MP1 - General view of the walk area

Twenty eight people turned up for the walk this Saturday morning. The weather was a bit cooler than earlier in the week, although still warmer than usual at this time of year.

From Manikata church we headed north and then took the rough road west towards Rdum id-Delli. We followed the edge of the cliff north towards it-Torri ta' Ghajn Znuber. This tower is situated slightly inland from the cliff-edge, and is in a very dilapidated state; it has no roof and part of the walls have fallen down.

 
MP2 -Bushy Restharrow

At this point, before we descended down beneath the cliff, Steve pointed out a small population of Bushy Restharrows ( ononis natrix / broxka t'Ghawdex ). This plant is of significant historical interest since it was one of the earliest to be afforded some sort of legal protection due to its overcollection for firewood - Grand Master De Rohan had in fact issued an edict banning its collection prior to a fortnight after the feast of St.John ( June 24 ) in order to allow seed formation and dispersal. Today it is a very rare species on the island of Malta , less rare in Gozo but still a relatively frequent sight on Comino.

Descending the cliff slope we had to be slightly more careful, as we scrambled down the rocks to get down. We then walked close to the sea for a few hundred metres and then had to ascend again to the top of the cliff. We continued approximately northwards, following the edge of the cliff, then turned east towards il-Prajjiet (Anchor Bay), where we went down to the breakwater for a short rest. At the breakwater, on the outer side, there were two large brown clouds bobbing in the water ? jellyfish!

MP3 - Walking below the cliff

Up again to take the road up and south towards Ghajn Znuber and eventually back to Manikata church. The whole walk, including short rests, took slightly less than three hours.

MP4 - GPS Marker (Editor's note: with spelling mistake)