Who lives in a house like that???

I walked today with Rachel - we decided to do the Theletra walk with a bit of an extra loop because a significant portion of this walk is in and around Theletra (upper) and it is the end of February when the hunters can hunt today and tomorrow so we thought we would be safer there, although we worried a little when we approached the church to a volley of shots ringing in our ears - to be fair the culprits were probably a lot further away than they sounded.  In addition I wore my dayglo orange hi-viz top and Rachel her dayglo orange hi-viz trainers so hopefully we could be seen from a distance.

This is a nice walk as it incorporates a bit of everything and doesn't seem too taxing although we covered 11.5km with the addition of the loop and a total ascent of 369m, both of which are about the most we have done to date.  It was good to be out although the weather forecast for next week is looking a bit suspect so we may not be able to go out as planned.  Anyway this house is just as we leave the outskirts of Theletra before we go out into the countryside and it has a vey random statue in the garden.

Our extra loop gave us the opportunity to see a fabulous house which is tucked away down from the main road.  This was massive with what appeared to be a servants house in the garden.  We don't think it is quite finished and if you approached it from the top of the hill it is well hidden so you wouldn't know it was there until you came to walk back up and then it is visible.  Someone with some serious money owns this one!

We crossed over the main road to walk back to Kathikas - this was a new route for us but unfortunately took us past a massive tip which was such an eyesore and stank.  Who travels out all this way into the middle of nowhere to dump their shitty rubbish in the middle of a beautiful spot?  Once past this eyesore everything else was beautiful but it was beginning to get very very warm and we still had about 4km to complete!!!  We gee'd each other up and powerwalked up the last big hill and then regretted that decision!!!

I photographs all the time when we are walking - I know that it can be a bit of an annoyance but there is so much to see and things I want to remember when I get home like this giant Orchid - we see giant Orchids all the time and this year there have been many many more than in previous years but I have never seen one with deep purple edges to the flowers.  Isn't it beautiful? Himantoglossum Robertianum

We also came across some deep purple wall flowers in the middle of nowhere growing in what looked like concrete or thick clay mud at the very least - this was quite something - the seeds must have blown in on the wind or been dropped by birds from some nearby garden as they don't appear to be a wild flower in Cyprus.

The 11.5km brought us back to our starting point with just enough time for me to jump in the car and get back home within the three hours which is deemed to be 'reasonable' for the 9 reasons they allow us to leave our homes.  That was fine by me because I was beginning to feel the affects of the steep climb on Thursday in my legs and bum!!!

This distance has brought us to Taunton in our virtual walk - an area which both Rachel and I know well particularly as I was a student in Taunton in the late 1970s.  Nicky asked us to name a pub which she could add to the photos of our 'trip' and I was desperately trying to remember the name of the pub which was near my digs.  I used to live in Park Street - fondly remembered as Rillington Place!!!! and if we walked into town there used to be a small pub (then turned Wine Bar and now probably no longer in existence) which sat on the corner of Park Street and The Crescent - I cannot for the life of me remember its name so I hope someone can help me out, the only trouble is that was 40-odd years ago!!!  There used to be a fantastic wine bar opposite Vivary Park where we used to get a Lasagne and Garlic Bread for 99p and then go to the Tudor Inn for a wobbly floaty coffee which I think was 25p.  Those were the days!!

I REMEMBERED!!!! I do believe it was called the Four Alls but we used to call it the All Fours!!