A walk around the water
The sun is rising earlier and setting later, adding valued light to our days. The remarkably accurate forecast from our weather app tells us that the temperature will creep up a degree or two each day. Spring is nearly upon us.
(Not being a meteorologist, I can only guess as to how our forecasts can be so correct. They tell us not only that it will rain, but more or less to the hour, when it will come down, what the temperature will be at specific times of the day and, crucially in summer, the humidity levels. Something to do with North Cyprus being part of a comparatively small land mass sitting in a non-tidal sea basin, I imagine?)
This manmade wonder is the result of an extraordinary project that pumps fresh water from the Dragon River in southern Turkey through an 80 km pipeline under the Mediterranean.
Anyway, all those charts and figures mean it’s time to end our short winter hibernation and get out and about. Before it gets too hot (and it will) a little hiking is in order. I call it hiking whenever I pull on thick socks. A nice walk, short or long, will do just as well. There are a number of reservoirs across North Cyprus, mostly relics of the colonial era, but the one at Gecitköy west of Lapta is the daddy.
It was officially opened nine years ago with the aim of ending the droughts and shortages that inevitably plague such a sun-drenched country and to increase agricultural output. It has also created a fine attraction. A walk around this vast lake will fill your senses with warm pine air and sparkling sunlight, the turquoise water trapping beautiful reflections of the sky and surrounding hills.
The full route is challenging, most of the day up and down hills and through densely-wooded footpaths. Alternatively, you can just head off from the main watchtower on the east side and take your time before doubling back along the wide pathways.
It must be said that access is not that easy or well signposted, but once you have negotiated the sandy tracks from the village of Geçitköy, you are unlikely to meet many others … except the ever-watchful grazing goats.
