We find something very special, rare and endangered...

Monday and I had a lovely surprise visit from Sheila as she was nipping by to drop off a bumper bag of beautiful fruit and a birthday card for me for tomorrow.  She is looking really well and thankfully Klaus has recovered from a recent bout of ill health. It would be so good to be able to see them under less confined conditions and hopefully this week will bring an announcement which will allow us to do just that - fingers crossed!

As we had nothing much planned for today and as the weather turned out to be nicer than we had anticipated we decided to go and have a little bit of exercise and check out the route John has planned for his walk with Liselotte tomorrow as there were a couple of 'tracks' which we had chosen from the map and as we have found out these tracks can sometimes be impassable, been built over or simply don't appear to exist anymore!!!

The countryside is looking at its absolute best at the moment and it was glorious to walk around in the fresh air and be able to take our time as we were simply walking the unknown bits and driving the bits in between so we had bags of time.

I know that this photograph is out of focus but the sunshine on the phone did that but thank you Nicky for the tip on how to try and make sure that when I take them in future this doesn't happen or is less likely to happen!!!  Anyway we went down one very rural path which led to nowhere and at the end were these beautiful and unusual wild flowers growing everywhere - I have never actually seen anything like it before so on my return I posted them up onto the Biodiversity of Cyprus NGO group to find out what they were - I had an immediate reply to say these were very rare and endangered so not to divulge their whereabouts in case someone cuts them, or worse dig them up.  

These magnificent plants are Fritillaria Persica and are absolutely stunning.  I could not believe that the first place we found them there were hundreds of the purple spikes all around us and then again in a second spot I found a few more.

The path may not have lead anywhere in terms of a circular walk but in terms of hidden treasure this was right up there.  Beautiful, beautiful nature - you really cannot beat it.  I absolutely love the orchids which are in bloom at the moment but these knocked them into a cocked hat.  I see that the bulbs are available commercially and so therefore, hopefully, grown for that purpose not stolen from the wild so if I could get some I really would, but only legally.

We took Kenny on some right old off-roading but it was fun and we were very careful to go and recce the pathways first to ensure we didn't get stuck!  This was about the worst and I stood in the road at the bottom to ensure that John and Kenny got down in one piece which they did but it was a bit of a boneshaker.  On one path which John deemed 'fit for Ken' I put my foot down and said I would prefer he didn't - as the track petered out at a running river where the bridge was not wide enough to cross I felt this was a good call!!!

Anyway it was all great fun and we had a brilliant time exploring yet another hidden area in this beautiful corner of the island.  John got his walk for tomorrow sorted give or take a few bits and we got some fresh air and fun (no need to seek further amusement and pay and go into the zoo - which will mean something to anyone who knew my Dad!!).

Back home we tackled the cakes which Persephone had dropped off yesterday when she called round to check on Charlie and to hand over a bucket of tiles which fell off the sign when Tassos cleared the green area.  She came with Lemon drizzle which was amazing and some bourekia which tastes so much better than it looks.   Many thanks lovely neighbour it was very much appreciated.

We rounded off the day with a lovely pre-birthday drink at Nicky and Mark's which enabled us to have a good catch-up and Nicky and I are walking together in the morning.  John and I then went home to have our fabulous curry made from the leftover lamb shanks.  A smokey Lamb Dopiaza using on the Curry Frenzy Kits which was an absolute winner - you cannot go wrong with their mixes and the lamb having been slow cooked twice was melt in your mouth!!