We live in such a beautiful place...

Today was forecast to be the last fine one for a while so it was with great enthusiasm that our little band of merry walkers set off early for Kathikas and to meet up with Rachel who is now feeling much better thank goodness.

Under the current restrictions we are able to exercise but only in two's so we paired up and one couple walked on in front or, on quiet roads, one side of the road whilst the other couple were on the other side of the road. We are women so we are more than capable of getting our voices heard whatever the conditions!!!

We assembled outside the Farmyard at 8.45am and Rachel (walk leader) informed us that we were going on a new route today which she had not walked herself but which Savvas had driven her round so she wasn't entirely sure how long it was.

Undaunted we set off on what was a truly glorious morning.  Our initial route took us in the direction of Pano Akourdaleia but then we turned off through some vineyards and past Sheila and Klaus's old house.  The fading vines give us a splash of autumnal colours, yellow, orange and gold.  In the fields people were working hard, harvesting or preparing for the winter.  

We walked on country lanes for a while and then crossed the main road just past the cemetery and then negotiated a long steep hill where there is a house at the top.  Here, stood in the road, was a massive shaggy black dog wearing a collar, this dog was bigger than a Shetland Pony.  None of us are particularly keen on unfamiliar dogs so we weren't too sure what to do but it looked at us and then wandered off in the direction of the house without making a sound.  Slightly further up the road there was what looked like a young Belgian Shepherd puppy bounding around with paws that it might at some point grow into.  It too was wearing a collar and it too made no sound but ran on past us towards Billy Big Black Boy.   We were quite relieved that they had ignored us as we had them save for some useless advice like don't give them your name Pike, don't let them smell your fear and don't make eye contact!!!

We continued on our way but realised, on looking behind us that BBBB and the puppy were merrily following us at a distance - again without making any sound.  We thought that they would get bored but they didn't they just kept on following.  

After a while we were concerned that these two canine companions might walk too far and get lost.  We were sure that they were something to do with the big house at the top of the hill and they were clearly not aggressive or threatening so we felt a bit sorry for them.

In the end I decided that I had to take action so simply turned round and growled at them waving my arms and they looked at me and at each other in complete shock and turned tail and ran off, hopefully back to the safety of their home!!!

We were relieved when they had gone because we really didn't want them to get lost and we had walked quite a way so no-one really wanted to have to walk them back!!!

We were on a massive round trip back to Kathikas and had views to die for.  It really felt so very good to be alive today.

The walk was quite hilly, particularly at the end when there was a long hard slog back up into the village but despite our moaning we made it and with that came a massive sense of achievement.  The distance was about the same as last week and we were filled with such enthusiasm we have made a bit of a rash promise for next Tuesday if the weather is fine - but I will keep that under wraps for now!!

I was pretty knackered when I got home but John was keen to walk into the village so that we could check up on Les, check the post and go to the cemetery.  We managed all three and even got to talk to someone working on the road who seemed to indicate that the work should be completed by the end of this week - we will see but there has been some real progress made since we last went in.

What had been a glorious day brought about some strange and spectacular weather conditions as the sun began to set.  I think this is what is called a mackerel sky and normally indicates that rain is on its way.  A mackerel sky is a common term for clouds made up of rows displaying an undulating, ripplic pattern similar in appearance to fish scales.