Secluded Beach (not Gnejna Bay)

At the weekend I decided to go and check out Gnejna Bay, given that the sun was shining and I didn’t have much else on.  I have previously spent time sitting on the sands of the popular Golden By, and the slightly less popular (but certainly no less attractive) Ghajn Tuffieha, so reckoned it was worth making the extra effort to stop in on their neighbouring beach. 

Unfortunately, geography is not my strong point.  I didn’t make it as far as Gnejna, but came across a different beach altogether.  Well, I have to tell you, you would really need a desire for seclusion bordering on sociopathic hatred of your fellow man or woman to drag yourself to this place.  Not that it isn’t a perfectly nice strip of beach -because it is – it is just very, very tricky to access.  And by ‘tricky’ I mean that Tom Cruise in full on Mission Impossible mode would probably think twice about it.

I went there on the bus, stopping at Golden Bay and walking up to Ghajn Tuffieha.  I decided that rather than wandering around the winding roads to get to Gnejna, I would just cut through that beach, clamber up the rocks, and pop down there.  Which as anyone with a map or mobile GPS will tell you, is not the way to do it at all.  Walking along the shore: no problem.  Clambering: manageable.  Until I got to the top of the ridge, and was swiftly reminded of the fact that high places tend to make my head go a little fuzzy and make me want to sit down and hold onto something solid.  So I did that, and inched to about 6 feet away from the vertiginous drop to take the photo you can see above.  Now most trips to the beach do not necessitate the packing of a durable 60 metre length of rope and a distress beacon, but I think that xx may be the exception to the rule.  There is quite possibly an easier way to get down there, but my vertigo related issues did not allow me to pick one out.  I just saw cliffs from which to plummet off, albeit with a stretch of that orangey brown sand to mute the sound of deadly impact.