We’ve had the car since we arrived on the island and it’s been handy to have to get around, but we’d agreed that Tuesday was the day to return it. We could have extended it but the main reason we didn’t, was that we’d become a little lazy, choosing to drive somewhere when we could have walked. The south easterly winds over the festive period, which bring with the warmer temperatures across from the Sahara (26 -28°c), have been replaced with cooler weather (20°c) and a few days of rain, but we’ve still been able to play tennis and get out. We’d booked an earlier stargazing tour that had been cancelled and we were almost certain that the gloomy skies on Thursday, would mean that we were going to miss out again. But that morning we received a call saying that the exciting evening was to go ahead as planned. We made our way across to the Maritim hotel, where our comfortable minibus was waiting and after we’d picked up 8 other folks, we made our way up into the mountains and when we got up to about 1300M, we broke through the cloud cover to reveal a beautiful cobalt blue sky. We got to 2300M where we were to spend the following 40 minutes or so watching the sunset. Seeing the sun sink into a dreamy cloudscape was really quite stunning. The sun set at around 6:30pm and thereafter we made our way to the cable station at the base of Mt Teide, where the daytime temperature of 20°c had been replaced by a temperature of around 0°c with wind chill. We had been warned to bring warm clothes, but even with 2 long sleeved tops, a hoody, a gillet and a wind jacket it was chiilllly! Teide is in the top 10 places in the world to see the stars, due largely to the landscape and other than the odd set of car headlights, there’s no light pollution. I don’t know too much about them, but I’ve always been fascinated by the stars and what greeted my eyes didn’t disappoint. The sky was awash with a myriad of stars, the brightest of them is Sirius a binary star, which has a blue/white tinge to it. The constellations was laid out for all to see. The summer is the best time to view the nebula within the Milky Way and although you can’t see it in the winter, the winter offers the clearer sky’s. I remembered some of the more common ones, but our excellent astronomer was able to guide us through our galaxy. He gave us a good tip on how to find Polaris (North Star) whilst in Tenerife, look for the constellation of Cassiopeia, basically it’s an upside down W, or a stretched M, then from the right leg, count two stars down and that’s Polaris, in the UK you’ll find it off of the right side of the constellation of Ursa Minor (little bear), but it’s not so clear here in winter, as Tenerife is 28°N the stars sit much lower, meaning that that some of the stars fall below the horizon. The UK sits about 55°N so Polaris and indeed most of the constellations sit that much higher up in the night sky. We finished off the evening looking through high-powered telescopes for a closer look at stars and planets…Fantastic! I’m very fond of an Orchid, so on Saturday we decided to take a trip to the “Orchid Gardens of Sitio Litre” (little site/place). The 18th Century Mansion and it’s enchanting gardens have had many famous visitors over the years, with Agatha Christie perhaps being the most notable, she wrote “The man from the sea” here. The garden is home to some 350 species of interesting and beautiful orchids placed around the gardens, which are also awash with the oranges and pinks of bougainvillea & hibiscus and although the gardens aren’t huge they’re set out with great care so that each of the little individual areas all blend seemlessly together. It’s a very steep climb to get to the gardens but it was definately worth the visit.

We’ve had a great a week, bathed in warm sunshine. It’s been perfectly balanced between relaxation and physical activity. First thing every other day we’ve played an hour and a half of tennis. The courts are situated on a cliff edge, which makes it difficult to concentrate, as the view out across the ocean is pretty special. We went for a interesting coastal walk that begun in Las Aguas, with a path that took us to the beautiful little hamlet of San Juan de la Rambla, which offered some incredible views out over the Atlantic. We’ve getting used to knowing that after reaching the crescendo of a tough walk the prize is an amazing vista. Mid week we had decided that the pull of Mt Teide had become to strong, so we embarked on a 90-minute journey of tiny roads winding through mountain villages up through the clouds, stopping to take in the various miradors as we ascended. Mt Teide last erupted around 1910, but the lava fields that dominate the landscape as you near the base station could have been created yesterday, as could the carved magma channels that run down the mountain range. We arrived at the base station of Teide (circa 2350M), and met the cable that takes you the additional 1000M up, the other 200 meters, you walk yourself. The temperature at the base station was 24 degrees, but amazingly as we got out at the top there were patches of snow and the temperature had plunged to a chilly 4, or 5 degrees. Once up at the top the views were as I’m sure you can imagine incredible and you could see 4 of the other 7 Canary Islands, as well as the Pico Viejo volcano (3150 M – 2nd highest peek in Tenerife) It has an huge crater measuring 720M in diameter and one could only imagine what it would have looked like with the “roof” on. The only things missing for me was a bit more snow and a set of skis! New Years Eve was the day that we’d booked our whale watching trip, it meant an hours drive down south to Costa Adeje, where we boarded the “MonteCristo” a comfortable 20M catamaran, along with a group of 12 other people. We set sail at 10am for what was to be a 3hr excursion. After about an hour out and a couple of miles away from the shore, the captain had sighted the first of what was to be 4, or 5 pods of pilot whales. I loaded my phone into the gimbal, to make sure that I wouldn’t miss anything and what I’d capture would be of reasonable quality, so I spent the next the 15 minutes enthralled as the whales. Then as quickly as appeared, they were gone. They can stay below the surface for 90 minutes before needing to resurface for air. After returning to the dock we decided to head back to the apartment for lunch and to review what I was certain would be some great footage. Well I’m certain that had I checked to see that I was actually recording, it probably would have been!

Festive greetings everyone! We decided to head south to check out Los Christianos, Playa de Las Americas and Costa Adeje, hoping to find somewhere to swim, eat and relax. Tenerife is shaped a bit like a pork chop, with the north side of the island being the thin end, Puerto de la Cruz sits on the west at 9:00 o’clock and all of the aforementioned points of interest all sit around 6:00 o’clock, but because the Teide mountain range snakes through the middle of the island, running north to south, you need to go clockwise around the top of the island to get there. So about an hour and a quarter later we arrived in Los Christianos, which was really busy, so we moved along the coastline from beach location to beach location and too be honest it really wasn’t our thing, so with a final stop at Costa Adeje, we decided to head back through the mountains, which ended up being the highlight of the day, with some great views, including that of Mt Teide. We finished off the day with a game of tennis on Parque Toscal’s excellent clay courts. The following day we discovered a really nice walk around the cove of “Los Roques’ and up through the banana plantations which was pretty stunning. Friday we played tennis again which was fun and did a little bit more exploring, determined to find a place to swim, but only to yet again, come up against the tempest of the Atlantic Ocean. Christmas day we had breakfast in the warm sunshine and after we’d spoken to family and friends, we decided to walk down to the port to see what happens in Puerto de la Cruz at Christmas time, if anything, we’d also read that the renowned Canarian architect/nature activist Cèsar Manrique had designed several salt water pools and an artificial lake the “Lago Martiànez” sat at the waters edge blended aesthetically with the sea and set against the back drop of the mountains, that looked incredible (we saw a really interesting hotel that he’d designed in Anfi, Gran Canaria) As we walked through what was a surprisingly busy town, we headed towards the “Lago Martiànez” and upon reaching it were pleased to see that it was open, so in we went (Christmas Eve & New Years Eve are the big celebratory days) It really was an impressive place and you could see that it was well looked after and also a great place to swim in a fantastic setting. We headed back through town and decided to stop at a fish restaurant that we’d read about and weren’t disappointed, it was a great end to our first week.

The weather was perfect for our last week in Gran Canaria and we managed to get some tennis in, a few swims and a final trip south west to Tauro beach which we’ve enjoyed and as luck would have it they had an Italian opera singer performing at the little beach restaurant, which was a little random, but entertaining nevertheless. We packed up on Friday in readiness for our flight to Tenerife the following morning at 9:45am. I’d called the airline a couple of times and Rach had checked the local Facebook community, for changes to the travel rules, making certain that we had the correct paperwork, but seeing as we arrived in the Canaries a month ago we didn’t need anything and were good to go. So the morning of the flight, after waiting for our tardy taxi, we arrived at the airport an hour before our flight and too be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the check in was a breeze and we boarded a relatively empty plane, for our 30 minute flight to Tenerife (North). After picking up the luggage and the car, we headed to Puerto de la Cruz. First impressions of the island, as we drove SW was that it’s very mountainous and very green, a complete contrast to Gran Canaria, which was very black and arid. It took us about 30 minutes to reach Calle de la Fragata, our new home for the next month. We’ve been trying to stay away from the touristy spots, instead opting to stay on the fringes, as with our previous 2 stays. The apartment is more of a holiday let, which is fine and it’s in a really nice quiet neighbourhood, overlooking the sea and Puerto de la Cruz on the one side and a snow capped Mt Teide (an active vlocano and the highest mountain in Spain) on the other. We’ll be off exploring this week and I’ll report back at the end of the week. Feliz Navidad!

We’ve played tennis and have been out exploring the different beaches mainly in the south, where the waters are more welcoming. What’s interesting is noting the differences between touristy beaches and harbours with upmarket accommodation and swanky conveniences vs the hidden mainly local beaches, with a rundown bar tucked away, where people come to enjoy the beach and that’s it….we much prefer the later. On Saturday we decided that we were going to make a trip up into the mountains and hope that we’d chosen the right day. We left at just before 9:00am, to head to Artenara at 1269 Meters above sea level, it’s the highest town on the island located in the interior west part. To reach the top we climbed along the meandering narrow roads passing through a number of quaint little villages en route, with many of the dwellings carved into the mountainside. There were a few cyclists attempting what is apparently one of the toughest climbs in Spain (116km, with an average gradient of around 5%). We stopped along the way up to admire the stunning views and take a few pics (I should have taken more!) It took us about 2 hours to reach the highest point and I can safely say that I managed to get into 3rd gear about four, or five times! We stopped along a ridge in Artenara to perch on a rustic old wall and adnire the stunning views before us whilst eating our DIY breakfast to go, we continued to hunt our next vantage point across this incredible landscape. We decended down the North side of the mountain range which was about 5 degrees cooler and very cloudy. It’s funny because Rachel has always loved the mountains, whereas given the choice I take the beach any day, well thats what I said as we wwnt up, but having spent the day in the mountains, I’m now not too sure….the highlight of our trip here for sure.

We continue to have some really interesting rough seas, along our rugged north eastern coastline and aside from a few overcast days the sky’s have remained clear, with the temperature gauge stuck in the low 20’s….Perfect! We’ve gotten into a bit of a morning routine; Up at around 7:00am (Sunrise is around 7:30am), exercise for about 45 minutes, before heading out for a good walk along the coastline and if the seas are calm enough, a swim at La Goreta beach, which unfortunately hasn’t been as often as we’d of like. The wind blows predominantly from the north east, which means that the eastern side of the Island is the blowy side, with the western Atlantic side, protected from the wind (If it blows from the south, it brings with it the sand from the Sahara). We’ve discovered La Pardilla tennis club, where we’ve played a few times, which we’ve enjoyed. This week we’ve been exploring the south west of the island, which started with a visit to the sand dunes of Maspalomas (about 20 minutes southeast from where we’re based). The dunes were created at the end of the last ice age, some 6000 years ago, but unfortunately all our initial visit afforded us was a brief glimpse, as wind together with heaped mountains of sand, made for some inhospitable conditions, so instead we headed southwest to the port of Mogan. It’s a charming little fishing port with white washed buildings, decorated with sprawling bougainvillea and other colorful floral foliage. We had a delicious late lunch in a restaurant overlooking the many yachts (all sail!) in the harbor, before walking out to a rocky cliff edge to catch what was promised to be the perfect sunset (sunset is around 6:10pm), but just as the sun was about to slip into the water some low lying cloud denied us. The following day we decided to give the sand dunes another go, again it was like walking into a sand storm. However seeing as this was our only reason to visit Maspalomas we braved it and wind aside it was pretty incredible. Apparently the dunes move between 2-5 meters every year, and after walking through them for a couple of hours I don’t doubt it. Missing our swimming we decided to check out some recommended quiet swimming locations, that Rach had researched. First up was Las Maranuelas in Arguineguin, which is a really nice little port town away from the tourists, with a great place to swim and chill. We grabbed a very late lunch and caught a amazing sunset! Monday we decided to visit another local beach, the Medio Almud beach in Tauro, which was not only a lovely beach, but had a great area for swimming, we didn’t stay the whole day as we had a tennis court booked. A great week and we’re really enjoying the contrasting sides of the island.

I’ve spent most of the week researching and planning our next move, which ordinarily, without the festive holiday break and Covid restrictions, probably wouldn’t have been as challenging as it was, but finally on Friday evening we booked our next stay and the means to get there, so unfortunately I didn’t get around to booking the car, or a haircut. We did manage to get out for plenty of walks and a swim on most days. We also discovered El Bufadero, which is a natural blowhole created by a cavernous chamber beneath the volcanic rock face. On Saturday we decided to spend the day visiting the capital Las Palmas, which by bus is over an hour away, or if you can’t read the bus timetable properly, you can get there in about 15 minutes by taxi. We pulled up at the Plaza de Santa Ana, in Vegueta quarter, in front of the imposing twin towered “Las Palmas Cathedral”, which was commissioned around 1500, but took around 400 years to complete, hence the interesting blend of Gothic, Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture. If you climb to the top you get some great views over the city. The square itself is overshadowed on each side by grand colonial buildings. Terrifying pirates attacks were a real problem back in the day and if you look closely at some of the buildings, you will notice that what look like cannons below the roofline, are gutters designed to deter would be attackers….Fantastic! Las Palmas has a museum dedicated to Christopher Columbus, which we enjoyed walking around taking in the many antiquities and the charts and information surrounding his 4 main voyages of exploration. There is also “Casa de Colon” (Columbus House), with its incredible facade, where it’s rumored that Columbus stayed in 1492, whilst one of his ships was being repaired. We spent the rest of the day walking around the old city, stopping for an early dinner. No swim Sunday, but a good walk and we got to marvel at the ferocity of the Atlantic, made even more dramatic set against the black background.

We’ve arrived and are settled in our new home for the next month. Gran Canaria is certainly very different from sophisticated Croatia, but as Rachel keeps telling me, don’t judge, just enjoy! The apartment doesn’t have the incredible harbour view, but it does have a nice chilled vibe going on, our host has decorated the place with Buddhist statues, carving and photos, together with other interesting nic-naks scattered around the place. The sun rises at around 7:30am & sets just after 6pm, interestingly there’s no nonsense around changing the clock, so the days seem longer. We were pretty tired from the flights, so although we’ve taken a few walks along the dramatic coastline, with the combination of the dark volcanic rock set against unpredictable Atlantic, really do make for some very compelling viewing. We went for a swim earlier, which will definitely be a challenge going forward, but a good one. This coming week I’ll be sorting out a car, heading into town to the organic shop and I might even get a haircut….then again I might not.😉

Rachel and I left Cavtat today on a damp dark morning on the 18th November. A taxi that our fantastic hosts had arranged for us (thank you Anita & Asja) picked us up at 05:45 and we raced to Dubrovnik airport, ultimately bound for Las Palmas. After 7 weeks in Croatia, the time had come to move on and as a parting gift a couple of days before leaving, Rachel and I were greeted by a pair of dolphins, whilst we were out swimming so we were leaving on a high. There is no direct way to get to the Canaries from Dubrovnik so the quickest route I found, leaving on a Thursday, was 9hrs. Itinerary: Dubrovnik-Zagreb Zagreb-Vienna Vienna-Las Palmas We had good seats right the way through, so it wasn’t too arduous. We are spending the first night here in a Hotel near Las Palmas, before heading to our new home for the next Month. The hotel wasn’t quite what we expected, as I seemed to have booked a hotel right in the middle of the industrial district oops! Ah well, it’s all part of the experience. On the plus side the rooms are nice though and we found a good place to eat and an organic food store.

We spent most of last week in at the “deep-end”. The last time I experienced wind & rain like this, I’d just arrived to take up residence in the Caribbean, with the promise of clear skies and glorious sunshine, only to be greeted with the same wet weather, for a whole month straight…Oh well! Fortunately though, early morning before the deluge arrived, Rach & I had an hour and a half with a great tennis coach, which we really enjoyed. So other than sneaking out for a few swims during the week, (but only when the lightening & whitecaps relented enough for me to venture in), we only left the apartment armed with our wet weather gear, well raincoats, shorts and flip-flops, to pick up food from the market and then quickly scurrying back to the apartment and rolling the rock across. So with our wings clipped somewhat, I thought I’d give you a quick look at the surrounding gardens which are filled with fruit trees and furry friends, and one in particular that comes to greet us rain, or shine every morning. I didn’t grow up around animals, so have always felt a little uncomfortable around them, but I have really taken to this friendly little fellow. There are quite a lot of stray cats in Croatia, but I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen any being treated badly, in fact quite the opposite, there’s quite a few cat feeding and shelter stations and you can buy single sachets of cat food in the small supermarket, which I’m also taking as a good sign….I’ve also taken to carrying a few sachets around in my backpack, when we’re out and about.