It seems from the news we see that the UK is shutting down for good with flights from the rest of the world cancelled. Not sure how long this will last but we might be stranded here all winter, I can think of worse places to be stuck. We have rather taken to Valle Gran Rey where we are based, it is quite touristy so has all the things we need like bars for the afternoon siesta beer, good quality restaurants for dinner and a sea front on which to promenade. It also has a nice vibe, slightly hippyish so much like Bishop’s Castle. It might be a bit over run in high season whenever that is but at the moment it is fine. So if we get stranded in the Canaries for a long period we might come back here.
The picture looking down on the town was taken by leaning over a fairly scary cliff edge on yesterdays walk, we walked the ridge on the other side of the valley to the walk we did on Wednesday, it was just as good although rather more strenuous, we were both very tired by the end. The picture right is looking up the same cliff.
The picture above shows a chapel at the start of the walk, very photogenic but I don't think it gets many customers, it is in the middle of knowhere. Left shows Gill admiring the view in the morning when she was still feeling fresh, we were both a little ragged by the end.
La Gomera is very small, only 15 miles in diameter, the roads are very well made but extremely winding, we only manage to get into 5th gear on a 600m stretch of road in a tunnel which is straight, it only lasts 10 seconds! Today we drove to a village called Taguluche which is 4 miles away as the crow flies but it was a 19 mile drive which took 50 minutes. The views were spectacular.
We have been surprised to be stopped at traffic lights just as we enter villages with no junction or apparent crossing. Being a bit thick it took us a while to realise they are speed traps, if you approach the village at over the speed limit the lights go red, you have to stop and then they turn green. Of course if you approach slowly they stay green. What a great idea.
The council must have made a mistake when ordering a curious sign which is about 6 ft high and says “Warning – Broken line only shows road track”.
We don’t understand what it means yet there are hundreds of them. All we can guess is that it means just because there is a white line in the middle of the road don’t assume that there is space for two cars to pass, but why say that every 2 – 3 miles?
We have a couple more days in Valle Gran Rey before we return to the big city for Christmas, the hotel have just emailed me to say they are having a big dinner on Christmas Eve so my hope of escaping the festivities has been spoilt, it is a good job I brought a jacket.