Pissouri, Cyprus - Pine Bay walk

I went up to the little grocery store in the village square this morning because I needed milk. There is only ever one employee there, on the cash, so there is a table at the door with hand sanitizer and latex gloves. There were 2 other people in the store and we all kept to our own aisles and 6ft apart lining up to cash out. So here's how Cyprus is different:

Not only is there plenty of toilet paper but they have it on sale. No price gouging; the pasta, also a cart full, was "buy one get the second one free"

There has been concern that the cats will be starving as none of the restaurants are open so no kitchen scraps and no customers to beg from. He doesn't seem particularly concerned.

While walking back I got a phone call from the Canadian Consulate in Cyprus letting me know she had sent an email with a potential flight home tomorrow. Just on Easy Jet but with a potential to catch an Air Canada the following day. When I got home I got on line looking at seats, hotel in London (couldn't find one that was open) and ways to get from Gatwick to Heathrow. It all looked complicated and I would have to sleep in the airport. I considered it, feeling the pull to get home and at least be physically closer to family, friends, a health care system I understand etc. But I ended up deciding not to go for all the same reasons as before. I wont revisit the decision again. I have a flight booked for May 2, 2020, and at this point that is what I am planning for. It may not happen but I will deal with that then.

On the way back from the store I collected this map (from under his welcome mat outside) that Jimmy had created for me, of walks around the Pine Bay area. He had also emailed me instructions with screen shots from Google Earth. He classified the drawn map as "abstract art".

I walked up through the village, didn't see a soul, got passed by 2 cars. This skull is on a fence of a compound guarded by a Rottweiler!

Down the road beside the Pine Bay development

and out on to the track beyond.

There are actually lots of tracks out here but I stuck to what looked like the main one that seemed to go in the right direction according to Jimmy's map.

These creamy coloured flowers among the Anemones might be Turban Buttercups.

In the distance to the left I could see the building where the band set up for the Green Day party in Panorama Heights.

It was very windy and very exposed. Still lots of flowers

but not the masses that I saw on the protected banks of the previous walk.

I was supposed to turn right when I reached an intersection. In conversation with Nicola she said I treated the map like I do my GPS. Yep, I can disagree with anything even a piece of paper. But I got lured by "what's over the next rise?"

"round the next bend?" until I got the views of the sea I was looking for.

Wind sculpts the trees here

and flowers are

low to the ground.

The ravines are deep and steep sided, running down to the sea.

The A6 highway, with nothing on it.

The B6 road with nothing on it ( of course there shouldn't be, there are barriers up, as it is closed)

I turned around and headed back to the track I was supposed to take.

According to my fitbit I walked 6 miles today (that's 10 km!) and I am pooped and going to bed. Tomorrow is a rest day so I will post about the rest of the walk then.

Pissouri, Cyprus - Variation on the new walk, continued

Well I was not able to access the webinar that I had signed up for. They were overwhelmed by the response. Everyone wanted an art tour of Florence I guess. They sent me the recording so I can watch it when I feel like it. So Pam, power is back on!

Once on the track the banks were covered in flowers (wild garlic)

I had been told that the wildflowers would be like this, spilling over the hillsides, but hadn't really believed it or been able to imagine it.

It was warm. little wind and an abstract sky.

Another flowering bush I hadn't noticed before

The path was covered in

 tiny daisies. Reminds me of England.

I know that as it gets hotter and there is no rain, all of this will disappear and the landscape will be predominately brown, so I am really enjoying the green and the flowers while they are here.

At the top of the hill I came to an intersection. To the right were houses. Straight ahead I could see the street lights of Panorama Heights (where, just 3 weeks ago, most of the village gathered for the Green Day celebrations, how the world has changed) so I went left.

Now I was getting closer to the sea. I was hoping the track would meet up with the one below and create a circular route or would go down to

Pissouri Beach and I could walk back up the road.

But no, the track ended at an unoccupied goat farm. A pile of ramshackle corrugated iron sheds up against a rock outcrop, surrounded by a wire fence. That explained the increasing amount of goat droppings on the track.

I turned round and retraced my steps. How did I miss this on my way.?

I haven't messed with this, it really was that amazing colour. I must have walked by it while I was looking at the view. On my way back I only saw one other Iris and it wasn't quite out. I don't know if they are native or if they have just been spread by birds. I also had missed this pile of caterpillars.

On the walk back I saw a Hoopoe but he flew away, along with 2 Sand Grouse I had also disturbed. I saw about 10 Sand Grouse on the walk, in pairs, flying up out of the undergrowth, protesting about the disturbance and skimming over the bushes to land again a little further away.

When I first spotted this I thought it was an odd shaped flower. But no, a butterfly!

Pretty flower it was on.

The walk took me a couple of hours. I met one dog walker. We passed on opposite sides of the street.

Today was spent in some gardening (weeding, pruning, planting), more on that later.

I feel guilty pruning off branches that have flowers on them, so stuck them in with the Freesia.

I enjoyed my foray into painting flowers and was relatively happy with the results but my ambition is to be able to paint landscapes and that, I am discovering, is much harder. So today I tried a less complicated one than previously.

Started with wet on wet for the sky and the sand cliffs. When this had dried I did wet on wet for the sea.

Then I painted in the land in the distance, rocks at the shoreline and layered in the bushes.  I had to stop futzing with the bushes but will probably revisit them tomorrow and work on the sand cliffs.

Pissouri, Cyprus - Variation on "the new walk"

After breakfast and checking e-mails and Facebook (that is a time suck!!!) I contacted Kay on Messenger to let her know I was going for a walk and approximately where. As there are not many people out and about any more, I wanted someone to know where I was going and send someone to look for me if I didn't return. I filled out my form and put it and my passport in my backpack.

Garden flowers are starting to "spring" into action. I had assumed the red buds were the event but each one has a white flower, it is a lovely contrast as it spills over a wall.

Often the frames over patios  support old grapevines and they are now starting to leaf out, an early indication of the shade they will provide in the summer.

My apologies to those of you that may be tired of pictures of flowers but I keep noticing new varieties.

This shrub, at the side of the road is covered in buds and will soon be a mass

of these flowers that look like they are made of crepe paper.

I was up this road only 2 days ago and I didn't notice

this

or this, which I took to be Gorse until

I realized it was more orange than yellow, had different foliage and no thorns!

This is a vine and I have seen something like it along the sides of roads in Canada.

Even more wild Gladiolis in the field.

That was all in the 10 minute walk up the road, under a threatening sky

before reaching the start of the track.

I am about to watch a scheduled Webinar "Guided Art Tour of Florence" so will post more of the walk tomorrow.