Qattara and Mtahleb, Friday 30thDecember.

A group of twenty seven people turned up for this walk, the longest so far, in reasonably good weather. The meeting place was the old Bobbyland restaurant on Dingli cliffs. From there the group walked to the Qattara area, to the top of the ridge overlooking Ras id-Dawwara.

The road from the top of the ridge down and to the west is marked Private/No Entry in both Maltese and English. See Picture 1. This was obviously not a deterrence, given our unofficial RAM motto.

On the way down, we walked past several bird trapping nets, complete with bird decoys, until we reached the Ghar id-Dwieb area. See Picture 2.

From there, we struck approximately north to the Mtahleb ridge, with Wied Ghar Ilma on our right. From below the ridge we had a good view of the small settlement at Ghar Zerriegha. See Picture

At the top of the ridge, we followed the ridge approximately SE to Ghar Zerriegha, passing some cart ruts on the way. See Picture

On reaching Ta? Baldu, we took the metalled road approximately SW down into Wied ir-Rum, passing through well-cultivated farmland. The road then turns uphill and south towards Qattara. Here we met another barrier, a metal water pipe across the road, barring the way to vehicles. See Picture 5.

Reaching the top of the Qattara ridge, the road passes through a farm, protected by seven dogs, most of them on a leash. Again this was not a serious obstacle to us ramblers.

This marked the end of the planned walk. However, with the group still wanting more, on the way back to our rendezvous we made a short detour to have a look at the Simblija troglodyte settlement. Then we walked down to Wied Hazrun and up again to the road leading to the Bobbyland. Have a look at Picture 6, with a beautiful sign barring the way to Wied Hazrun and the Simblija area.