Unless you had an interest in Market Gardening, this morning's walk was not going to be exciting. This afternoon included the Sotira "forest", although forest was perhaps too generous a term.
Needless to say the taxi I arranged for 9:30 a.m. did not turn up until after I rang him up 10 minutes later to remind him. So after a slightly late start I began my walk from Xylofagou. This morning I walked over the flat farmland of the coastal plain, an area of rich, reddish brown soil. In addition to fields of stubble where some grain had been harvested, there were fields of potatoes, kept green by water sprays rhythmically sweeping back and fore. A couple were out planting cabbages in neat rows. Long "greenhouses" with clear sheets of plastic for their roofs and "walls" of fine netting where being used to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. Other vegetables being grown I could not identify. There were some classic steel, farm wind mills used to pump water out of the ground but I have read that most of the water used for irrigation in this area now comes from reservoirs in the mountains.
In the afternoon I reached the Sotira forest. An area of marginally higher ground where the limestone rock is close to the surface. There were not many big trees, most were like bushes. A picnic area was close to the highest point in the area. Two churches hid beneath the summit, a more modern looking one in front of a stone built one that looked older. The stone church was in turn in front of a shallow cave with a bench. Climbing the rocks to the summit behind the churches afforded a good view of the coast and the town of Sotira inland, although it was scarcely a picturesque scene. As I walked among the Eucalyptus trees down to Ayia Napa, a pick up stopped and the man checked that I was not experiencing any problems, before returning the way he had come from. I doubt many people walk this section, it seems to have little to recommend it and on a hot day like today, a cool shower in my hotel seemed a much more attractive activity.
I had come across no GPS track of today's route in my research and had made my own based on the Cyprus Tourist Organisation leaflet. I spotted a few signs, and some yellow and white posts that once sported E4 signs, so I was on the correct route at least some of the time, although with the many farm tracks in the area, I could not be certain I was always on the one intended.
Ayia Napa is a tourist town in complete contrast to my walk today and for most of my trip. There are plenty of bars with "happy hours", clubs, souvenir shops, burger joints, and coffee shops selling latte to lads and ladies rather than Cypriot coffee to old men. I did however enjoy the generous slice of apple tart I bought with my cappuccino. It also seemed to have cash machines (ATM's) on every corner, whereas for most of my trip I found them disconcertingly hard to find.
My bed tonight is in the north part of town at Barbara's apartments, up the hill from the hustle and bustle at the centre of Ayia Napa.
Needless to say the taxi I arranged for 9:30 a.m. did not turn up until after I rang him up 10 minutes later to remind him. So after a slightly late start I began my walk from Xylofagou. This morning I walked over the flat farmland of the coastal plain, an area of rich, reddish brown soil. In addition to fields of stubble where some grain had been harvested, there were fields of potatoes, kept green by water sprays rhythmically sweeping back and fore. A couple were out planting cabbages in neat rows. Long "greenhouses" with clear sheets of plastic for their roofs and "walls" of fine netting where being used to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. Other vegetables being grown I could not identify. There were some classic steel, farm wind mills used to pump water out of the ground but I have read that most of the water used for irrigation in this area now comes from reservoirs in the mountains.
In the afternoon I reached the Sotira forest. An area of marginally higher ground where the limestone rock is close to the surface. There were not many big trees, most were like bushes. A picnic area was close to the highest point in the area. Two churches hid beneath the summit, a more modern looking one in front of a stone built one that looked older. The stone church was in turn in front of a shallow cave with a bench. Climbing the rocks to the summit behind the churches afforded a good view of the coast and the town of Sotira inland, although it was scarcely a picturesque scene. As I walked among the Eucalyptus trees down to Ayia Napa, a pick up stopped and the man checked that I was not experiencing any problems, before returning the way he had come from. I doubt many people walk this section, it seems to have little to recommend it and on a hot day like today, a cool shower in my hotel seemed a much more attractive activity.
I had come across no GPS track of today's route in my research and had made my own based on the Cyprus Tourist Organisation leaflet. I spotted a few signs, and some yellow and white posts that once sported E4 signs, so I was on the correct route at least some of the time, although with the many farm tracks in the area, I could not be certain I was always on the one intended.
Ayia Napa is a tourist town in complete contrast to my walk today and for most of my trip. There are plenty of bars with "happy hours", clubs, souvenir shops, burger joints, and coffee shops selling latte to lads and ladies rather than Cypriot coffee to old men. I did however enjoy the generous slice of apple tart I bought with my cappuccino. It also seemed to have cash machines (ATM's) on every corner, whereas for most of my trip I found them disconcertingly hard to find.
My bed tonight is in the north part of town at Barbara's apartments, up the hill from the hustle and bustle at the centre of Ayia Napa.
Only 19 kilometres walked today, mostly flat. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and on ViewRanger short code johnpon0047.
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| Irrigation in progress |
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| View from summit in Sotira forest |
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