Day 1 Friday
It's howling! Just as well I didn't bring my flying kit with me. I think even the Stiffies will find it a bit breezy.
We went down to the “strip” in Puerto Del Carmen this morning and looked at the electrical shops and in particular shops that sold binoculars. I want a nice pair of big bins. that are good for low light levels without having to go to IR and costing a fortune. I came to the conclusion that all the goods for sale here are really good looking plastic tat. The quality really doesn't pay off even if they are cheap. I'd rather pay for some decent kit back home.
In the afternoon we went and splodged on the secluded beach at Playa Quemada. Wasn't long before I realised that this was one of the nudist beaches on the island.
There's something about nudists that seem to dictate that they have to be fat, ageing and a nationality other that British. They are also all poseurs. They can't be content with lying down on the beach or walking to and from the sea, but they parade up and down the sea edge. Even at the end of the day they get dressed from the top down. The women making sure their hair is presentable after pulling t-shirts over heads and sorting out all the rest of their belongings before getting their flabby arses covered up, and other unmentionables.
So if it's that bad, why did we go there? Well for one we didn’t know that this was a nudist beach, secondly it was only a couple of miles from where we were staying and also it was not crowded and didn't have any kids making a racket. So, would we go back? Yes, for the last 3 reasons.
This beach was also covered in black sand, which was a novelty.
In the evening we went out for a nosebag at a favourite restaurant. The Red Lion, in PDC. The garlic prawns and garlic chicken is fantastic. Quite cheap too but they only take hard cash.
Day 2 Saturday
Today we did the touristy bits. We went to the Manrique house. It's a house built in and around 5 lava domes. A lot of it is underground and is really quite brilliant. I wouldn't mind living there myself.
Manrique was an artist who made the island his home and was quite outspoken about the amount of development that is going on around the island. Some of his pictures and other artists were quite thought provoking.
After wards we went to the Cactus park. Another design of Manrique and has just about every type of cactus you could imagine and more pricks than the House of Commons. We had lunch there, a grilled fish with small jacket potatoes that were salt encrusted. Half a jug of Sangria seemed to sort out the Wizzy.
The past two days were really windy. Completely blown out for paragliders, which made me feel a little better.
We went back down to the Marina for dinner and had a paella. Made friends with the local moggie and couldn't resist feeding him bits of chicken.
We finished off tonight as we did last night, with a bottle of red wine and took it in turns to ask one another trivial pursuit questions. It's amazing just what a load of rubbish you keep stored in your brain!
Day 3 Sunday
The wind had died down a bit but the cloud was still present. Wiz wanted to go to the Teguise market and so we joined the 20,000 or so already there. It's mostly a tat market with the odd good quality stuff. In particular we saw a stall selling hand painted aborigine T shirts and sweat shirts. One punter there was telling us about the shirt he bought there 4 years earlier and still looks like new.
There are many African stalls with the vendors all dressed up in traditional garb. Whether or not the goods for sale are traditional I don't know.
Wiz bought 2 wrap around skirts for 2 quid each and I managed to resist the temptation to part with my money.
We then went off in the direction of Mala and sat on the beach watching the stiffies fly. Ian Blackmore was on the beach with a bunch of EP's doing ground handling, wasn't much chance of them getting to fly, it was still too windy.
After putting on the suntan lotion and getting covered in black sand, the sun went behind a cloud and looked to stay there for the foreseeable future. I suggested we head back to Macher, I could go for a run and Wiz could splodge in the sun with her book. It also looked less cloudy at the south west of the island.
We drove about 5 miles and came out into brilliant blue sky. I went for a run, because it was more of challenge then anything. Ray had suggested I run up to the building on the top on Macher hill and back down via the track and road. He had done it in 30 minutes and the record was 24 by some fitness fanatic.
I started at 14:50 and finished 27 minutes and 42 seconds later. That included 3 stops to empty half the mountain out of my shoes and to re-tie my laces.
OOOOH boy did I enjoy the beer when I got back, in fact I'm still enjoying it whilst writing this in the sun.
I have a Philips Velo, a palmtop, and do all the writing day by day to save having to remember what we did and when.
Josie is cooking tonight and so we can both have a booze up in the sun without having to worry about drink driving later.
Day 4 Monday
Today we ventured into Arricife. Little did we know that had we asked Ray for directions, he would have said "Don't go there, you'll never find your way out again." But we did. Not sure if we were in the right place but there didn't seem to be as many shops as PDC.
We didn't stay long and headed back to Macher and fortunately the wind was on the hill and so we had an afternoon of entertainment watching the learners landing techniques. One guys group had decided to make the landing field the one before the main road from Macher to Yaisa. The downside of this is the powerlines. There are some really big buggers half way up the hill but smaller ones nearer the road. Now the problems really start when your glide angle matches the slope. One novice was trying to land in exactly this fashion. He flared 3 times before touching down underneath the power lines and doing a 180 degree turn on impact.
Later on, the Stiffies staying with Ray & Josie were taking off. "Stitched-Up Dave", who had cheese wired his face earlier on in the week, was looking for a good landing to boost his ego after 2 crap landings. Unfortunately this wasn't to be the good one he was looking for. He ended up overshooting and going into a ditch, but got away with it. On hearing that he wanted a good landing to boost his confidence, Les said, “but he’s only here for a week”. That made us all laugh. OK, we were all novices once but just as we more experienced pilots put something back into the sport in the form of coaching and tandeming and the like, it’s nice to have a laugh at someone else’s expense. Just as the skygods did (and still do) when we were learning.
Barry wasn't so lucky. I watched from Josies terrace through binoculars at his landing and he went in hard. The glider remained on it's nose for quite a while but there wasn't much frantic activity by the others down there. A while later his glider moved and I could clearly see the right hand side with a bent upright. It looked shoulder height and so expected a walking wounded, even if it was just pride.
Minutes later he got out of a car holding his left arm saying I've dislocated my elbow, (the opposite one to the bent upright). I had a look at it and knowing nothing about anatomy, even though I am a qualified first aider, immediately confirmed his own diagnosis. He would have walked away with all the prizes at a knobly elbow competition.
There was a glut of first aiders available and so I just did the running about for this and that. He came back from the hospital with his X-rays and I saw them the next morning really quite impressive. A completely separate ball and socket joint as I've never seen before. He was now truly grounded and I felt for the poor old sod, there's nothing like being grounded due to injury. This was his starter for four weeks in a well supported sling.
Day 5 Tuesday
Today we went to the various touristy places at the south west end of the island. We started at El Golfo, which was supposed to have some sort of spectacular green lake as caused by mineral deposits in the water.
Looked more like a stagnant pond to me. Maybe if the sun was on it, it would have looked nicer.
After El Golfo, we went to Los Horibos where the sea crashes into the coastal lava flows. There were distinct colour differences. I expect it was a variation in crystaline structure brought about by different cooling rates. The rock just below sea level was brown, that at sea level was a lighter brown and that above sea level was jet black. Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy confirmed the compositional similarities. Aluminium Silicates, Magnesium Silicates, Iron and Calcium Salts. Crystaline structure analysis is a little out my remit, since I’m not an xray crystalographer. I must remember to quiz a friend of mine who is into geology, he should know what’s what.
We then drove up to the salt recovery flats just to say we had seen them and then went onto the National park and had another tour of the Montagnes Del Fuego.
We spent the rest of the day sunning ourselves on the patio.
Day 6 Wednesday
Today we went to the various touristy places at the North end of the island. Had a look at yet another Manrique designed place at Mirador Del Rio overlooking the little island. Not sure if anyone has flown to it or not. I reckon a good hang glider would get there. Wouldn’t like to be the test pilot though.
We had lunch in a coastal restaurant and made our way back to Macher via Famara. The top take off was heaving with gliders and the wind was a bit light and the paragliders were making take off for the hangies difficult. They certainly weren’t doing us any favours in terms of interdisciplinary relations.
The take off area had really changed since we were last there. The land owner who doesn’t like us has restricted the take off area. The concrete ramp (see this picture taken 3 years ago) that the hangies use has been broken up and there’s only room for one to launch at a time if you don’t want to run between large rocks just as you leave the ground.
As we left I took one of the hangies cars down to the bottom landing to save them a return trip to collect it and then we headed back.
We had another fishy supper down at the marina and a good bottle of red vine when we got back. I can highly recommend the 1996 Rioja “Glorioso” from the hypermarket at the end of the runway at Arricife airport.
Day 7 Thursday
Going home day. Wiz was her usual miserable self at the thought of having to leave the warm climate. I was quite relieved that I didn’t have to spend another day on the beach. Coo what a drag that is.
We went to the airport a little earlier than we need to do, and spent the time relaxing in the sun in the new outdoor observation area in the departure lounge. They have a bar there and so I just watched the planes come and go whilst having a nice drinkie.
So that’s that then. Once you have seen all the interesting places on Lanzarote and it’s not flyable, or you are grounded due to injury, then the only other thing left to do is drink, and I did plenty of that.
If you want to go and stay with Ray and Josie, then email them r.cooper@teleline.es or phone them 00 34 28 51 26 04.
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