Day 36: Mackenzy Beach

Last day in Cyprus.  It's a bit strange having a flight in early afternoon - enough time to do something, but by the time you realise this you have very little left.  Or perhaps I was just in going-home-mode in my mind.  I did get down to Mackenzy Beach for a short walk - the air milder than it had been, the water so many colours of blue, little umbrellas like bamboo beach hats stuck on poles all along the dark sand.  Even the water didn't feel that cold, although I didn't try going in.  I'm looking forward to coming home.  Even with the cold and ice and rain, there truly is no place in the world like Scotland. 

Day 34: What Is A Walk?

Today I realised that some of my 'walks' have been more like wandering around in the normal business of life rather than a proper, get-on-the-trainers-walk-smartly action that I was endeavouring with this blog.  So, I walked twice today.  Once was shopping in Larnaka, which was the one I wasn't sure counted.  I did walk , but there was so much in-and-out of shops, dawdling, tryings-on in dressing rooms, that I thought I'd try again later.  Typically, when I decided to go a nice beach walk, it started raining. And it was a funny sort of raining - off to my left the sky was clear, with the sun beginning to set, colouring the clouds with pinks and purples.  But above my head it was dark grey and soaking me rather quickly!  I finally gave up, disgruntled, and went back to the car, but by the time I got anywhere the rain had stopped so not to be defeated, I tried again.  This time I got the full glory of the sunset, and enjoyed wandering up and down the beach capturing it.  Unfortunately someone else was enjoying it too, and a very friendly man (a little TOO friendly) began following me about, offering to 'help' with my photo-taking.  I think he imagined himself a feature character.  I refused, I hope graciously, but he was undaunted.  I found myself wondering where the sheer determination comes from. Every signal given out shouted 'Leave me alone', but he seemed to read it as 'Please come nearer, and ask many personal questions'.  Fortunately I was meeting Kait for coffee (answering the questions of "What are you doing later? Tonight? Now?") and greeted her with great rapture when she showed up. 

Now that I think about it, I find it slightly amusing that despite being trailed by creepy stalker-man, I carried on taking photos ("the cat, look, you can see him better over here"), climbing over rocks ("Do you need help?" - "No, thanks" - "Well, maybe I need some help"), and capturing the sunset ("It's a beautiful night, isn't it?").  I refused to be deterred from capturing the beauty I had worked so hard to be near!

Walk length: 20 minutes