Walking in Malta - Malta, Gozo and Comino

The guidebook describes 33 walks on Malta, as well as other routes on the neighbouring islands of Gozo and Comino. Year-round walking with old towns including Valetta, fine coastlines and good transport. Easy access, a long history. Guidebook includes all planning information.

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Walk 8 - Ghajn Tuffieha Circuit

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Distance: 4km (2.5 miles)
Start/Finish: Golden Bay – 770411
Terrain: Mostly along easy coastal and cliff paths, but also through a jumbled area of huge boulders that needs care
Transport: Malta Bus 47 serves Golden Bay from Valletta. Bus 51 serves Golden Bay from Bugibba, as does Bus 652 from Sliema.
Refreshments: Bar restaurants at Golden Bay. Possibility of an ice-cream van at Ghajn Tuffieha.

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Golden Bay is a very popular destination, with buses operating from Valletta, Sliema and Bugibba. There are well-trodden paths around the bays, headlands and cliffs. Those who wish to find out more about the plants and wildlife of the Maltese Islands, especially on a first visit to this part of the world, should visit the Gaia Foundation nursery and visitor centre at Elysium, where all kinds of reference books are available for study. The Gaia Foundation operates an Integrated Coastal Project Management scheme along the coast and cliffs covered in this walk, actively re-establishing plants in the area and finding ways of coping with increasing numbers of visitors.

Start at the bus terminus at Golden Bay, which is beside the Apple’s Eye Restaurant. There is a road down to a popular sandy beach, but walk instead past the Apple’s Eye and turn right into Elysium. There is free entry to anyone carrying this guidebook! A fenced enclosure surrounds a nursery propagating Maltese flowers, shrubs and trees. A site visit offers an excellent grounding in Maltese flora, and the visitor centre is stocked with plenty of books covering all aspects of Maltese ecology, history and natural history. Some 10,000 endemic plants now grow on this site, which was formerly a sewage treatment plant for a British army barracks.

The Gaia Foundation was instrumental in obtaining special protection in 1996 for the nearby cliffs, including the highest possible protection for the nearby headland of Il-Karraba.

Leaving Elysium, follow a track alongside the perimeter fence, admiring the flowery scrub that has been re-established on the once denuded headland. Admire the 17th-century Ghajn Tuffieha Tower that overlooks both Golden Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha Bay, but beware of the splitting rocks along the cliff edge. Follow a clear track towards a derelict building that was once a hotel. There is a car park alongside, and by turning right at the exit, a path can be followed down a slope of Blue Clay. Avoid paths leading all the way down to the beach at Ghajn Tuffieha Bay and instead cut across the clay slopes covered in tamarisk, grass and fiery red carpets of sulla in the spring.

Aim for a bare clay gap between the headland of Il-Karraba and the higher cliffs. There is a view across the gap of Gnejna Bay and the headland of Pellegrin. Walk towards Il-Karraba and note how its cap of Upper Coralline Limestone overhangs on almost all sides. It is supported by a thin, crumbling layer of Greensand, which is in turn supported by the crumbling Blue Clay.

With geology as unstable as this, you need to take care if you are going to walk all the way around the headland. If it looks dangerous, omit this part!

Keep to the left-hand side for an easy start, but beware of the dangers of rockfalls or landslips. Traverse the steep and crumbling slopes to reach massive jumbled boulders at the end of the headland. Watch out for red paint blobs which indicate a path that wriggles between, or even underneath the boulders. Admire the bushy tree spurges, fig trees, golden samphire and all kinds of flowery plants that have found a niche in this chaotic terrain. The path leads all the way around the headland and returns to the crumbling clay gap.

Climb straight uphill towards the higher cliffs, but watch for a path heading off to the left before the final rock-face. The path traverses a scrubby slope and passes acacia, tamarisk and pine trees before reaching a gap. Climb straight up a bare little hill, whose Blue Clay slopes are crowned with crumbling Greensand. An old reservoir structure stands nearby, and a clear path runs straight down to the car park beside the derelict hotel. A road can be followed straight back to Elysium and Golden Bay, or you can retrace your steps along the path to the stone tower, returning around the headland.