For a short while now, you will be driving along the river bed. The track is fairly random, but provided you look where you are going you won't have any problems.

This is the bit that has been repaired. It won't win any awards but it is a lot better than the little cliff that was there previously.

Once past the weir, you need to keep right. It is fairly obvious, as all the left turns will result in you getting wet, but I do like to be complete. You can see here just how far the reservoir encroaches up the valley when it is full. It nearly reaches the weir itself.

Now, if you are a stickler for detail you might be a bit puzzled at this point. I said it was a bit overcast, but as you can see here, the weather is lovely. This is because we took these shots on the way back from our visit. We took some shots on the way there too, but they were a lot more grey. I also made a film, which you can see in the links below. You can see there the gloomier weather we experienced at the start.

In this particular visit we are going to approach Foinikas from the North, and head up to the "castle". From there we will make our way round to the old school and up to the small hill overlooking the village.

It isn't a real castle, but it's the older part of Foinikas. You can find out more about the history of Foinikas from our other blogs, but to summarise, in the middle ages, it was a stronghold for the Knights Templar. In later times, it was home to mainly Turkish Cypriots, who left in 1974. Since then it has been deserted and is now in ruins, on the banks of the Asprokremmos Reservoir which was created when the Xeros River was dammed in 1982.