A walk on the wildside!!!

We managed a walk this morning.  Rachel was limited for time so we had an hour and a half and I suggested we did the Kathikas Nature Trail because it was nearby, short in distance but quite challenging in terrain and I suggested we did it in the reverse direction to make a change.  We were lucky to start off in some nice sunshine although it was pretty chilly overall.

The first part of the walk is on minor roads which was good and I had cut out the very sharp descent on the first part of the Nature Trail in favour of the long sweep down past the house that was sold at auction and is now undergoing a massive refurb.

It was all going well at the outset but I should have realised that the beginning of the sharp descent was almost hidden as everything has grown up so much after all the rain we have had and then the beginning of the second part of the Nature Trail was almost unrecognisable because the path was much rougher and less defined than it had been the last time we walked it.

I had also forgotten that both Nicky and Rachel are not good with heights and we were going to have to traverse across a now mainly hidden trail on a steep hill.  At the beginning Rachel had a bit of a panic attack but bless her she got her act together and got over it and actually said when we got back safe and sound that she had been glad that she had pushed herself.

I had gone in front - in several places it was almost impossible to see the route because there had been some land slippage.  I didn't say anything as I didn't want Rachel or Nicky to panic - I just had to pick my way through carefully but I was beginning to regret the decision particularly as Rachel had to be back by 10.00am.

To give you an idea of how much the plant life has grown then this area was previously a clear and calm little glade and now you can barely see the seats that have been put there!  I was glad that we managed to do it today, although it was rather hairy in places, because if no-one does that walk in the next week or so you wont be able to find the path in places which is a shame because it is really quite beautiful.

Once we had got through the bad patches the remainder of the walk was really nice and although not so lengthy it had turned out to be more challenging than we had anticipated but in some ways these are more enjoyable than the longer walks.  We were lucky to finish the walk in the dry because the weather deteriorated as the day went on.

John and I managed to get down to Paps to do our shopping in the dry and then came home and hunkered down because the temperature really dropped and then we had really heavy rain.  John had wanted to get some briquettes for the wood burner in town but it was lunchtime and the shop was closed.  John likes to use them to make a bed for the fire - they seem to ensure it heats up quickly and lasts longer.  Anyway I suggested ringing the shop because Stephanos is actually our neighbour and lives in 6a.  It wasn't Stephanos that answered the phone but Alex so John explained that we had wanted to get some briquettes and maybe when convenient (assuming they had some as they are like rocking horse poo on the island because of the weather) maybe Stephanos could drop a bag off for us.

We were chuffed to get a text in the evening, when it was raining, from Steph to say he had left a bag of briquettes outside our gate, he hadn't rung the bell as he didn't want to disturb us and we could pay him when we next saw him.  How was that for service?