Scrambling up from Xlendi Bay
The Gozo weekend is now past, with everyone saying that they enjoyed
themselves tremendously! All the allocated rooms in the Xlendi San
Andrea hotel were quickly filled, and those additional members who
wanted to participate had to find alternate accommodation. All the
walks were very well attended, sometimes with around sixty
participants. And the excellent weather we had throughout the whole
stay helped a lot to make this a successful weekend. We hope to be
able to organise similar events in the future, possibly a bit less
strenuous!
Unfortunately both the secretary and president could not join us
for the whole weekend, due to sickness. So the previously-planned
walks programme had to be altered drastically. In this respect, we
were helped in no small way by two locals, Mr Victor Galea and Dr
Mario Saliba, who led the Friday and Saturday walks.
Below is a brief description of the walks.
Friday afternoon
On this first walk, we left from the hotel itself. We climbed up the
steep steps cut into the cliff-face on the north side of the bay, and
then scrambled up the cliff until we found a pathway leading on to the
road to San Rafflu. We stopped for a while near l-Ghadira ta Sanrafflu,
a small depression that is filled with water for most
of the year, and then continued to Wardija Point, the site of a Phoenician shrine from where there are
fantastic views of Dwejra and Il-Gebla tal-General.
Leader:
Victor Galea.
Victor Galea (centre) with two ramblers
over a Keep Out "sign".
From here we
back-tracked to the main road and continued north to the quarry area
and then on to Ghajn Abdul. From Ghajn Abdul we walked to Santa
Lucja, through the village of Kercem, Wied il-Lunzjata and on to the
Rabat-Xlendi main road, reaching our hotel after dark.
Saturday morning
This morning
the walk started from the village of Gharb. From the church square,
we walked to Birbuba and then to the chapel of San Dimitri situated
north of Gharb in a very scenic area. Here Lino Bugeja gave a
short talk on the history of the chapel, while Victor Galea recited
the famous Zgugina poem. From here we walked to the cliffs of Hekka
Point, and then we east to Wied il-Mielah, with its famous
square-shaped arch in the cliff. Then further east for about a
kilometre, and south towards Wied il-Ghasri. Then on to Ghammar and
back to Gharb.
Leader: Victor Galea
Saturday afternoon
The afternoon walk started from Nadur church. From Nadur village we
walked past an old quarry that is being filled with rubble, and on to
It-Torri ta? Sopu. This tower is not visible from Nadur village itself,
as it is situated at the bottom of a gentle slope. Ta? Sopu tower is one
of the watchtowers built along the coast of Gozo during the time of the
Knights of St John. This particular tower was finished in 1670 during
the reign of Grand Master Cottoner. Until a few years ago this tower
was completely abandoned, until it was restored by Din L-Art Helwa with
the help of Nadur Local Council. We were fortunate in being led by
Nadur resident Mario Saliba, who had the keys to the tower. We could
therefore climb up the spiral staircase to the roof and admire the views
of Dahlet Qorrot to the southeast, Mistra Rocks beneath us to the north
and San Blas Bay to the west. From the tower one can also get a view of
Rdum ta' Vnuta, a small inlet where the French landed to invade Gozo in
1798.
From the tower we backtracked on to the Nadur road, then branching
off to the right down to Wied Bingemma, up again and then north to the
Rdum il-Kbir and il-Qortin tan-Nadur area. Here we went down a short
tunnel in the ground, leading on to a natural cave called l-Ghar tal-Mixta
on the eastern side of Ramla Bay, overlooking the bay itself. From here
we backtracked for a while and then took another road leading us back to
Nadur along a picturesque path through Wied Bingemma.
Leader: Mario Saliba
Sunday morning
Today we walked in the Ta? Cenc area, starting from Sannat, walking
to Mgarr ix-Xini, then back up to the cliffs. This magnificent area,
one of the last few pristine open spaces in the whole of the Maltese
islands, is now threatened by a so-called development that is nothing
but a thinly disguised building project. Please see the press release
on the website for details of an incident with the owners of the Ta?
Cenc hotel. This incident happened before the main body of ramblers
arrived for the walk.
Leader: Alex Vella
Pic 3 - Group photo with Malta in the background |
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Pic 4 - View of Dwejra from Wardija Point |
Pic 5 - Group at Wardija Point |
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Pic 6 - Phoenician shrine at Wardija Point |
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Pic 7 - Ramblers north of San Dimitri Chapel |
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Pic 8 - Northern coast of Gozo |
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Pic 9 - Cliffs at Hekka Point |
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Pic 10 - At the northernmost point of Wied il-Mielah |
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Pic 11 - It-Tieqa |
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Pic 12 It-Torri ta? Sopu |
Pic 13 - View from the Ta? Sopu Tower |
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Pic 14 - L-Ghar ta? Mixta |
Pic 15 - Give me two loaves and five fish |
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Pic 16 - At Ta Cenc, with the Mgarr ix-Xini Tower in the background |
