Gozo day 2 : Mgarr and the Raiders' Cove

 Started the day with a fabulous buffet breakfast in the outdoor restaurant. Surrounded by hibiscus, oleander and bougainvillea it looked beautiful. Although  it was 7.30am it was already beginning to feel hot.

We had written instructions for the walks that we would be doing this week. Our first walk started from the ferry port and finished back at the hotel. We needed to get into the main town of Victoria to pick up the bus to the port. There was a bus stop just outside the hotel which would take us into the town. However the buses only ran every hour and by the time we had got ourselves sorted we had missed the 8.45am. We didn't want to wait another hour so we decided to walk into the town. The receptionist told us it would take about 25 mins and that we just needed to keep walking downhill. Sounded simple but we managed to go wrong mainly because of a couple of road closures.

 Not a great start to the day's walk. After all, the planned walk wouldn't start until we reached the port - a bus ride away from the town. I was a bit concerned about time passing and the rising heat . It very much reminded me of the Noel Coward song: Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun...

Once we reached the bus station it didn't take us long to get to the port at Mgarr. 

The start of the walk took us uphill past Our Lady of Lourdes church. According to local folklore, a statue of Our lady of Lourdes was placed in a niche in the rockface overlooking Mgarr harbour after a visitor in 1879 saw a resemblance to the grotto of Lourdes in the rocks. In 1888 the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes Sanctuary was built on plans of architect Emanuel Luigi Galizia as a Gothic church inspired by the basilica in Lourdes.

Once out of the town we were walking mainly along the tracks and lanes. I had bought an extra bottle of water at the port which added to the weight of the rucksack but the last thing I wanted was to run out of water in this heat which was 30+C.

The walk eventually brought us out onto the clifftops with the beautiful azure sea below.

Looking back we could see the islands of Camino and Malta.

One feature on all the walks was the lack of shade. At one point we found some large rocks with an overhang which had been formed by the weather. (No photo sadly ). It did provide some shade and a respite from the heat. We settled down to eat some lunch. I wasn't hungry at all but did eat a little bit but it was a welcome break to apply yet more sun block. I made sure I drank at regular intervals to avoid the possibility of dehydration.

The second half of the walk took us back round to Kantra Cove where there is a restaurant, lido and ladder down to the sea. This is owned by the hotel where we were staying but we decided not to swim here but continued our walk back to the hotel for a swim there. By the time we got back it was mid afternoon. We had walked 13km. Not a huge distance but in the heat if felt like a lot more. I couldn't wait for a shower and refreshing swim in the pool followed by a long cool drink. Will I last the week? I wasn't sure!