Saturday 1 March 2008

Ghasri to Ramla il-Hamra 01 March 2008

Today's walk, the second in the Gozo weekend, started in the village of Ghasri, from where we headed up north to Wied il-Ghasri (where we encountered a pleasant group of off-roaders), through Ta’ Nikol, until we hit the coast at Ghar il-Qamh. From here we headed east along the top of the cliff, walking past Naghag il-Bahar, Reqqa Point, Xwieni Bay, il-Qolla l-Bajda and il-Qbajjar, until eventually reaching Marsalforn.

The next part, from Marsalforn to Ramla l-Hamra, was the hardest part of today’s walk. Most of the group walked beneath the cliff, with the sea on the left-hand side, sometimes just a few inches away. All the Gozitans we met while scouting the walk had told us that it was not possible to walk along this stretch of the coast. In fact, part of the walk is not possible if the sea is rough, and some parts of the ledges are very slippery. Still, we walked all the way to Ramla l-Hamra, with the last section mostly along boulder scree beneath crumbling clay cliffs.

A small part of the group elected to use the safer, although still difficult, route, along the top of the cliff, then down to Ramla.

At Ramla we were met by Lino Bugeja with a car full pizza ordered from a well-known Nadur bakery. It took quite a while for all the ramblers to arrive, in small groups, tired but satisfied to have made it.

After a longish break at Ramla, we struck inland to make our way back to Ghasri. We walked for a short distance along Ramla Valley, then headed approximately west towards Xaghra. We climbed up a steep road towards Xaghra, crossed Xaghra, then walked down Tas-Sellum until we reached the Rabat-Marsalforn road. We left this road again after about 200m, striking out west across the country, below a promontory called Il-Harrax, until we reached the Zebbug road. From here it was plain walking along a smooth road towards Ghasri.

Walk Leaders: Romano, helped by Alex and Simon.

Duration: 8 hours including breaks.

Some photos below



Offroaders encountered at Wied il-Ghasri





A pleasant encounter


Ghar il-Qamh


Cliff feature




The first part of the walk from Marsalforn to Ramla l-Hamra


Boulder scree


A bit of climbing


Erosion of the clay slopes


Another feature produced by erosion, that will probably not be there in a year's time


An easy part of the walk

A pebble beach



A lone rambler



Two of the front-runners approaching Ramla


A "beach" close to Ramla


The promised land



At Xaghra


A view of the citadel at sunset



Cemetery

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