Round the Island

The wind died down overnight, but soon returned when the sun came up. Again the blues skies looked promising, but the strong wind meant that sitting down to enjoy it was not a credible option. Again the west coast looked threatening, so we headed north along the east coast.

Passing Abades and Porris, our suggested destination (always subject to change) was Candelaria. Wife-Nav was set and headed up the motorway. Like yesterday, it became clear that Candelaria was under cloud. So, like yesterday, Wife-Nav selected an alternate route and we continued across the Autopista del Norte towards La Oratava. Again, it was cloudy, and the traffic was heavy heading in to the centre, so we diverted again and decided to comple the circuit of the Island.

The North coast is very different from the south. It is much more lush. The higher rainfall in the north makes it much more fertile and whether it be planned agriculture or natural flora, there is stuff growing everywhere.

We stopped ag Garachico. This little village has grown up again after being devastated by a lava flow during one of the last eruptions (1706) on Volcano Negra. The lava split village, filling its once thriving harbour. rebuilding started in the 1800s on top of the peninsula formed by the lava flow. A few of the origibal buildings survive, but a new village has grown rich to the east of the original flow. The churches are preparing for this year's Holy Week, and you can see the palanquins with statues of Christ, all decorated and ready to be carried in procession through the streets. Along the cobbles you can see a trace of white paint that gides the procession around the town.

After lunch we continued our circuit, Beunavista, El Tanque, Santiago del Teide, Guia de Isora, Tejina, and back onto the Autopista and round to our little pied a terre.

Friday is one of the change-over days in Tenerife, and it was immediately clear that a there had been a lot of new arrivals as pasty faced people wandered around exposing unnecessary quantities of skin for the edification of all and sundry. Deciding that we were not all, nor sundry, we headed back to our garden for a quiet hour before the evenings adventures.