It was bloody cold water when I went skinny dipping, after I'd been in for 10 minutes, I decided to get out. I just stood up to dry off and a small fishing boat appeared with two old boys laying net for the nights catch. I hope they weren't too offended by my lily white arse! That forced me to hurry up. Still then it was wine time.
By the time the sun set, two overland trucks and two motorbikes had parked up near the beach on the western end of this little spot of limestone peninsula. My little beach was all quiet though, which was nice and peaceful. My planned routes for the day took me along the coast to Tabarka. Whatever maps I'd used to make that plan were wrong. There was no roads along many sections of the stretch of coast. So, the morning was made up of route finding ways back to the coast. A few dead ends led to one lovely stretch of proper Tunisian villages dotted in a huge area of low level bushes.
I was definitely an oddity here. Both me and the Landy, which caused people to stare a bit. This was not on the regular tourist trail at all.
Getting there allowed the Twatnav to send me down some old roads, now almost disappeared and not for normal vehicles. These passed through some of the rich farmland in this area before rejoining tarmac. One of the nice things of the Twatnav routing is that it also allowed me to see the old ladies gathering the scrub brush, possibly for bedding or fires. They carried huge loads back to their homes, all held over one shoulder. Goat and/or sheep herders appeared out of the bushes to wave or watch as I drove past. Every now and then, one of the youngsters would get stuck in the deep concrete drainage ditches, then start crying until they figured out how to climb out.
The last bit before Tabarca has no roads along the coast. Which is what protects the miles of sandy beaches that can be seen from the old fort above Tabarca I'd guess.
Tabarca itself is a small fishing town. It was market day as I passed through, which also coincided with a catch day it seemed. All the back streets were crammed with people either buying fresh fish or eating grilled fish from one of the many small grill shops.
I started GPX 2 today, this climbed into the hills and traversed lots of cork forest. I left the tarmac again here several times, traversing hillsides for miles on old unsealed roads. It's very reminiscent of European mountain countries.
