The Adonis Trail on the Akamas Peninsula. The one we hadn’t done. Two years ago we embarked on a 6.5-hour ‘Epic Hike’ of the Aphrodite Trail with a four-year-old Goobie. Now he was six, would the Adonis Trail be as epic? And this time around, we had a baby in tow too . . .

When I was pregnant with Goobie, I was offered some parenting advice from a work colleague who was a father of four boys:

‘Julia, having boys is like having puppies. They need lots of love, lots of sleep, lots of food and lots of exercise. Remember that and you won’t go too badly wrong.’

I have remembered that and it was on my mind as we drove into Latchi on Friday afternoon for our weekend on the Akamas Peninsula. I was a tad nervous about doing the Adonis Trail. I enjoyed our epic hike in 2016, but I didn’t want to be carrying Herc in the sling for six hours! I was hoping it wouldn’t take us as long now Goobie was six .

So, remembering the four golden rules of parenting boys, we immediately went in search of a restaurant in Latchi so we could give Goobie a big meal before the hike on Saturday. We spotted Porto Latchi on the main road and headed there.

The food wasn’t hugely memorable, but fine. It was the atmosphere I enjoyed. The roaring fire (it was March), the pretty arches. The 300-year-old building used to be a carob store until the 1980s.

With full tummies, we returned to the hotel for an early night. We needed Goobie to have a really good sleep if we had any chance of completing the trail the next day. We stay in the Souli Hotel when we visit the Akamas Peninsula. It’s basic, the staff aren’t particularly welcoming, but it is clean and brilliantly located just a few kilometres from the peninsula.

On Saturday morning, we stuffed a rucksack with snacks, water and sun cream and headed downstairs for breakfast. The Souli hotel has a nice restaurant area right on the beach. Breakfast was rubbish! I don’t remember such a lack of choice during our previous visit. A tiny selection of cooked food, some olives, oranges, meats and bread. And I’m a vegetarian.

The Adonis Trail begins at the Baths of Aphrodite, where the road comes to an end at a car park. The Baths of Aphrodite is a pretty (but overrated in my opinion) pool where Aphrodite was supposed to have taken a bath. It’s surrounded by a small botanic garden. Follow the path through the garden, past the baths and you come out at the start of the trail.

The first few kilometres of the Adonis Trail is the same as the Aphrodite Trail, and all uphill. The first kilometre is the steepest as you climb a natural staircase of rocks. Goobie used our Rother Walking Guide to identify the flowers that lined the trail.

As we climbed, we passed a lady in her sixties walking in the opposite direction. She noticed Herc and stopped to make a fuss of him. I braced myself, as I always do whenever women of the older generation pay attention to my baby. Waiting for the criticism.

‘Your baby needs a hat on.’

There you go.

Herc didn’t need a hat on, but his hat was in Matt’s hand ready to pop on his head once the morning sun grew a little stronger.

I walked on, smarting from the sting of betrayal I always feel when older women behave like that. It’s a sort of matriarchal one-upmanship, consciously or unconsciously attempting to foster a sense of inadequacy in a younger mother. In other words, bitchiness. Couched as concern for your baby. I’ve never experienced younger mothers behaving like that towards a mum with a baby. Perhaps because their memories of 24/7 baby-care aren’t as distant.

After 30 minutes of climbing, lizard-spotting and flower-identifying, we reached the 1km marker. We’d reached it in half the time than when we were last there in 2016. I started to relax and enjoy the spectacular view.

We stopped for snacks and water before continuing on. The next kilometre or so is also uphill. You can see the trail from the 1km marker.

As we climbed, we caught up with a gentleman in his sixties. He told us he was looking for wild orchids. He found two while we walked with him. Goobie was delighted. Wild orchids weren’t in his book.

We reached the 2km marker and stopped to rest. We’d been walking for about an hour.

It didn’t take us long to reach the top of the hill. The path then branched to the left and we followed that a short way to the ancient oak tree and Pyrgos tis Rigainas, the ruins of a medieval monastery.

‘Mummy, I need a poo.’

Due to past experience (that nobody needs to hear about), poos in the wild don’t gross me out as much as they could. I directed Goobie to a bush well away from the track and told him to poo behind it.

We waited. Goobie can take a while.

Soon the stink cloud hit us and we knew things were progressing.

‘Mummy, there are flies around my bum!’

I went to help shoo them away.

‘They are EATING my poo!!!’ Goobie said, thrilled.

We covered the poo with rocks, put the dirty wipes in a nappy bag and joined Matt and Herc at the oak tree. It was lunchtime. Yum!

The oak tree is 500 years old and perfect for sitting in to eat a well-earned chocolate croissant. We didn’t bother walking around the monastery this time. Goobie had found a fallen tree trunk that looked much more interesting.

It’s at this point that the Adonis and Aphrodite trails part company. The Aphrodite Trail continues in a westward direction upwards toward the summit, Mouti tis Sotiras. The Adonis Trail continues eastward through a juniper wood. We continued onwards, excited to have reached the part of the trail we hadn’t walked before.

The trail took us upwards, lined with gnarled, wind-battered trees. We stopped at the 3km marker and took in the view of the wood sweeping down into the valley we’d just walked out of.

We still had a way to climb to reach the top of hill and Goobie decided he needed a walking stick. When my colleague had told me about the four things boy-puppies need, he forgot to mention the whole stick thing. What is it with boys and sticks? We have a whole collection of Goobie’s sticks at home.

Goobie disappeared into the bush to look for an appropriate stick.

He came out pulling a small tree.

‘This will do.’

He pulled his tree slowly up the hill. I nervously eyed a storm cloud that had appeared at the top.

‘Let’s take a few of the branches off your stick.’ I suggested.

We continued on, spotting the distinctive strawberry trees as we went. The sky grew darker. I looked at Herc asleep in the sling. He’d wake up soon and need a feed. Goobie looked like he was about to expire, but he carried on stubbornly dragging his stick.

Thank god, the inevitable finally happened.

‘Daddy, please could you hold my stick for a minute?’

That ‘minute’ lasted the rest of the hike and all the way home, when Matt drove with the enormous stick wedged in by his left ear. He’s a good dad, that Matt. Perhaps he remembers his own boyhood stick affinity.

By the time we finally reached the top of the hill, the storm cloud had got bored waiting for us and had blown away towards Smigies picnic site to find somebody else to rain on. We followed the trail over the top and down the other side into a pretty, wooded valley, passing the 4km marker on the way down.

At the bottom of the valley, the Adonis Trail and the Smigies Nature Trail meet at the Kefalovrisia spring.

The Adonis trail leads you downwards through a very picturesque, narrow valley. This was my favourite part of the trail. In the distance, the sea was a brilliant blue.

We had to tread more carefully along this part of the trail as the path was rocky and narrow. To our left the ground sloped steeply downwards and we peered over to look at the dry riverbed below.

Once through the valley, the trail levelled out more, continuing gently downhill. Goobie spotted butterflies and caterpillars.

At the 5km marker, Herc woke for a feed. We sat down for a rest, finishing off the croissants. We’d been walking for around 2.5 hours, maintaining our 30-minute-a-kilometre pace. Waiting two years to do this trail had paid off.

The next kilometre of the Adonis Trail took us through a baffling maze of tracks criss-crossing each other – with no signposts. We used the sea as a guide and followed the track that led towards the sea.

It wasn’t until we reached the 6km marker that we knew we were still on the right track. By this point, my boy-puppy was getting tired and ran ahead to kiss the marker (Urgh!). We only had one kilometre left.

The final kilometre was straightforward, following one clear track that came out at the top of the hill overlooking Latchi. The view was beautiful.

A steep track down the hill brought us out onto the main road. A short walk along the road took us past the 7km marker and back to the car park. We’d done it! In less than four hours.

We treated Goobie to an ice cream at the Baths of Aphrodite restaurant, being lucky enough to find a free table next to a gorgeous view of the sea. The water was an exquisite shade of turquoise. If it had been warmer, we would have jumped in to cool down.

As Matt and I enjoyed a chilled glass of white wine, we mused about whether we preferred the Adonis or Aphrodite Trail. The Adonis Trail was more shaded and took us through some pretty woods and valleys. But the Aphrodite Trail was our favourite. It’s harder and more exposed, but nothing beats that amazing view from Mouti tis Sotiras over the whole peninsula. It remains one of our favourite views. If you haven’t been to the Akamas before, we’d recommend starting with the Aphrodite Trail.

We slept well that night. Sunday was Mothers’ Day. I spent it playing on the beach with my boy-puppies.

It’s a good life.