Victoria Lines East, Wednesday 28th December

 

A record number of 35 ramblers turned out on the Wednesday 28 December for the walk along the Victoria Lines. The group gathered at Gnien l-Gharusa tal-Mosta and started walking eastward along the panoramic path flanking the Lines towards the Mosta Fort. The day was gloriously sunny and bright and the valley beneath the great fault glowed in fresh shades of green and lime on the warm earth colours of the soil and stone.

Taking a right turn at the fence of the fort, the group came to and crossed the new stone bridge that sadly replaced the old military iron bridge, so well remembered by most of the ramblers, and marched on to view the prehistoric dolmen. For a time we had to keep company to the flowing road traffic, down to the steep hill Ta? Alla u Ommu, where we made headway towards the low Wied il-Ghasel betwixt the unsightly quarry and its works.

Once past this quandary and in the deep valley we all marvelled at the high cliff-faces on both sides, pierced with caves and crevices, and painted in shades of grey. On the valley floor we passed through the arched skeleton that once formed part of the thick defensive wall crossing the valley, and on to take a rest in front of the chapel of San Pawl Eremita, admiring its aesthetic simplicity inside the grand open cave.

Everybody enjoyed listening to the legend of San Corrado being chased away by the Mosta folk who grew tired of his pious calls for abstinence. Once at the shore in Salina he rode his mantle across the sea to escape from his persuers, and off to Sicily where he was welcomed and still revered to this day.

The deep gorge literally swallowed us up after we passed under the high stone bridge as the dense overgrowth made the going somewhat rough. To make matters worse the valley floor grew muddier as it had been raining intermittently up to some hours before. But the worse was still to come as the dam obstructed our way under the Constitution Road bridge, but old and young braved the hurdles, skid the clayey slopes, bruised the thick brush and scaled the rough rock up to the tarmac road, lightly battered definitely not beaten. Many were pleasantly surprised they managed it, others never expected such thick overgrown brush existed in Malta, but all greatly enjoyed the exciting experience and none regretted the delayed end of the trail.