I set off to see if I could find the live crib in an air raid shelter in Gudja but instead completed a circular walk from Marsaxlokk via Ghaxaq and Birzebbugia. I already had most parts of this walk in my repertoire but this was the first time I linked them all together.
I set off at about 3.00 pm to walk through the valley from M'xlokk and then along the main road to Gudja to get to the crib site at 4.30 when they open. The walk up through the valley feels like home ground now and I noticed the farmers were out spraying their crops using a back pack - not sure what they use. Not for the first time, I wondered about the lines of holes a bit bigger than a tin can that edge the roof of some of the older farmhouses. I learnt on Saturday that these are for pigeons to nest in so that the farmer's have a ready supply of pigeon pie.
When I got to the main road that leads to the roundabout outside Ghaxaq, I guessed the continuation of the country road lead off from the other side and a little further down. When I had made the journey before, I had followed the main road and found it uncomfortable so I was very keen to find an alternative. I headed left down a winding country lane that seemed to be going in the right direction. After a while, I saw a farmer walking towards me carrying a bundle of crops under his arm. I asked him if this was the way to Ghaxaq or Gudja but since I'm not used to pronouncing these two words, he looked at me with amusement.
"Do you speak English?" he said
I repeated the question, leaving off Gudja this time in case that was confusing.
"Oh, Ashah," he said with a wry smile and I realised my English brain was still insisting on a k sound at the end because of the q spelling. "Keep going straight", this with the up and down gesture of one arm along the line of the road.
The road curved on through well maintained rubble walls, past the local firework factory and eventually came out at the main road to Gudja on the outskirts of Ghaxaq. I turned left still debating whether I should keep going on the main road and hope to find the crib and then get two buses back to Marsaxlokk because it would be after dark when I got out.
Noticing the start of the walk back to Birzebbugia made up my mind for me and I set off to return down through the other side of the valley. Even so, I had to walk quickly to beat the setting sun and it was getting dark with all the lights coming on as I walked back along the coast road past Fort St Lucjan. The photo of clouds was taken on a different walk but captures the feel of the walk back down through the valley.
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