Another fascinating and extremely evocative blog from you, Dom! Thank you SO much!
On a few occasions back between 1998 and 2003, I would often meet up on holidays in Paphos with my good friends Chris (also my then workmate on the Fire Alarms) and his OH Sue, both from Luton (same as me). Year after year, in our 4x4 jeeps (rented from George and Kula @ Easy Rent A Car Ltd), our avowed quest was to find a route to Cape Arnaoutis, the Western-most tip of Cyprus.
In October 2013, we very nearly made it... Our route that day was to take our two jeeps along the coastal track out from Agios Georgios, past Lara Bay, past Camp Invicta (where the British Army sometimes base themselves for exercises, and where there's a right turn up a very rocky track that takes you over to Neo Chorio via Smigies). We carried straight along, hugging the seashore...
Soon, the track petered out to nothing, so we were forced to find a driveable route up to the higher ridge on our right. We made it, but the track was more like a goat trail than a 4x4 track, LOL! Once up on the high ground, we headed NE along a track leading to the lighthouse, all the time looking for a track on our right that led down to the 'other' side, to join the coastal track from the Baths / Blue Lagoon / Cape Arnaoutis.
We found a very scrambly and white-knuckle route down that actually passed straight through a goat farm! Then we headed NE again, hugging the coast... Eventually, the track died out on us, when we reached that same area you described, where there are very sharp jagged rocks emerging from a coarse red sand surface (dumped there maybe by April Coptic Storms over many years, I wonder??). Being in rental motors and very worried about tyre damage should we proceed on that 'last mile' to our goal, we pulled over and stopped.
At that moment, a Toyota 4x4 twin cab with two Cyp fishermen drove over this area towards us! But their wagon had raised suspension and HUGE wheels... We decided that I should survey ahead on foot, to see if there existed a driveable route around this obstacle.
Here's a picture taken by Sue, of Chris taking a picture of my back end on the start of my reconnaisance:
Mission impossible! It was soooooo frustrating, as we could see a group of people actually on Cape Arnaoutis! Must have been on a boat or helicopter trip... Too hot to walk the last mile and back, with no water on board, and no shade ahead. So we took the sensible decisision to turn around and go back...
But NOT the way we'd come! Now we decided to try the Aphrodite Trail coastal track back to the Baths. Here we are at the start of this very rugged white-knuckle ascent:
Funny story on the way up. A group of elderly women were just joining the track from our right, where the Aphrodites Trail has just steeply zig-zagged down from up above. They had a laggard... She waved me down and I stopped to let her jump in. She was waving to her German freunde as we drove up the hill past them. I let her out at the top, where there was a bench under shade, so she could rest, admire the view, and await her exhausted friends arrival, LMAO!
Here's the magical view that awaited us at the top of the hill, gobsmackingly SO awesome, it remains on my XP as desktop wallpaper image to this day, over 13 years later! I never tire of seeing it, and never will...
As for what the three of us did when we got back to Paphos? No brainer! Riccos Beach (since 1974) and a few cold beers, sunset photos, etc. That's where my avatar piccy was taken by Sue that evening.
Cheers- AL (and sorry if us UK dwellers bored or upset anyone in particular with our happy memories and adventures of and in Cyprus, having been there on 34 occasions, 2 of which were 3 month stretches in the same year! So I do happen to know a bit about life in Paphos, and am quite happy to share my memories)
