Hanging out with the lounge lizards of the Akamas

I've always had a quiet fondness for lizards. Indeed, the idea of having an iguana for a pet retains some appeal - I'd walk him on a lead and harness and call him Iggy - although I'm not sure that Ros would be as keen.

However, one of the pleasures of Cyprus is the number of lizards I have spotted, basking on rocks or scuttling across paths. They're pretty handsome creatures, especially the striped skinks that I occasionally run into. With the balmy days of spring turning into summer, life is pretty good for reptiles, and so they are more active than usual.

Today, Ros and I spent some time driving around the Akamas Peninsula, in far north-west Cyprus. The British forces on Cyprus used the area as an informal testing range, and there are still unexploded ordnance to be found by the unwary. The unsurfaced roads are very rough, but Ros drove us safely to a small cove on the Eastern side, where we stopped for a picnic lunch and a brief paddle in the azure sea.

We had already stopped for a walk in the forest that covers a decent chunk of the peninsula, and were charmed by the vibrant colours of the wildflowers that cover the ground in a variety of yellows, blues, reds and purples. Again, Ros's recommendation that we come to Cyprus has proved to be a pretty good one...