A morning's walk by the sea among people enjoying the sun, an afternoon by a quieter, rocky coast and Dhekelia Station.
After a morning latte and croissant in a coffee shop that would not look out of place in any city in the world, I headed west from Ayia Napa, along the paved path that runs beside the sea, joining a few morning joggers (but obviously moving more slowly). Hotels and resorts continued for several kilometres, some well established others currently being built, with one or two small churches, once on lonely headlands, now surrounded by developments. Sometimes I was on a paved path by a rocky shore, other times on a sandy beach, full of sun loungers and blue umbrellas. All kinds of people were stretched out on them: thin and fat, young and old, some brown, some pale, some red. Whether Russian or English they were enjoying a sun that I was finding a little hot. The sand made for slow walking and filled my shoes. I had to divert around a particularly large construction project (Ayia Napa Marina), after which the villas were more low key and people fewer. Reaching a creek where all kinds of boats were moored, I worked my way around it and onto a track passed a planned development (only the road had been built), farms and rough land before joining the road to the village of Xylofagou.
At Xylofagou I briefly joined the route I was on when heading east. I also downed two bottles of lemonade, thirsty as the water I was carrying was now close to blood heat and not refreshing. At the church there was a memorial to some people who had died in the 1974 Turkish invasion. Not the first that I had seen, they seem to have replaced the EOKA memorials erected further west. Returning to the sea, by another church, and a diving class, I had a little difficulty finding the right track down to the shore. Once I did it was several kilometres beside a rocky coastline on a gravel track, with a few pebbly beaches, where the occasional couple or family had parked their car and were enjoying a Sunday by the sea. There was a sign for a "Fisherman's cafe" beside a small harbour with assorted boats. Looking for something cold I looked in. There was coffee, cold water, questions about where I was going and comments on climate change, melting ice at the North Pole, the current heatwave in Cyprus and a friend's cafe in my home town of Cardiff (which was there 45 years ago, the Anastasia, do you know it?),
Somewhat rested I approached a large power station, with red and white chimneys and was relieved when the tarmac road that I had joined took me around it and onto Dhekelia station. This is a British Military base surrounded by fencing but signage was discrete concerning nationality. The Union flag was flying at one location, the road I was walking along was called Waterloo road, there was a British Legion, a cafe run by a forces charity (where I quickly sank a large coke before it closed) and "No Photographs" signs but nothing explicitly said this is a British Territory.
After leaving the "station" it was a few kilometres more to the Tsialis hotel, where I enjoyed a very welcome, cold beer on the house.
33 kilometres walked today, a coastal section with no height gain. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and on ViewRanger short code johnpon0047.
After a morning latte and croissant in a coffee shop that would not look out of place in any city in the world, I headed west from Ayia Napa, along the paved path that runs beside the sea, joining a few morning joggers (but obviously moving more slowly). Hotels and resorts continued for several kilometres, some well established others currently being built, with one or two small churches, once on lonely headlands, now surrounded by developments. Sometimes I was on a paved path by a rocky shore, other times on a sandy beach, full of sun loungers and blue umbrellas. All kinds of people were stretched out on them: thin and fat, young and old, some brown, some pale, some red. Whether Russian or English they were enjoying a sun that I was finding a little hot. The sand made for slow walking and filled my shoes. I had to divert around a particularly large construction project (Ayia Napa Marina), after which the villas were more low key and people fewer. Reaching a creek where all kinds of boats were moored, I worked my way around it and onto a track passed a planned development (only the road had been built), farms and rough land before joining the road to the village of Xylofagou.
At Xylofagou I briefly joined the route I was on when heading east. I also downed two bottles of lemonade, thirsty as the water I was carrying was now close to blood heat and not refreshing. At the church there was a memorial to some people who had died in the 1974 Turkish invasion. Not the first that I had seen, they seem to have replaced the EOKA memorials erected further west. Returning to the sea, by another church, and a diving class, I had a little difficulty finding the right track down to the shore. Once I did it was several kilometres beside a rocky coastline on a gravel track, with a few pebbly beaches, where the occasional couple or family had parked their car and were enjoying a Sunday by the sea. There was a sign for a "Fisherman's cafe" beside a small harbour with assorted boats. Looking for something cold I looked in. There was coffee, cold water, questions about where I was going and comments on climate change, melting ice at the North Pole, the current heatwave in Cyprus and a friend's cafe in my home town of Cardiff (which was there 45 years ago, the Anastasia, do you know it?),
Somewhat rested I approached a large power station, with red and white chimneys and was relieved when the tarmac road that I had joined took me around it and onto Dhekelia station. This is a British Military base surrounded by fencing but signage was discrete concerning nationality. The Union flag was flying at one location, the road I was walking along was called Waterloo road, there was a British Legion, a cafe run by a forces charity (where I quickly sank a large coke before it closed) and "No Photographs" signs but nothing explicitly said this is a British Territory.
After leaving the "station" it was a few kilometres more to the Tsialis hotel, where I enjoyed a very welcome, cold beer on the house.
33 kilometres walked today, a coastal section with no height gain. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and on ViewRanger short code johnpon0047.
 |
| One of many resorts whose beaches I walked across |
 |
| New building in progress |
 |
| The quieter rocky shore after Xylofagou |
No comments:
Post a Comment