Cyprus Sun

Well check in at Birmingham was a bit of a joke as we stood in a queue for an hour until we got to the front. I'm sure our time would have been better spent having a few beers and joining the end of the queue instead as it would have no difference at all.

The flight went smoothly and we landed on time at Larnaca airport where we were greeted by the Woods. Stepping outside of the automatic doors at the airport I got that welcome smell of warm air that you get went you arrive in a hot country. It was then into a nice air conditioned car for our trip to the Woods home where we're staying over the next few days. By the time we arrived back it was about 10pm local time so it was straight off around the corner to the local Chinese for some food and a late night after a few beers and a brandy.

We awoke in the morning to begin day one of "Woods Tours" across Cyprus which took across to see monasteries, amphitheatre and views of the forbidden zone and ghost town in the northern territory. The area these covered was vast, but all the buildings were dilapidated and derelict as they had been sat untouched since turkey invaded as ownership had not been agreed. To me the areas looked like something from a level in Call of Duty, they would definitely make an amazing paint ball area.

During our journey back we passed Achan village which has been deserted for 36 years before continuing on the road down the "green line" whereby on one side of the road were observation stations manned by UN soldiers for the Cypriot side and on the other side Turkish soldiers for the northern divide. Although I didn't manage to spot and actual soldiers, I'm assuming they were probably having a snooze as it was the afternoon and pretty damn hot!

The afternoon consisted of a trip down to the beach in the sweltering 40 degree heat to top up the tan and have a dip in the med. It's always a pleasant to step into luke warm sea water and there's none of the messing about getting to the point where you either just go in up to your crotch or psyching yourself up for the big dip when you just go for it and submerge yourself up to your neck to acclimatise yourself to the sea temperature.

In the evening I had a nice kebab with Greek lamb mince in which was ace, washed down with a few Keo beers it was a really good meal. A few more Keo beers later and it was again another late night.