Having worn ourselves out trekking round Cagliari we left
bright and early on the 9th September for a long crossing to Malta.
Fortunately for a change the weather was kind to us and we didn’t have any
manic winds or rough seas but we did see a rather large waterspout off a little
island en route and there was lots of lightning over Sicily –
fortunately it stayed there. Our
biggest concern particularly the first night were the number of ships toing and froing. It was like trying to sail
round the M25! We had the radar on much of the time which helped but we were
very spooked by a large ship moving very fast and close to us which
didn’t appear on there at all.
Glad it didn’t come our way!
We finally arrived in Malta on the
afternoon of the 11th September and tied up in Msida Marina at 14:30. The entrance to the harbour that
we were in was stunning. In fact Malta should
definitely be on everyone’s must see list.
On our first day we decided to walk to Valletta as it
didn’t seem very far. The pilot book did recommend taking a bus but we
thought that we knew better. Suffice to say we came back on the bus! The whole city is amazing and even
though it was crowded with tourists it still didn’t spoil it. We visited
as many places as our feet could cope with and having been to the tourist
office decided we would go to a performance about the great siege in 1565 the
following evening. Fortunately there was a bus to take us there!
Our next day was totally different – a friend who we
haven’t seen for years arrived in Malta for a
holiday and both she and her friend came and spent the day with us. This time it was our voices that were
worn out!
Margaret and her friend Kate
We had planned to leave the following day but we had been
told that we couldn’t leave without visiting the medieval capital of Malta –
Mdina We took a bus all the way this time.
That certainly was an experience. The buses are antiques in the main!
Suspension optional!
The back seats of the bus are not to be recommended as the
potholes are twice as painful there!
The old city of Mdina was
stunning ( I’m running out of words to describe it) and it is by and
large closed to all but horsedrawn traffic.
Mdina
Distance run 295.81nM Cumulative total 2668.30nM
