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Category: Holidays…

Holidays

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 4:

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 4:

Disaster Count: zero…

Day three’s a cycling day so the disaster count is back by popular demand…

Luckily the counter reads zero ?

We’d arranged to pick bikes up from a nice German guy in town at 9:30. This meant another early start, but not as early as the saddos who’d already secured their favorite sun loungers by the pool.

The thought of spending the day basting in the sun, inches from others by a noisy child infested pool fills me with horror ! …and on the child front – it’s no where near half term shouldn’t they all be in school ? Think I’m gonna complain…

Anyway after breakfast we escaped the pool area and set off to pick up the bikes from the smaller branch of Renner bikes that was close to our hotel. The guy at Renner bikes, we’ll call him Manuel, spoke little English but quickly sorted us with two Merida road bikes. After a quick cycle to the main shop for paperwork etc. we were on our way…

Maybe a little on the high side but hot enough for a northern lad…

As you can see it was already scortchio….

The route we’d planned with help from the cycle guy was to head down the coast to Teguise and then come back via an inland route.

Well as the famous commentator once said – it was a game of two halves…

The first half, down the coast, was busy tourist sprawl with only the odd castle splitting it up.

Castle at Arrecife. Now a museum – only €3…

The half way point was a cafe stop by the sea. Beautiful view but eclipsed by the row (in spanish) that occurred when our food order arrived wrong. The shouting was aimed at a young waitress who seemed to get a few orders wrong. In our case im not sure if it was her fault or my pigeon Spanish !

From there it was open country – beautiful in its volcanic barrenness and with no natural trees to be seen.

Lava flows…
Lava flow, houses and a dorment volcano…

Note to self – stay away from the tourist areas… anyway our route was:

Cycle route…

Another diving day tomorrow so early to bed… Hope it’s not raining too hard back in Blighty….

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 3:

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 3:

Today was “D day” – that’s diving day not an invasion of northern France. We’d arranged a days diving with Atlantis Diving Services. It was an 8:30 start at their shop which meant pestering the hotel for an early breakfast.

At their shop we were fitted for gear, briefed on the days diving and taken to the harbour where their boat was moored.

The boat was a 7 meter RIB. Being old skool I’d dived from RIB’s before but Sarah was asking where the lift was ! The seas were flat calm for the 5 minute ride to the dive site so no chunder from me ?

The first dive site was called Waikiki. We dropped into 6m of clear warm water.

I was expecting diving similar to the Mediterranean – warm clear but not much life. (overfishing in the med is another topic)

Well it’s a first – I was was wrong ! We saw loads of life, both big & small. Without boring you too much, over the two dives we saw Barracuda, Amber Jack fish, Sting Rays, Octopus and Angle sharks as well as numerous small brightly coloured fish. Two brilliant dives ! I’ve attempted to add some videos and a few photos

below but if you want to see more look at…

Nick Fitzgerald shared an album with you from the Flickr app! Take a look:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmwtjx37

After that it was back to the hotel for a cheeky snooze before “rehydration”

Oh by the way did I mention it’s really warm & sunny here ? ?

Nick & Sarah…
Angel Shark
Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 2:

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 2:

Ok have to admit the day started with a little bit of a thick head. Note to self – don’t trust red wine that comes out of a lager dispensing pump !

So today was a slow start. The breakfast coffee perked us both up & we went for a swim in the pool. Pool time then ran into lunch time so it was about 2pm before we got going.

Today’s plan was a cliff top walk to Puerto Calero. This was a lovely walk on volcanic ash paths.

Puerto Calero is is pretty harbour with lots of big expensive boats and one submarine !

Looks great but closer inspection reveals a fair bit of rust so not sure I fancy it…

Plan for tomorrow is diving – an 8:30 start so early to bed tonight.

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 1:

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun… Day 1:

The day started with a 3am alarm. Far too early for both of us but gives a good 9:30am flight from Glasgow.

We had an uneventful journey to the airport apart from getting ripped off at Gretna services – 2 coffees a pack of aspirin & a sandwich £15. Won’t be going back there !

At the airport security was packed but quite efficient. After security it was off to Spoons for the standard pre-flight breakfast. Shhh don’t tell my mother, I don’t think she’s approve…

A quick look round Smith’s revealed some interesting reading… Think I’m gonna read this one.

The flight was 4 hours and went without incident. My phone GPS worked so I killed some the looking where we were and how fast we were going.

The transfer was quick & the hotel seems ok. We dumped the bags & went for a wander to stretch our legs. Puerto del Carmen is very touristy and we kept seeing places like this so I’ve a feeling dope is legal here…

Had a nice walk down to the harbour & saw cats and ducks living in harmony…

Anyway it’s been a long day so it’s off to the hotel for our “All inclusive” feast. I’ll let you know what it’s like tomorrow…

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun….

Nick and Sarah need some winter sun….

Yes we both needed a break and the last week in November was free. The only question was where…

Well to do a blog site justice it should have been canoeing down the Nile or trekking in the Andes. I’m sure that would be great but we’re both knackered, we only have a week and we’re skint !

…so Lanzarote it is then – one week of all inclusive winter sun ? Not exactly an adventure worthy of Bear Grills but it’s going to be a test of this blog site anyway…

So the holiday starts with a pint in the Cock & Bull and a takeaway from the good men of Fizza Spice…

For beer connoisseurs this is a pint of Coniston Bluebird, voted Champion Beer of Britain in 1988.  For southerners this pint of fine ale cost £2.70…