In the middle of the night, Wim was treated to a starry sky,
“Wow! So many stars,” I heard his stage whisper. What a wonderful way to begin
our holiday!
Because tomorrow a storm was expected, we decided to use the
beautiful day and go for a long walk near Malona. According to the guide book,
the 11.2 km. long walk would take about 3 hours and was ‘easy’. The sunny,
cloudy sky, with 16 degrees’ temperatures was perfect for such an outing.
There were many cars and locals in the city center of the
little village – probably because it was a national holiday. Outside a taverna,
the usual group of old men were sitting together. We parked the car and walked
back to the little church, from where the circular hike began.
We enjoyed the beautiful valley, and walked between
well-kept citrus orchards, with many tangerine and orange trees. Sometimes we
walked on a dirt road, sometimes small, winding paths. Blocked irrigation
channels made the water overflow on the road, forcing us to zigzag in order to
keep our feet dry. The further we went, the quieter it became. Cars, or a
scooter parked on the side of the narrow road told us a farmer was working in
his orchard, but we didn’t meet anyone.
Heavy winter rains created havoc on certain dirt roads, but
we happily continued to follow the descriptions of the guide book. Everything
was clear, until we reached a small stream near a supposed waterfall.
The
collapsed path forced us to climb down to the river bed, using our hands and
feet, and then climb up again on the other side. From that part on, we weren’t
sure how to continue, and at a certain point realized we lost our way.
Trying
to use our phone’s GPS didn’t help either – it sent us into the bush bush more
than once, so we had to retrace our steps. It didn’t help that we knew the
general direction, because most of the small paths were dead end.
We decided to climb uphill, where we knew the main road was.
By doing so we probably made a very big detour, but were very much relieved to
be on the main road to Malona again.
Walking downhill made for an easy and comfortable walk,
especially because there wasn’t much traffic.
3 p.m. we were back at the car – VERY grateful, and amazed
we weren’t too tired after this first big hike!
Traveling is easy on Rhodes, so we quickly found our way
back to the Lindos-Rhodes main road, and because of the short distances, were
back before we knew it.
Ready for a nice cup of coffee and a long nap for Wim!
I cooked our first meal, and that evening, we enjoyed the
warmth and safety inside while outside the storm began in earnest – rain, very
strong winds and thunder. The weather forecast predicted code orange, and later
in the day even code red.
