walked - about 10Km but there was some very hard going uphills to negotiate.  

We have driven a part of this walk before - years ago when we had the CRV but when we got to a particular fork in the road we carried on to the left and up and over the hill past a goat farm and today we took a right turn which led us to the Witch.

Can you see her?  Her profile is unmistakable and she surveys all the land around her.  I was ok up to this point - the walk had been mainly downhill but that meant only one thing and from this point nearly all the way back it was up, up, up and my calves were complaining and I was overheating!!

At Arodes there is a tiny little church and shrine which would be easy to miss as the trees are growing over the building.  This is dedicated to the patron saint of Pano Arodes - Saint Kalandionas - I reckon I should have drunk the water as apparently it is good for skin disorders and I have never been blessed with nice skin - even less so now as it is all patchy from the sun.

I have the distinct impression I shall struggle to walk tomorrow after this bit of exercise but I have to admit I did get a great sense of achievement when I had completed it.