A Walk In The Country - Mtahleb

This morning we decided to go for a walk along the cliffs in Mtahleb.  Mtahleb is situated on the west of the island and is mainly garrigue with some grassland.  The five kilometer walk took us on the edge of the cliffs from a place called Migra Ferha where we parked our car to Ras id-Dawwara, seen below:

Trail thanks to Google Maps

Migra Ferha

As you can see the weather was pretty overcast.  Thunderstorms were forecast today, but not a drop of rain has fallen so far.  We have been having a warm November with temperatures around 22 degrees Celsius.    

Walking along the cliff side

 As we got along the cliff side, the trail was pretty much like this for about half an hour.  As we went round the hill you can see in the picture above, we had grassland on one side and the sea on the other.  

Ras id-Dawwara

As we went round the hill we could see our destination in the distance.  We stopped here for a spot of lunch to enjoy the view.  It was quite windy so the sea was a bit rough, and there is nothing more relaxing than to listen to the waves crashing against the rocks.

Cave in the cliff side

As we went around the bend we surprised with this cave in the cliff side.  These caves are very common on this side of the island, and have taken years to form due to water erosion. In the distance right above the cliff a group of young people were fishing.  I can't imagine how heavy a fish is to lift all that way to the top, they did catch a couple though.  Sunday lunch smells like barbecued fish mmm.

Rock Layers

The picture above shows most of the five layers that make up Malta's geology.  On top there is the corraline limestone, very hard rock and quite rough to walk on, shown on top of course.  Following that is sand and clay which is what we were walking on most of the time.  It can get very slippery when wet so in a way it's a good thing it didn't rain.  The next layer is the globigerina limestone which is the yellowish rock that most buildings are made of here, you can see it as the bottom layer in the picture. The last layer, not shown here is more corraline limestone which makes up the base of the island if you will.

Ras id-Dawwara

So here we are on top of Ras id-Dawwara.  All you can see is burnt outcrops and some grassland.  We have not had any rain so far this year except for a big storm in September, and some rain last week.  With the warm temperatures the plants are not going to sleep, and we are seeing trees and vines producing buds again!  

I will leave you with this now as I put my feet up on the sofa for some much needed rest.  I wanted to give you a glimpse of the Maltese countryside, hopefully there will be more to come now as the weather gets colder.