Thoughts and happenings from a life on Malta

Almost within the shadow of Mosta’s massive dome lies a smaller place of worship –  Knisja Ta’ l-Isperanza (Our Lady of Good Hope church), which comes with its own legend involving a Maltese maiden, marauding Turkish corsairs, a cave, cobwebs and divine intervention (for the full story, I recommend A Hundred Wayside Chapels by Kilin – ISBN 99909-93-06-8). Located on one slope of Wied il-Ghasel (Valley of Honey – that’s as tempting a location as any) and standing sentry to the stone bridge which spans it, this was the meeting point for our small group of trekkers.  The leader was Stanley Borg of Trekking Malta.

Thanks to Stanley Borg for these photos

 

The circular route was mostly along quiet country roads or tracks and is quite manageable for walkers of any ability; the most challenging part being the hill rising up from Fiddien Valley to Dwejra, although it always seems so much harder when I’m doing it with my bicycle. The 10.5km circuit can be done comfortably in 2¼ hours.

Route taken

 

Should you like to download the route to your GPS, contact me for the relevant GPX file.

So much profit can be made out of  a quiet day.

Profit 1

By 0730 I was already stripping down to my shorts and T-shirt at ir-Ramla tal-Mixquqa (renamed Golden Bay by the British colonizers because they found the Maltese version to be quite a tongue twister). I hadn’t been doing  any sport, apart from the occasional trek, in a long while so this first jog was to be a gentle reminder to the heart that it must be prepared to start exerting itself again. Twenty minutes was the plan, twenty minutes is what I did. If truth be told though, the heart was pounding louder and harder than that made by the impact of my leaden legs on the sand.

Profit 2

My intention was to soak up some winter sunshine while listening to and rating a Hits of the 80scompilation at the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta. Instead, on a bench located towards the quieter back part of the garden, I got out my Moleskine notebook and flipped through the pages. On one of them, I had a spider-gram with a few thoughts I had jotted down weeks earlier. Glancing at it, some new ideas sparked in my head, stimulating the pen to paper. Before I knew it, my watch had fast-forwarded by 3 hours and a near complete draft of my first-ever short story had spread itself across 5 pages!