Turning South-East

About a quarter of a mile from the car, the Gorse Fox turned south-east past Big Bottom.
The start of a walk is always a time of optimism, and GF has a spring in his step. He strode forth purposefully and was delighted to see a number of youngsters struggling as they approached from the opposite direction. The smile was soon wiped from his face though, when a chap who must have been in late 60's sprinted up the hill in the opposite direction and yelled a cheery "Hello, lovely day!".



At the bottom of the slope the valley opened out.


Starting the climb up the other side of Bow Hill (with Shambledean Bottom behind the camera)


Old farm "sculpture" dominated a small fenced off area.

Starting out

As the Gorse Fox was leaving the car park, he saw a sign "Have You Paid & Displayed?"
Well, the answer was "Yes, many times". The Gorse Fox, however, decided that wit was not appropriate when dealing with Parking Nazis. Realising he had no change he had to buy a Choc Ice in order to free up the £2 necessary for the ticket.

After the delayed start, he headed out again.


From the top of the Downs, there was a wonderful view down over Westmeston, nestling at the foot of the northern slopes.


Looking eastwards along the northern scarp of the Downs. This is the direction the South Downs Way takes. The Gorse Fox, however, had other plans.

Plumpton Walk

This was the route that the Gorse Fox selected for his walk today. It started at the National Trust Car Park at Ditchling (TQ 333 129) - the westernmost point of this map, and followed an anti-clockwise rotation through the Downs.

The day was perfect. Bright and sunny, but not too hot. This brought out lots of walkers, but most of them stuck to the main routes along the South Downs way, so once the Gorse Fox turned South-east he pretty much had the place to himself.

Stretch

Another lovely day here in Sussex. The Silver Vixen is off to an event this afternoon, and the Gorse Fox is preparing to hit the Downs.

Do drop by again later for an update...

Climate Spin

The Gorse Fox has found an interesting article in Frontpage Magazine which discusses The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) - a book by Christopher C Horner. (The article is an interview with the author).

One phrase that caught the eye was:

Yet although every single bill on Capitol Hill and even the UN's Kyoto Protocol is demanded in the name of 'it's-real-it's-bad-it's-here-now-it's-our-fault-we-can-impact-it-but-we-must-act-now-it's-a-moral-issue', not one such proposal would under any scenario, under any set of assumptions, according to any champion, actually have a detectable impact on that which it purports to address: the climate.

Gorse Fox would warn the author (and reader) not to confuse fact with a good story that keeps the masses under control when you raise taxes in the name of "climate".

He also picks out the media's part in this:

Disaster sells in the news business. Waves calmly lapping at the shore don't. "Man at fault!" is huge; "Many factors likely at play; science unsettled" is a loser story. When the temperature goes up, it's man's fault and a big story. If warming is the story line.

So what can we do?

As regards policy, we need to avoid succumbing to the hysteria and enacting absurd policies under pressure from trade competitors and anti-capitalists and the Kyoto Industry, generally. Europe is floundering and will only step up the pressure and the rhetoric, which I hope our public will be too well-informed to fall for...

Sorry, too late. The media are busy educating the public, and the public don't have time to check the facts themselves. Here they will meekly succumb to the mind-control and do what the Government says.

Complex

Mmmm.

The Gorse Fox is likely to get a complex. A paper has just been pushed through the front door, declaring

Dementia is a Priority

Stuff like this drives him mad!

Makes you think...!

In an article in the NYT it quotes:

“Iran’s Islamic penal code, which is a parallel system to its civic code, says murder charges can be dropped if the accused can prove the killing was carried out because the victim was morally corrupt. This is true even if the killer identified the victim mistakenly as corrupt.”

Makes you wonder if the Nu-labour front-bench would be quite so full if we had such a penal-code.

Looking for a bargain?

Gorse Fox would never stoop to advertising... but he is always interested by what he sees as a great bargain. Competition is always a good stimulus to the bargain-aware and GF thinks he's spotted a good one. (Mind you, you'll need a big garden).

It appears (from the Telegraph) that this latest deal is offering 46% and 53% discounts, respectively on models of the Airbus 350. So, when you next need to change your plane or want an extra one for the family (thanks to the intense competition from Boeing) you could buy an A350 for £51M...

Surrey office

The Gorse Fox is in Surrey and the day did not start well. He was distracted during his journey and missed a turning. Now, the GF is always interested in new routes so he thought he'd carry on and try a different approach to the office.

MISTAKE!

Traffic was aweful, and journey was longer. As a result he was told there were no onsite parking places so GF had to drive off into the outlying parts of Guildford to find a legal parking bay. He ended up somewhere near Wales and had to walk back. As he walked in he saw dozens of un-occupied parking bays... but the little Hitlers who man the gate had decided that they had to remain free "just in case".

At lunchtime GF went and got the car and put it in one of the bays. The guard asked why he'd parked there, and GF replied "just in case".

Mid-South

Busy day, but nothing of note. GF about to head back to the South Coast.

Bloomin' lovely

Bloomin' lovely
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

Give me a minute

Gorse Fox will be at a Board Meeting much of the day, but before he disappears he would like to leave you with this tale:

Two elderly ladies had been members of the same Quilting group and friends for many decades.
Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures.
Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to sew.

One day, they were engrossed in their patterns when one looked at the other and said, "Now don't get mad at me .. I know we've been friends for a long time, but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is."

Her friend glared at her.
For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her.
Finally she said, "How soon do you need to know?"

GF is sure that the Silver Vixen has friends like this.

Self-combusting toilets menace Japan

The Gorse Fox brings the following warning to your attention: Self-combusting toilets menace Japan It points out that

The Z-series apparently features pulsating massage spray, power dryer, "tornado wash" flush, and an automatic lid.

It also boasts an "electric bidet accessory" which on three occassions has caught fire, potentially threatening a nasty case of "Machine Uprising Roast Arse". Mercifully, the Z-series failed to fully exploit its new-found offensive capability, since the crappers were unoccupied at the time of the incendiary incidents.

You have been warned.

Driving matters

Having just driven 170 miles, GF has received an email from Old Father Time with the following anecdote:

Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both could barely see over the dashboard.
As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection.
The stoplight was red, but they just went on through.
The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself, "I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through a red light."
After a few more minutes, they came to another intersection and the light was red again.
Again, they went right through.
The woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red, but was really concerned that she was losing it.
She was getting nervous.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red and they went on through.
So, she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred, did you know that we just ran through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us both!"
Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, crap, am I driving ?"

The Gorse Fox can only assume this was in Sussex!

Misty Midlands

Leaving the SOuth Coast before dawn the Gorse Fox has left the clear skies of Sussex for the mist and murk of Worcester. The 16C of home has dropped to 12C and it's decidedly grey at present... the forecast is good, however.

Google Maps

Gorse Fox likes maps, likes Google software, and likes his walks. He has just found a nice feature of Google Maps... you can create you own.

As an experiment GF has created a map of yesterday's walk... take a look and make sure you click on the placemarks. Click here. It's a shame the aerial photography is not as clear as it might be.

Quiet Sunday

It's over 20C here, and several degrees warmer inland. We had a quiet day, the Silver Voixen pottering in the greenhouse and the Gorse Fox helping where needed.

After receiving an email from his nutty cousin with a bulletin on Beloved Aunt, he decided to phone the colonies. Beloved Aunt was not well enough to come to the phone (at least that was her excuse for getting up!) Evidently, progress is slow and BA doesn't like to be "micro-managed" by the GF's cousins. Clearly she was released from the hospital too soon, but fortunately the family were able to provide cover.

Today's football was a bit of a nail-biter, but C-Cub will obviously be relieved by Chelsea's progress into the Final, and GF was frustrated that Spurs only managed a draw.

Boxgrove - Halnaker profile

That was it. Another walk completed. Another corner of Sussex explored. The Gorse Fox thoroughly enjoyed this walk, and found Boxgrove absolutely charming.

Distance was 9.3 miles
Ascending 829 feet
reaching a maximum elevation of 524 feet
from a low point of 80 feet.

He knows that he often mentions this... but in 9.3 miles he only saw 3 people, and one of those was asleep under the windmill. A walk such as this is great time to clear the mind and experience the beauty of God's creation in peace.

Final stretch

The Gorse Fox was on the final stretch. Only about a mile to go before getting back to the car. He was in a blissful daydream, revelling in the silence and solitude.

Bakaaarrrrk!(*)

A pheasant, hiding in the undergrowth had waited for the Gorse Fox to get within a couple of feet before screeching and launching himself into the air, and wheeling away into the distance.

The shock and surprise was total and the affect on the Gorse Fox featured a number of responses. His heart rate leapt by about 760 beats per minute; he exclaimed "Bu***r Me!"(**); and now he needs to work out the going rate for carbon offsetting given the contribution of methane he made to the atmosphere.

The woodland opened out again. The path took the Gorse Fox through this chest-high field of Oilseed Rape. The smell was heady, but it seemed almost exciting cutting straight through this field... reminding the Gorse Fox of countless movies where people have escaped through fields of corn or whatever. As his imagination wandered he did check over his shoulder that there were no marauding moonshiners chasing him with guns.
Nope.
Still alone.


(*) Copyright Atyllah the Hen

(**) This was an exclamation, not an invitation nor a request.

To the woods

The route left the open parkland, and continued north through Rook Wood, Ladys Winkins and gradually climbed past Little Copse and Open Winkins.

The only sounds were from the birds and the occasional denizen of the woods darting through the undergrowth. Butterflies darted around from one bloom to another.




To the right, a carpet of bluebells seemed to roll in waves across the forest floor. This little corner of Sussex seemed perfect.


Having reached the northernmost point, the Gorse Fox turned east. Suddenly there was a clattering away to his right and a small herd of about six or seven deer took fright and started to run away through the trees. The Gorse Fox stopped and watched. The deer stopped and watched. The Gorse Fox managed to get this picture of a couple of them (though they didn't seem interested in taking a picture of him).

Halnaker House

Crossing back over the main road, the Gorse Fox started heading north. The bridleway ran alongside a high flint wall to the west, but after about half a mile the east side of the track opened onto parkland. He had arrived at Halnaker Park.

What was noticable were the skeletons of huge trees, bleached white and pointing accusingly at all comers. In the background stood the ruins of the Tudor Halnaker House (once the property of Robert de Haia, founder of the priory).

Boxgrove Priory Ruins

Whilst the Gorse Fox sat and had some lunch he saw his third (and last) person during the walk. He had stopped to look around the church on his way across to Kent.

Once the pasty and a couple chicken drumsticks were demolished the Gorse Fox started to look around the ruins of the old Priory.


The spring point for some old arches?

Boxgrove Priory Church

Some views of the Priory Church at Boxgrove.

"Building of the Benedictine priory began early in the 12th century after land at Boxgrove had been donated to the Abbey at Lessay by Lord of Halnaker (Robert de la Haye). Descendants of this Anglo-Norman family remained patrons of Boxgrove Priory until a few years after the Dissolution, when the 9th Lord de la Warr exchanged it for a Hampshire estate."

For more information, see The Heritage Trail or The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain and Ireland



The Priory church is still in use as the Priory Church of St Mary and St Blaise.


The Gorse Fox loves flying buttresses, and this was an excellent example (though not particularly high).



Inside the church is a stunning painted ceiling and a wonderful stained glass window.

Approaching Boxgrove

The route cut across the field at the end of Tinwood Lane. As he got closer the Boxgrove Priory Church came into view.


The ruins of the priory also became visible. When Henry VIII ordered Boxgrove Priory to be dissolved, most of the domestic buildings were demolished, along with the complete nave of the old church, leaving only the crossing section to the east end intact.

Gorse

Gratuitous picture of gorse in bloom (taken in Tinwood Lane, Halnaker).

GF didn't see any foxes

Mill Cottage

Just as the Mill Lane (track) rejoins the real road, this cottage commands the crosroads near Warehead Farm.

Sussex has some spectacular old cottages.

Halnaker Windmill

The Gorse Fox climbed towards Halnaker Windmill and saw his first human being since leaving the car park.

The gentleman was walking down from the summit and stopped to chat. He had appointed himself a litter warden, and as he walked he picked up any trash he found. What a laudable effort.

As the Gorse Fox reached the summit, he saw another chap, fast asleep, beneath the sails of the Windmill.

Built in 1750 and restored in 1934, Halnaker Mill is one of the oldest surviving in Sussex. Painted by Turner, the mill stands at a height of 400 feet (121 metres) on the South Downs near Chichester. Although the stones have not turned since 1900, it was once again restored in 1955, this time by West Sussex County Council.

The sign on the gate say "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" - that's an understatement.

Cemetery?

As the Gorse Fox was following Stane Street (along Mill Lane track) he thought he was approaching a cemetery.

He checked the map.

It wasn't marked.

As he got closer he realised it was a field of newly planted trees with plastic tubes protecting the shoots from foraging wildlife.

(And that's with his new glasses)

In the Rough

The walk started in a car park by Eartham Woods. Several cars were already there and people were returning from walking their dogs.

A chap pulled in next to the Gorse Fox and started to get ready for his walk... and we passed general pleasanteries. He was heading up Stane Street, along the Gumby to Bignor. GF has done written about that walk before.

GF locked up the car, and set off into the woods (The Rough), walking south west along the route of Stane Street.


Gorse Fox quickly realised he had forgotten to load the route into his GPS so had to use the traditional methods of common sense and map-reading.

This was the view from "The Rough" looking across to Selhurst Park Farm.

Boxgrove and Halnaker

The chosen route for today's walk started near Jackdine Farm, north of Eartham near the easternmost point of this map.

The route headed southwest along the path of Stane Street, with a detour to visit Halnaker Windmill.

It then continued to Boxgrove and the ruined priory before turning back northwards past the ruins of Halnaker House, through the woods past Selhurst Park and back to the car.

Making the most of it

We are greeted by a stunning day here on the South Coast. The Silver Vixen has gone off to meet with her coven in Worthing, drink vast quantities of tea, talk incessantly, and sew a stitch or two (if there's time).

The Gorse Fox can feel a walk coming on. Days like this have to be exploited.

Hospitals

It sounds as if Canada's having similar problems with their hospitals to those reported from ours... bed shortages, rude staff, rushed procedures.

Are men becoming obsolete?

The Daily Telegraph reports today that a team of scientists claims to have turned bone marrow into early-stage sperm cells and asks Are men becoming obsolete?

The Gorse Fox has only one thing to say: "There's a spider in the bath."

Well that answers that,.

Not The Alamo

The Gorse Fox returned to the south coast... just in time for the football.

Watching the game, and disappointed by the outcome (Spurs lost on aggregate, though drew tonight) he was reminded of his visit to the Capitol Building in Austin, Tx. There, beneath the dome, were several marble inlays commemorating the great victories of Texas. The guide talked through each, arriving at one for The Alamo. A fellow tourist, much braver that the Gorse Fox (GF has a view that you don't ask difficult questions to people who seem to enjoy wearing guns), chipped in and asked how Texas could claim The Alamo as a famous victory. The guide paused, looked up, pierced him with a killing stare and drawled:

"It was a moral victory."

Well, the UEFA Cup semi-final was also a moral victory. Seville only won because they were wrongly awarded a penalty in the first leg, and the referee failed to give a clear penalty to Spurs at White Hart Lane, and allowed Seville to continue with all 11 men despite one of them clearly stamping on the head of Jermaine Jenas.

Health check

Gorse Fox has heard that his Beloved Aunt is unwell.

Out of the mouths...

The Gorse Fox has received an amusing missive from Old FatherTime. It recounted the various answers given by children to questions asked of them in a science exam. The Gorse Fox acknowledges the original collector of these anecdotes:

If you need a laugh, then read through these Children's Science Exam Answers:


Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.


Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.


Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.


Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? (brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.


Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All Water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no Water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.


Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.


Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get Intercontinental.


Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his Adultery.


Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.


Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (e.g., abdomen.)
A: The body is consisted into three parts - the brainium, the borax And the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the Borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I,O, and U.


Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie


Q: What does "varicose" mean? (I do love this one...)
A: Nearby.


Q: Give the meaning of the term "Caesarean Section."
A: The Caesarean Section is a district in Rome


Q: What does the word " benign" mean?'
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Communication breakdown

The tannoy burst into life:

"There is a problem with the email servers, preventing you from accesing your mailbox. IT department have just sent an email to all users explaining the problem, and providing an estimate of fix time."

Err! Spot the flaw.

Veni, Vidi, Vanquished

The Gorse Fox met up with two of his colleagues for a pleasant meal at ASK last night. Nothing spectacular, just decent Italian-style food.

Once back in his hotel he watched the second-leg of the Man Utd vs Roma tie... and the utter humiliation of Roma 7-1. GF is not a particular fan of MU, but does enjoy watching good football. Also, he enjoys the irony of the Italian fans who, after the trouble in Rome last week, bought T-shirts boasting "Italian Invasion of Manchester".

Paraphrasing a great Roman "Veni, Vidi, Vanquished"

GF received the following missive reminding him of the differences between the ways people think:

Understanding Engineers
What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?

• Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets
• The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The
• Graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The
• Graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The
• Graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"
• Normal people believe that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it isn't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

Email-alanche

Back to work in the morning... GF has just started downloading his work emails (all 410 of them).

Geotags

The Gorse Fox has always felt that it would be useful to have a GPS chip in a camera so that it can store the location at which each photo was taken. No doubt the most expensive cameras have such a feature.

There are several "post-production" alternatives to this, and two that the Gorse Fox likes are:

1. Picasa & GoogleEarth allows a photo in Picasa to be tagged by selecting the exact location from the Google Earth map. This saves the Lat/Long coordinates in the EXIF information for the photo in your Picasa library.
2. Flickr has a newish feature in its Organizer that lets you drag and drop photos onto a map, thus storing some metadata containing the Lat/Long of the photo.
   

As an interface the Flickr feature is superb, and pretty quick... but does assume that you have all your photos on Flickr, and the maps do not seem quite as up-to-date as Google's. What GF would really like is the drag and drop interface in Picasa so that he can store the details in his master repository... as the existing interface seems slow and clunky in comparison.

If you wish to find out what else is out there GF recommends The Map Room

Dishonesty and Elections

Currently the is a great deal of discussion over the Primary Care Trusts and fate of the West Sussex hospitals. The report that was due about now has mysteriously been delayed until after the local elections... the Gorse Fox wonders why.

Could it be because at a recent meeting of the Parliamentary Health Group at the House of Commons our MPs challenged the Government’s ‘Tsar’ for accident & emergency services Professor George Alberti about the proposals for Sussex. He agreed that a major general hospital could serve a population of around 300,000-350,000 and that leaving one major general hospital in west Sussex would not be enough. Similarly maternity departments in other parts of the hospital have been deemed sustainable for around 3000 births a year (Worthing had over 2800 last year) but in Sussex the figure is mysteriously put at nearer 4000.

It is likely that all the proposals will only allow for one major general hospital in the whole of the County... with a population of 700,000.

But GF would guess that as long as the South-Coast doesn't vote the right way, they will never get better care. He also supposes that by providing inferior health provision it will help kill off the pensioners and contribute towards both inheritance tax and the reduction in the pensions black-hole.

Shy and Retiring

The Gorse Fox received an email from a colleague who went through her Starfleet training at the same time has he did. She has recently retired, and decided it was time to update the GF on life after work (GF hadn't realised how fulfilling it must be!):

I hope you are well, this is an early Easter note, we are off to Barcelona next week and I'll be in Germany for most of April. Retirement is good fun, I have finally time to do all the things I want to do and I am really busy.
I have set up my own company because a number of people have asked whether I'd be happy to do some consultancy work for them.

A couple of days ago the postman dropped (together with a special offer for a bathtub conversion for the elderly and the saga cruise catalogue) the retirement briefing pack from Starfleet with lots of useful hints and trips such as:

• don't let yourself go,
• take pride in your appearance (well, I have since then stopped shuffling to the village shop in my slippers and I carefully remove all curlers before I greet visitors).

I did wonder though why nobody gave that advice to some of the creatures inhabiting the wilder parts of Starfleet's Research Lab ?

Take up a hobby ...... lots of useful addresses of associations which will help you to pass the time.
I have now got the address for

• the bee keepers association ,
• the caravan club,
• the lace guild,
• the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies and
• the British Jigsaw Puzzle Library ... not to forget
• the Quilters' Guild.

My husband is looking forward to his first pair of knitted socks. I don't think I'll contact the Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicles Association which provides advice and information on tanks, other military vehicles and equipment. Clearly, there is scope to introduce subsidised membership for these associations as part of the flexible benefits package .. especially the Jigsaw Puzzle Library for anybody who doesn't know which side is up and what they should be doing .....

There is a whole section on special needs for the elderly ..... having my electricity sockets moved to waist height will clearly be a great help once I get too frail to bend down !
But the best ..... there are two flow charts (well, you would expect a Starfleet document to have a flow chart) 'when death happens' and 'how to plan a funeral' which will come in useful when the time comes. It doesn't say anything what to do when I arrive with my roadmap at the Pearly Gates.

I am working my way through the section on questions to ask when picking a care home (can I keep my own furniture, can my husband and I stay in the same room, do we have to share the bathroom facilities with anybody else).

I have come to the conclusion that the good book has been written by a bitter and twisted manic depressive 30 year old who hates his/ her job and whose sole pleasure in life is to remind people of their mortality !

No more news ... I continue to enjoy the use of my own teeth, kneecaps and hip joints and I am off now to drink my cocoa to induce my next nap (another useful hint from the briefing pack).

Foresight

Having had the foresight to put in an order with Waitrose/Ocado before going away, the Gorse Fox & Silver Vixen did not have the normal post-holiday shopping chore. The nice man turned up in his nice van and the cupboards are now stocked.

The Gorse Fox will try to retro-blog some additional photos for the last two weeks now that he is back in range of his ADSL connection. Then he has several week's of everyone else's blog entries to
catch up on.

Dun travellin'

Back home safely. Remarkable journey... no queues, no hold-ups, even the baggage came through quickly.

Last morning

Last morning
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

All is packed, and Silver Vixen and the Gorse Fox are checked out. We were the inaugral customers at Charo's re-opening of the pool bar.

Soon have to get to the airport.

Wind down

Last full day, and another cracking start... not a cloud in sight and temperatures already climbing whilst the Gorse Fox was drinking his morning cuppa.

Nothing planned for the day... but in the end took a walk down to the new marina. There's still building going on in the area so we didn't go too far. The little coves were so inviting (and as the Gorse Fox had enjoyed a dip in the Atlantic yesterday he knew that after the first shock it would be lovely) but he resisted.

We returned to Los Abrigos for dinner and then managed to see the second half of the Seville-Spurs game.

Dreaming

Dreaming
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

Looking at boats in a marina always makes th Gorse Fox think he should do the lottery

Abades

Abades
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

Another perfect day... And as we haven't had a day at the beach for a while, Abades seemed like the ideal destination. Local schools had broken up for Easter, so it was busier than last week when walked through here.

Anaga, Taganana etc.

Ah hah! Proper sunrise, proper blue skies, a few token clouds, little wind, temperatures happily into the 20s. Perfect day.

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox had been waiting for just such a day to visit the Anaga Mountains. Tenerife if famous for so many things, the lively Playa de las Americas, the hot south-west coast, the volcanic core of the Island, Mount Teide, Las Canadas, La Oratava and so on. What people rarely mention is the Anaga Mountains in the north-easternmost part of the Island. We zipped up the autopista to Santa Cruz and along the road that runs directly by the port. Out the otherside we headed towards La Teresitas, but turned off into the mountains.

The road (TF-112) winds up from sea level to about 920m over the course of some 10km. The switch-back hairpins kept the Gorse Fox on his toes. As much as loves this scenery, he has no wish to become part of it!

As we approached the crest we diverted off to the right towards Taganana. This road tunnelled through the mountain, then plunged doown another set of switchback hairpins to the picturesque village of Taganana (famous for their wines). From there we headed on to Roque de las Bodegas - a little fishing harbour - from whence the wines from Taganana used to be shipped. The Gorse Fox cannot adequately express the sheermajesty of this part of the Island. The knife-edged mountains, the huge tree clad buttresses separating tiny valleys, and small colourful farms punctuating the lush vegetation. Beneath it all, a deep blue sea pounded relentlessly, but cordially against the shore (like a good friend patting it on the back).

We headed back to the top of the knife-like ridge and stopped at El Bailadero. This giving us views down to both side of the island. It was breathtaking.

Following the ridge we headed through the mountains to La Mercedes, stopping at various viewpoints as El Teide hove into view across the plain. Lunch was taken (and paid for) at a small restaurant at Cruz del Carmen. Continuing south-west we crossed the plain towards La Laguna (part of this area had once been a lake - at least during the winter - but but the end of the 17th century it had all but gone... global warming, you see!!!).

Picking up the autopista we continued round the island in a counter-clockwise fashion as we had last week. It was a super tour covering some 240km. GF is glad that the Anaga Mountains are so remote, as that means that most people never get to see them and they remain pretty much unspoilt by foot-fall or rampant commercialism. That's not to say they don't get visitors... but not the hoards that you find at some of the other sights.

Anaga Mountains

Anaga Mountains
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

Up in the Anaga Mountains looking down on Taganana.

El Bailedero

Back at the top of the ridge, we could look down on Taganana. From this perspective you can see just how isolated it was until the road was built. (Though, GF would guess that the sea was the main access route before that).


The stark peaks of the dorsal ridge that runs though the mountains.

Taganana

The beach, at the foot of the cliffs, nestling in front of the few houses and fishermen's cottages that make up the village.


The Gorse Fox in what became a common pose. His camera seemed permanently stuck to his eye.


The little dock from which the wines used to be exported from this region.

Road through the mountains

The road through the Anaga mountains is spectacular, though there are few places to stop on the way up from Santa Cruz.

Once through the tunnel, however, there was a viewpoint where we could stop for some photos.

The view past Punta de los Roquetes to the rocks that mark the north-east corner of the island. Gorse Fox thinks these are called Roque de Tierra and Roque de Fuera

The road wove round this huge granite block and snaked down the mountain.

The long and winding road !

Just another day

It started cloudy and windy; inauspicious (and in Tenerife). The clocks had leapt forward a week ago... but as the Gosr Fox is out of range of the radio time signal in the UK, his watch decided to adjust itself last night. As a result the Gorse Fox was up watching the sunrise just after seven, thinking it was just after eight. (GF had already adjusted his watch manually... hence the problem).

Eventually, the day brightened up and we decided that a walk would be good. We walked down towards the seafront, but the Silver Vixen ended up slipping on some gravel and tearing her trousers as well as grazing her knee. This diverted the original route and we headed back via San Blas.

Dinner was taken back in the square at La Opera... we were served by a chap dressed in black, with the voice of David Beckham, a perma-tan, and a case of male patten baldness that he was trying to stave off with an occipital mohican. He was the primary source of amusement until the couple sat down at the next table with their two children. Then we got such quotes as:

"Does anything come with the chips?"

"Oh look, they do Chicken Jalfrezi over there, just like in Solihull"

"What do you mean you don't know waht you want? What would Thierry Henry choose?"

Gorse Fox was in his element. If only he had been better at choosing from the menu himself. You see, he chose Argentinian Fillet Steak. After the Brazillian beef the other night he was expecting it to be excellent. Actually, it was poor and stringy. and not content with staying on his dinner plate it kept trying to take over his side plate also. However, the Brazillian beek of the other night was brilliant - tender, succulent and served plain with a small strip of curly noodles down the middle.

Near San Blas

Near San Blas
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

A walk along the seafront near San Blas... Just after the Silver Vixen had discovered that gravel and gravity are a poor mix.

April's Fool

April the First. All Fool's day. It is always an interesting challenge to read the papers on April 1st and try to work out which story is the spoof. Some years it is diificult, but this year was easy.

The papers want us to believe that Gordon Brown was warned about the damage "devastating impact" his annual raid on pension funds would do. This change has hit 11 million people with company pensions and 7 million with private schemes... and he was warned that it would encourage employers to ditch final salary pension schemes and it would wipe millions off of fund assets.

Obviously this was an April Fool. Surely no Chancellor could be so criminally negligent to deliberatly harm the futures of 18 million voters.

Watching

A quiet day on our volcanic outcrop in teh Atlantic. A stiff North-easterly wind picked up during the morning so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed round to the sheltered west coast and took a stroll aong the front.

The beaches were heaving, but we had never intended to use them so it was no problem. We pottered along looking at the surf, the shops and the mountains and eventually stopped for some lunch and beer. As we sat and watched the world go by, GF couldn't help but wonder why some of these people are allowed out unaccompanied. And, where are the good-taste police when you need them (GF saw one person - presumably an inmate of some asylum - in an Arsenal shirt). Also, if people wish to burn themselves to a crisp, wouldn't it save time to use a blow lamp to get that bright red finish that seems so popular with the terminally stupid.

Back in the garden we finished the afternoon with our books before finding a nice Italian restaurant for dinner.

Beach

This is some people's idea of heaven. This is the beach at Los Christianos/Playa de las Americas.

This is actually what the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox avoid wherever possible.