Cyprus -Reccy of the Kouklia walk with Rick

 I wanted to be sure that I knew my way around the walk that I am leading next week so Rick and I did it. I parked in the same spot but took the wrong road (there are 6)  out of the village square. I still managed to find the path out of the village

and we were off. Cool but beautifully sunny. Actually a perfect day for walking.

Past trees dripping with lemons,

wildflowers with

 leaves that look like clover,

a house that looked new but never lived in and the goat farm where the goats were all eating the food that had pushed through the fence and keeping wary eyes on us.

A little further on we could hear trees being pruned with an electric pruner, and a generator, but the donkey, and his Jack Russel buddy was undisturbed.

Anemones

and, what I have been told by locals, are Poppy Anemones,

and come in colours other than white.

Most of the time we were walking on farm tracks through hillside meadows of wheat and scattered Carob trees. None of them had any of the beans hanging so I have to assume they were harvested last fall as the uses for Carob (low fat chocolate and other sweets, animal feed, medicinal additive) are re-surging. We did notice these buckets hanging in the trees which, on research, I believe are a pesticide oil to kill a variety of beetle that eats the trees.

We met and chatted to a shepherd who asked if we were going on a picnic. We asked about the sheep...kept for milk, milked twice a day and in between a peaceful job watching over them.

Sheep among the Carob trees.

One wrong turn in an orchard but then I got back on the right route and

got back into the village.

Hungry and we ate again at Gabriel's. I had Halloumi, jacket potato and salad. Rick had Chicken kebab in a pita. So full we just had a snack for supper later.