On Tuesday we heard reports of freezing weather and snow in England so in order that we could empathise with you we left the barmy 22c of Santa Cruz and headed up the mountain. It was a bit cloudy in Santa Cruz, up the top of the hill where all the telescopes are it was nice and sunny but we had to be careful as there was ice of the path!
We climbed up here last year and took hundreds of photos, this time we walked along a different section of ridge, it was a bit misty but we still took 90 photos between us. The geology is unusual. There are thin vertical sections of hard rock (perhaps a metre wide) against which much softer volcanic larva as been eroded leaving high, thin ridges. It is spectacular,
I am afraid our photographic efforts do not do it justice.
The section we walked along is 2366m high that is 7762ft in old money or almost one and a half miles up!
No wonder it was cold although Gill was brave (foolhardy) enough to wear shorts.
I need to record an apology to Fiat. On a number of holidays we have been given a Fiat 500 and have found them seriously underpowered and in my ramblings I have been very rude about them. We had to change gear on motorways and on one occasion the Fiat could not climb the drive of our holiday home without burning out the clutch.
In La Gomera we had an Opel Corsa which was fine so asked for the same in La Palma. The receptionist was very apologetic when he said we had to have a Fiat, I got the impression he was of the same opinion. La Palma is known as the “steepest island in the World” so we just resigned ourselves to lots of gear changing. At first our prejudice was confirmed, it couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding but then Gill spotted the Eco button, press it and suddenly the car becomes possessed, or at least gets a move on. The car is brand new so we suspect Fiat have finally got round to sorting out the engine.
Those of you with a weak indisposition look away now.
Gill and I have embraced the new fangled technology of smart phones however we leave them at home. We would not be as rude as rude can be to text, facebook, twitter or email people whilst out for the evening nor would we take pictures of our food.
It seems the covid police of La Palma have told restaurants to use QR codes to allow people to read the menus on their phones rather than infect menus.
Two old people arrive at the restaurant wanting to spend serious money on food at a time when restaurateurs are supposed to be close to bankruptcy, the waiter just points to the QR code and grunts. At one restaurant the main man saw the problem, gave us his phone so we could read the menu, he then spent ages disinfecting his phone in case these nasty English people had infected it. At a second restaurant I am afraid I was walking out, we had a phone with us but either the wifi or the mobile connection failed. Gill was more tolerant and eventually one of the waiters found a paper menu.
The waiters were probably blaming these old technophiles, I had a mobile phone before they were born!
On the plus side we have a booking in our favourite restaurant in La Palma if not the whole world. Last time we visited it had five tables. The owner introduced herself, sat down, put her arm round me and then described “what is possible” i.e. the menu. No written menu here. The food was great but we were worried that since covid it would close with social distancing concerns. I am pleased to say they are still going but with only three tables, I suspect she won’t put her arm round me this time and we can only get in for lunch as every evening is booked up solid.
So tomorrow we will have a nice slow lunch with I hope some lovely food, it might be a couple of days before I update the blog.