Just a little ramble...

I had to call in a substitute for this morning's walk as Rachel had to call off yesterday.  Whilst I was disappointed that we would not be going for our regular girlie chat I was pleased that the reason was because she and Savvas are going to be able to reopen the Gin Bar after all this time.  That is good news for them and fingers crossed it will be commercially viable.  Anyway looking at the weather this morning Rachel was probably happier to be tucked up in bed because it was a cold and wet start to proceedings.

We had decided to keep it simple today - walking from Droushia down into Inea and then along to the road which goes up towards the Radar and then down towards the bandstand and then across back into the village.  We were going to use the opportunity to recce some alternative routes for the future.

Yesterday when we went out and about we had little piggies running around enjoying their freedom and today we had a couple of calves who were enjoying a stroll - albeit not far from Mum who was in the field tethered - not sure whether these had escaped or were just allowed to be free but we gave them a wide berth in case they got a bit feisty!!

As we walked the weather improved and it began to get quite warm.  We had managed to locate a track which we have seen on the map but not found before and decided to walk it to investigate - according to the app this should come out directly under the radar meeting up with the road we normally take so we would be going in the right direction.

We walked along a path where the views were stunningly beautiful - this was clearly an area which was lush and fertile and the fields were well tended and there were some amazing new dry stone walls defining the boundaries.  We were really enjoying the walk when the track suddenly petered out which was a bit of a shame but we decided we would just scramble up the bank as we could see where we needed to be.

We have decided that we will go back some other time to check out exactly where the track used to finish to see whether it is just a question of getting the snips out and clearing it so we can get past.  We continued on down towards the bandstand and then taking a right just beforehand and walking back to the village taking in the views across to the Bay.

This is a beautiful corner of the island - we have so many lovely walks right on our doorstep.  At this point we knew there should be another track which, if passable, would be really interesting and definitely one for Liselotte who likes to go 'off piste' so we added this to our list for exploration tomorrow as (a) we are home and (b) the weather looks to be very good.

We walked back into the village past the Palates Hotel which is being tidied up hopefully in readiness for visitors - fingers crossed and past the teeny tiny mini-mart which is like a shed and can only have one customer at a time.  John reckons some of the Coca Cola cans on view should really be in a museum!!!  Anyway it was warm and sunny by the time we returned home and we had enjoyed our outing and come across what might be some new routes for the future.

My afternoon was a labour of love!!!!  At Christmas I ordered Mum and new case for her Doro Phone which eventually arrived late and when it did was too small even though it was advertised as being for her model.

I then ordered a replacement from somewhere else which arrived and was the right size but was so stiff that poor Mum couldn't get the phone in and out successfully.  We tried softening the leather and working it to stretch it but we were fighting a losing battle.

I decided I would try and make her one - Mum had a neoprene back support that she no longer used and I decided to cut it up to make a 'sleeve' for her phone.

The plan was to get the sewing machine out which we did but no matter how I tried the machine couldn't cope with the thick elasticated material so I ended up having to sew all this by hand and I didn't wear a thimble so trying to push the needle through I ended up stabbing the end through my finger and got blood everywhere.  

I have no idea if this fits as I didn't have her phone with me so I will have to take it with me on Wednesday and make any adjustments necessary.