M1 - Side view of Mgarr Parish Church

The mercury hits 36 Celsius in the shade, World Cup mania hits a fever pitch but a resolute group of around 25 Ramblers still turns up at 5pm at Mgarr Church for the last walk before the summer break. Alex started off with some points of note about this rural village and its curious oval domed church.

Then we were off westwards on the road to Gnejna passing Castello Zammitello on the way. Here we took a right turn just before the road dips steeply to Gnejna Bay.

M2 -Ramblers keeping watch

 Soon we were on the Xaghra ta Lippija where one of the Knight's coastal watch towers still stands guard. Close by the tower to the north scattered remains of a Neolithic temple are still in evidence despite the site suffering from some heavy subsiding of the land.

This is in fact an area with high erosion mainly because of the underlying clay, which is exposed in many places. We continued our way along the cliff top where an appreciable breeze made the walk more bearable and the views of Gnejna and Ghajn Tuffieha Bays are superb even in the dry season.

Then we veered inland following footpaths for about twenty minutes across the dry garigue until we reached the road back to Mgarr. Here we converged on one of the village pubs where ramblers socialised informally over beer before going home for some more football....

M3 - View from the top