A Walk to the Waterfalls

Nicky and I walked today and mindful of the fiasco that was the walk on Saturday when it was so very hot and we had no shade and no respite and had to cut it short I hoped that today's selection would be more satisfactory.  I had plotted a nice little walk which would incorporate a walk down to the waterfalls at Kritou Terra and that meant that at the very bottom we could stand in a cave and be showered with cold, cold fresh water!!

It was a much nicer walk and we had a downhill stretch at the beginning to get us into the swing before quite a sharp incline before walking down to the first part of the waterfalls where the picnic tables are.  John swam in this once years ago and I have to say it was a darn sight clearer then than it was today but it was cool and that was good.

There is now a proper footpath with handrails that leads you down to the cave - when we walked it last there were none of these niceties but it does make it safer as it can be quite steep and this was good for Nicky and her dodgy arm which is nowhere near healed since her fall.  It has made her lose confidence and I can understand why.  Today she took my advice and wore boots and said she felt safer for doing so.

As I said our reward for the descent was to arrive at a cave where the water is pouring in - it is cool and welcome and there is a narrow opening at the back of the cave where you can crawl through and emerge at the other side and come out and have a spectacular view of the main waterfall above.  I had not done this but wanted to but (a) knew Nicky would not be confident enough now to tackle it and (b) it looked like I would get pretty wet trying but I decided to crawl through the tunnel to the end but not climb through because I would have needed a change of shirt as the water was bucketing down at the point of exit.  

I was hot and it seemed quite an attractive proposition but this will just have to wait for another time - in fact I am thinking that if I can adjust this walk slightly I could do it with Liselotte on Thursday because even though we leave later so far we had been afforded a decent amount of shade.

Walking back up from the cave is probably the hardest bit as the steps are rough and uneven and different heights but we made it with a few stops to admire the view and catch our breath!!!  We are so lucky to have this right on our doorstep and to be able to enjoy it without masses of tourists spoiling the peace and quiet.  It was noticeable how clean and tidy it was there too unlike the last time we had gone when there was litter everywhere.

As we emerged from the path down to the cave we turned left and went uphill rather than back the way we had approached it.  According to my map this was a path which came out further up onto one of the minor roads which goes back into Kritou Terra - it was rough but walkable and we still had shade.

On this path something bright caught my eye - initially I thought it was a bit of a plastic toy but on further inspection it was a cluster of flowers which I had never seen before but which I later found out was something called Cytinus Hypocistis and it is a parasitic plant which has flowers but no leaves.

You will find these where Rock Roses or Cistaceae are growing.  The plant is bright read until the flowers open.  The male flowers are in the centre of the plan and the female ones around the edges.  When flowering is over the plant produces berry fruits which apparently are edible although I am not sure I would like to try them!!!

Anyway along with this beauty I also came across a massive snake skin which looks like it had been shed by a pretty large black whip snake then sadly shortly afterwards we saw a large dead black whip snake which had been run over on the road.  Sadly Cypriots are terrified of all snakes even though the whip are 'good' keeping down the rodent population.

Our lovely walk came to an end without incident this week and we both enjoyed it - it wasn't too long on such a hot day and it wasn't too arduous and the scenery had been spectacular.  I just hoped John was being similarly successful with the walk he was doing with Liselotte.  He was!!!  He said she loved he walk and they had been blessed with a low fly past of  bee eaters.

Our walks were out one outing for the day so the remainder was pretty quiet for which we were both grateful as we were both knackered!