November 2016 – I Walk Alone

All good things come to an end

28 November 2016

With the end of the last race our little Cypriot adventure was drawing to a close. This has been a holiday like no other. Quite a lot of our holidays have a race in them, usually a marathon but this had four races in four days. Between them, Commando has, understandably, spent a lot of time snoozing beside the pool and I have spent a lot of time wandering about on my own. Of course, wandering about on my own is one of my favourite things and, with all the interesting race venues, I’ve seen some places I would otherwise not have even known about. Continue reading All good things come to an end

The last race, medals and beer

27 November 2016

Our long day didn’t quite end with the sunset in Paphos yesterday. Although Commando’s legs were weary after three back to back events and my temperamental Achilles tendon was grumbling at a week of almost non stop walking, we still had to eat. There was one last walk up the hill in the dark to the Coral King for a leisurely dinner. As we sipped our after dinner coffee I noticed we’d been sitting beneath a fresco of the Greek warrior Achilles. It seemed quite an irony in the circumstances. Continue reading The last race, medals and beer

From the mountain to the beach

26 November 2016

After a slightly hair raising coach journey down the winding mountain road with its precipitous drops to certain death, we arrived at Toxeftra Beach. As the coach crept down the steep, bumpy slope onto the beach I looked through the window, open mouthed, at the fantastical rock formations we passed. This was the mouth of the Avakas gorge, created over thousands of years by the Avgas River flowing through the limestone eroding a narrow pathway with sides up to thirty metres high. Continue reading From the mountain to the beach

Another day, another race, the Akamas Multiterrain Half Marathon

26 November 2016

Today we had an even earlier start. A coach picked us up from the hotel at 7:45, still struggling to digest our hasty breakfast. Sue seemed none the worse for her tumble yesterday and was as chirpy and giggly as ever. We were headed for the mountains again, this time for the Akamas Multiterrain Half Marathon. The journey was long but the views from the coach window kept boredom at bay. White painted cuboid houses with terracotta tiled roofs and shady balconies gave way to craggy rock formations dotted with stunted trees, contorted and bowed down by the weight of the relentlessly beating sun. Every inch of flat space was covered with bananas, pomegranates, oranges, cabbages or fruit bushes in rows. What I wouldn’t have given to walk the interesting looking trails we passed. Continue reading Another day, another race, the Akamas Multiterrain Half Marathon

Really ancient history

25 November 2016

Once Commando was back safe from his epic run up the mountain we collected his bag from beneath the row of bronze busts on plinths, a memorial to the men who died in the EOKA struggle for unity with Greece in the 1950’s. Then I finally got my ice cream. The pleasure was short lived though. The first coach back to Coral Bay was preparing to leave and Commando was eager to get his tired legs onto a sunbed as soon as possible. With no food allowed on the coach, most of my ice cream ended up in the bin. Continue reading Really ancient history

Akamas National Park, mountain running

25 November 2016

We were awake early this morning after what felt like a restless night, at least for me. We ate far too much in the restaurant, preparing for the day ahead, and that, combined with worries about how Commando would cope with an 11k run up a mountain with a gain of more than two thousand feet in elevation, didn’t make for a restful night. For once, Commando ate hardly anything at breakfast, a first for us on holiday, and he was waiting for me to finish my granola and gloriously nutty bread with homemade jam. Continue reading Akamas National Park, mountain running

The Coral Beach 6k Time Trial and a Cypriot sunset

24 November 2016

This morning was mostly about resting, sitting on a sunbed by the pool reading in fact. Commando wasn’t reading, he was mostly snoozing, because he had the first race of the Cyprus International 4 Day Challenge ahead of him. When I got fed up with reading and my eyes began to close I went for a little wander in the hotel grounds admiring the bourganvillia growing in huge stone pots in shady areas. There was no time to wander any further, besides, I needed to conserve my energy because, one way or another, I had a bit of a walk ahead. Continue reading The Coral Beach 6k Time Trial and a Cypriot sunset

Sea Caves Road

23 November 2016

Even before Sue joined me on my walk to the shipwreck I’d planned to return along Sea Caves Road. For one, it was a far shorter route than the meandering rocky one along the cliff top weaving in and out of all the little coves. It was also, in part, the walk I’d taken this morning with Eddie. Then I’d been busy talking and I hadn’t had my camera with me. There were a few things I wanted a closer look at. Continue reading Sea Caves Road

Coral Bay, searching for a shipwreck

23 November 2016

Although we had another day before the first of the running events, Commando went for another social run this morning. There was no chance for me to laze in the hotel room or sit dreaming on the balcony though. Eddie had invited me out on a walk. It was a challenge I couldn’t resist. I think he was trying to test my mettle. Continue reading Coral Bay, searching for a shipwreck

a bus trip to Paphos

22 November 2016

By the time I got back to the hotel, the sky had clouded over. Not thick grey clouds like the ones at home in England you understand, but a gauzy layer like a thin voile curtain pulled across the blue sky. Commando woke up and decided, in the absence of searing rays burning his skin to a crisp golden brown, we should ‘do something.’ That something turned out to be a bus trip to Paphos to find food and have a wander. Continue reading a bus trip to Paphos