In January I mostly tried to run away from the cold and rain......
La Gomera with Tenerife in the distance
Poinsettia tree
Hibiscus
Lovely Palm tree
Oh, and I did - well for a week anyway. A week in the Canaries to top up the vitamin D levels, see blue skies (for more than 5 minutes) and feel some much needed warmth. We stayed in Bournemouth for a night beforehand and it was so cold! But we investigated the pubs and sampled the local ales. Quelle surprise.....
The Brewhouse and Kitchen pub is also a microbrewery and has a beer menu - a good start!
The Goat & Tricycle pub was cosy and friendly - This is Finley
We got to know the locals quite quickly!
Here we are on Monday (5 degrees)
- A fast, short walk on Bournemouth Beach.
and here we are on Tuesday (22 degrees)
- A slow, leisurely stroll on La Gomera!
Playa de Santiago - without thermals
We did the usual - strenuous walk up a mountain in the morning so that we can enjoy a fattening Barraquito for coffee then sit on the beach (moi under a brolly of course) all afternoon with our books. I also brought glue, scissors and colouring pencils. Quick change and then out for a meal in one of the half a dozen restaurants washed down with dos Sangria or a Mojito.
Candelabra cactus
Yellow Bird of Paradise - strange
One of our strenuous walks
Banana plantations below
Bougainvillea near the golf course
- Sarah played 9 holes without the need for a balaclava and sheepskin boots
The bananas on La Gomera taste like - bananas!
Prickly Pear
I also brought my knitting - no wool shops here though
One day we caught the new ferry service to Valle Gran Rey for a day trip. Valle Gran Rey is not as barren and is greener than Playa de Santiago.
Playa de Santiago from the ferry
Lovely views from the ferry as we zoomed around the coast
Barraquito on arrival - of course.
You can have one sin licor (without alcohol) but where would be the fun in that?
Valle Gran Rey
I do love a good palm tree with a pale English person in shorts to hold it up
I think this might have been sugar cane. Whatever it was, it was very large. I look tiny!
I like sugar cane.
Love
We have done this walk up the valley towards Los Reyes before but it still took my breath away.
The rough cobbles are really hard to walk on so we deserved our chips and alioli that night!
Paddle time and not a Mr Whippy to be seen
Hibiscus - how dull
Sigh......
Lovely walk back along the beach as the sun goes down before getting back on to the ferry
Back in Playa San Diago we found a beautiful park called the Parque de Las Eras.
Aloe vera - I think these look like Red Hot Pokers
The very spikey Silk Floss tree (or Chorisia) from South America. Now I've looked it up, I wish I had seen it in flower as it is a mass of amazing pink flowers. You wouldn't want to be a squirrel though. Ow!
Yellow Hibiscus - I've never seen one this colour before. Apparently, it is the state flower of Hawaii
Looking down in to the harbour
- Mount Teide on Tenerife in the background. I noticed it had snow on it when we were flying in
Hiding from the sun are we? A good spot to eat our banana and crisps
Everything grows so big here!
Where's my horse? Yee Ha!
Can we squeeze another Barraquito in before we go home? I think so.
Back to drilling aluminium in a cold and noisy factory and getting swarf in my bra. I know how to live.
Phwor.....
I also smell of oil a lot of the time
I drilled holes in all these aluminium cleats - proud
and then stacked them neatly - OCD or what?
Frames waiting to be put together
Glue drying on the battens
MDF panels
Still, I have consoled myself with playing with my new sewing machine, sitting as close to the log burner as I can without getting chilblains, keeping busy and trying as many ales as I can before Esme picks us up from the Winterfest.
And even though it is minus 2 tonight, plants are starting to appear (all hail the Hellebore!), the evenings are getting lighter - we are heading in the right direction. Yippee!
Snowdrops in the front garden
I must go and put my brightly coloured summer clothes back under the bed for now and go and put another chair leg on the fire.
TTFN.
Bungalow Sue
'I like the image of ruined old women, sitting in their last mink in a cafe, smoking a cigarette and drinking a small, appetite-suppressing cup of coffee.....Even if the lipstick bleeds into the cracks, at least we're seen. In a recession you cannot allow life to turn beige'.
- Linda Grant 'The Thoughtful Dresser'
