Thursday 15th September 2026

Cliffs of Ta Chenc

Still a bit sore after the other days tumble and it was a fitful sleep. Breakfast was abuzz with guests, mainly German divers and Poms readying themselves for a day next to the pool getting red.

Get a sense that Malta has taken over the mantle from Spain and Portugal for older UK residents to buy a summer house or simply holiday here.

Started the walk right outside the front door of the hotel,sidestepping a black cat ( or was that a missed kicked) before heading up amongst the residential area behind the hotel with its local football club already doing a roaring trade providing coffee to the throng of ‘thinkers and problem solvers’ sitting out front.

Jane got pushed to the back of the line when she wanted to buy provisions- coffee for the men is  much more important.

Up past the local school where the friendly local policeman was acting as the lollipop man. Streets were full of tradesmen renovating older buildings or building new unit blocks. It’s easy to understand why Malta’s richest man is in construction. There are more cranes here than Dubai.

The poor old limestone miners must be worried as a lot of buildings are now being built using besser brick.

Had a look at the only Gothic church in town before s couple of photo snaps with the generational statue. It even had a kid on a mobile.

We were constantly being buzzed by vans full of divers heading down to one of the many dive sites along the cliffs edge. The one we would soon reach after an ankle twisting downhill walk was an old shipwreck only 30 metres down. Elsewhere there are apparently lots of caves to explore.

Reached the beach and looked back up to the Chambray Fort which held pride of place, but has the moniker of one of the least attacked in Gozo over history.

Comino island and the Malta mainland were clear looking back.

The divers were hitting the water as we had a chat to kids back home before heading off along cliff tops and amongst the innumerable bird roosts where watchers and shooters of the migratory birds have their fun.

It was a pretty rough and rocky path sometimes only just metres from a high dive you would not likely survive. The path then meandered its way around through pastures where a fair bit of cropping was taking place and then up to lookout tower.

The limestone cliffs were amazing, many pockmarked with caves and slides. As we walked along so close to the edge the thought of what would happen if the cliff side path collapsed, wandered across the mind.

Came upon our first opportunity for a swim, so the notes said, unfortunately it didn’t talk about the death defying steep steps down. It was a genuinely scary descent to a tiny beach, albeit with lifeguards, where nobody was swimming . Perhaps it was the fact that getting into cossies would have meant a fair bit of baring the skin.

Walked out just as steeply to do a couple of circuitous trips around headland before coming to the most prominent of the cliffs. Small boats were taking sightseers for a different view of things and above us flashed a squadron of Italian Air Force jets- one in particular doing some impressive moves.

From atop the ridge we could see a number of barns with solar power on roofs, presumed it was some of the livestock we could smell, but never see- just like trees and birds.

Some concrete road walking on steep paths has us in another town dominated by more new housing- not sure where they will get the population from. Interestingly houses have a name rather than street number out front.

One more run along the ridge and we worked our way downhill into the end of the walk in a town which encircled a beautiful bay where we enjoyed some lunch and a couple of celebratory beers.

Found the bus for a short transfer back to Victoria  and a crowded ride back to our accommodation.

Rested up after deciding to do a boat cruise tomorrow rather than the proposed town walk.

Enjoyed an aperitif on wharf side bar before a fabulous Italian meal. Interestingly when we went to pay the guys internet crashed and we had no cash. Owner’s response was ‘come back tomorrow or you can go down to the terminal and get cash.’

Such honesty deserved a reciprocal response so it was off to the ATM and a cash payment on the way home.

Trip to hotel was interrupted by an accident which create mayhem, especially for those trying to teach the ferry. We watched the mayhem continue from our balcony before boys in blue sorted it out.