Windy and cold in Cyprus!

Usually I walk along the Salt Lake trail with my friend Sheila three times per week, setting off soon after sunrise.

However, during the first week of January I didn't walk at all - and Sheila didn't either. She was unwell, and the weather was wild. There were high winds and heavy rain over several days.

So it was a whole week into the New Year before we went out, well wrapped up and wondering what rain and wind damage there might be.

The Salt Lake looked very full:

We set out in our usual direction towards the aqueduct, but it wasn't long before we saw this blocking the trail:

We managed to step around it without getting wet and continued on our way... but not far. This was ahead of us:

The ground around was squelchy and we didn't want to get our feet wet.

So we turned back and walked in the other direction towards the Airport Road. The path was clear and although the sky was cloudy, we had a good view of the lake with the mountains in the distance, and an astonishing number of flamingoes (the little pink dots on this picture; if you click it, you might see them a little more clearly).

Sheila was very sad, however, to see that this ancient tree had finally been uprooted by the storm:

The roots were so rotten we wondered how it had remained standing for so long.

Back home, I moved the cat bed by a radiator for Cleo, who has never liked cold weather. She was very happy:

The wind died down, and the rain stopped... but the temperatures started to fall. On Friday Larnaka was colder than London, and overnight the temperature dropped as low as 1C - colder than I can remember it being. 

So when we went out for a walk on Saturday morning, even more warmly wrapped (I even wore gloves) there was frost on some of the weeds; unusual in Cyprus, and rather pretty:

I'm not sure if these weeds will have survived this cold snap:

There was even ice on some of the puddles:

We walked briskly, skirting our way around the obstacles this time to reach the aqueduct, but even after 4km of walking I didn't feel warm.

Thankfully the temperatures have risen somewhat today, and the sun was out.