Back on La Gomera

So ... Back to La Gomera, an island both Scruffbag and I love. The scenery is amazing and we walk every couple of days in the mountains. We try to start off high and walk down for obvious reasons.

We originally intended to stay here until a parcel,sent express delivery, arrived from the UK and then go to the smallest island, El Hierro. However, the parcel took forever and, with, Christmas fast approaching and the arrival of our friends from Cherbourg, Hansueli and Helen, we decided to spend Christmas here and then go on to La Palma, saving the delights of El Hierro for later in the trip.

We have now decided to postpone the Atlantic crisis g till next October as we love the Canary Islands and want to see more. This is a journey not a race and we are having a fantastic time. It also allows us to fly to the UK next August for Freyas first birthday and Mark's mums 90th. We will then probably go via Brazil, Guyana and Surinam as that sounds interesting  ..not made any final decision yet.

Meanwhile  enjoying walking and swimming

We have been to a couple of Christmas concerts, one by a gospel choir with absolutely superb voices. Christmas here is a world away from the rampant materialism of the UK, lots of decorations in the marketplace are actually made by children and there are lots of free musical events and other performances.

Our friends Hansueli and Helen took us out in their hire car yesterday and one of the places we visited was this glass bottomed viewing platform high up on the mountain. Those of you who know my fear of looking down from heights, walking down spiral staircases etc. will be amazed that I actually walked out over this one,albeit holding on to Helen's hand the whole time.

So we await Chritmas aboard , hopefully with a Christmas day swim and then a sail before new year to LaPalma.

Full English Breakfast and Carling Black Label

Readily available in San Sebastion Tenerife - all the English food and drink you could ever want (or not).  The marina is fine but  as for the rest - well let's just say that if this is what I wanted I would have stayed in the UK. I suppose some people do want little England in the sun but their reasoning is lost on me.

Actually it did get a bit better once we scraped away at the surface. About half an hour's walk away we found a fishing town which, albeit there was a glut of restaurants on the front, was still a Spanish town with Spanish people working behind the counters. A bus ride away was Las Gallettas, also a Spanish town despite the huge community of retirees from the UK. Les Gallettas also had impressive rock formations on the outskirts of town.

There was a beach bar there overlooking the sea where we sampled the very tasty margerrittas.

Sue ans Mally left on The Friday and I followed them on the Sunday to spend a week in the UK with my daughters and my grandchildren. The newest member of the family, Freya, is growing so fast and I watched her develop  even in the week I was there.

 The week passed all too quickly and then it was back to Tenerife, where  my brother in law, David was staying for a few days. Once David had left we spent a few more days there and planned to travel to El Hierro. Unfortunately Scruffbag's bag was playing up badly (not helped by the fact that e lifted up the heavy wind vane) so we felt it was unsafe to sail so far (60 + miles). We waited for a calm day and motored across to La Gomera, which we love, in order to await his recovery somewhere other than Little England in the Sun.