La Palma For our first full on holiday of 2012, we thought we’d visit our fifth Canary Island - La Palma (which is also coincidentally the fifth largest Canary Island). Only La Gomera and the currently-on-the-verge-of-exploding El Hierro left to visit now.
Room Friday - If you want to fly to La Palma currently, you don't have a lot of options. We flew with Thomson, who have one flight a week from Gatwick. They also have one a week from Manchester, if you happen to live up that way. The seats on their plane were made by Recaro and they looked more like the sort of bucket sports seats you might find in a stripped-down hot hatch. I was initially impressed by this, until I realised that the low-profile nature of their "sports" seats simply meant that Thomson were able to cram more of them in. There were a lot of people on our plane. Had the person in front of me reclined their seat, I reckon I would have been completely pinned in place. Fortunately, everyone had the decency to keep their seats completely upright.We picked up the hire car (no issues there - in fact we got a free upgrade) and headed for the hotel. Despite the hotel only being 23 driving miles from the airport (and about 10 miles as the crow flies) and there being virtually no traffic on the roads, it still took over an hour to get there. The roads on La Palma are similar to those we experienced on Madeira, i.e. bendy. Really bendy. It was unusual to be able to drive for more than a hundred yards or so without needing to slam on the anchors for a hairpin bend.Finally we arrived at our hotel and this is a photo of our room. Nice. Although as it turned out...
Room ...it was only half of our room because sneaky Judith had booked a suite, allegedly because this was the only way to be sure of getting a sea view. This was our lounge area, which was also nice.
Room View Well we could certainly see the sea from our extensive balconies.
Pool View As it was already late afternoon, we didn't really have the time to go out exploring (not that there was anything anywhere near the hotel to explore other than banana plantations), so we decided to just have a bit of a walk around the hotel grounds before dinner.This was the view looking West-ish across one of the hotel's eleven pools. Any one of these pools would have been considered sufficient, or even generous, in most hotels, but this hotel has eleven of them. Suffice to say that there was no shortage of places to lounge around in the sun.
Spa Pool View This was the view of the approaching sunset across the spa pool. The spa pool also sports what might be the only white sandy beach on the entire island. There are few actual beaches on La Palma (most of the coastline is inaccessible, volcanic cliffs) and the few there are consist of black, volcanic pebbles.
Sunset A view of the approaching sunset across the hotel's gardens.
Sunset Even after the sun had disappeared, there was still a nice view to be had across the gardens.
Mirador el Time Saturday - It was a lovely day so we decided to adopt our normal approach of heading to the highest place available to see the views, just in case the weather turned completely to pants for the rest of the week. On the way we stopped at the Mirador el Time to admire the view. This was the view looking East to the town of Los Llanos de Aridane and the Cumbre Nueva ridge beyond.
Los Llanos de Aridane Considering that virtually everywhere on La Palma seemed to be completely deserted, Los Llanos de Aridane was a positive metropolis in these parts.
Coast This was the view looking South along the coast.
Roque de Los Muchachos We pressed on and an hour-or-so later we arrived at the Roque de Los Muchachos. Judith is standing by the marker that identifies the highest point on La Palma. We were only about six miles from the coast, but we were also 2,421m (7,943 feet) above sea level, so we were getting a great view of the tops of the clouds. And it was windy. Really, really windy. Like, getting blown off your feet windy. Judit wasn't leaning against the marker to pose for the photo. She was holding on to it to stop getting blown over. It was also cold. The car indicated an outside temperature of 3C, but the wind must have been making it well below zero.We'd only driven about fifty miles from the hotel (although it was only about 25 miles as the crow flies), but it had taken us well over two hours to get here thanks to the bonkers, winding roads. And that was despite the fact that about 90% of our journey had been on three of the island's most major roads - the LP-2, LP-1 and LP-4. The LP-1 and LP-2 ring the island, with the LP-1 forming the Northern half of the circuit and the LP-2 the Southern half. The LP-3 cuts across the middle of the island East to West, whilst the LP-4 goes from the North-West, past the highest point, to the capital city, Santa Cruz de la Palma in the East.
Observatories Due to a combination of factors (like the height and the almost virtual absence of any light pollution), this was apparently an excellent location for looking at the sky. So lots of observatories have been built there.
View Looking South we could see the other side of the crater some five miles away (for we were standing on the rim of the crater of the volcano that formed most of this island some two million years ago). The coast was just visible several miles beyond that.
Path There was a relatively short trail to another view point a few hundred metres along the ridge. However, what this photo is again not conveying is the howling gale blowing East to West (left to right in the photo). Judith elected to stay with the car while I ventured to the end.
View The view from the end was magnificent, although not significantly different to the one I could see from the car park.
Qashqai Returning to the car, we decided to continue along the LP-4 towards Santa Cruz de la Palma. One of the stopping places by the road provided an excellent opportunity to get a nice photo of our hire car - a Nissan Qashqai. I see these around all the time in the UK and never give them a second look. But a day (so far) with one was giving me insight into its many charms. It was comfortable, well made, well equipped and looked pretty good even in hire-car beige. It had also managed to return well north of 40mpg over our first 70 miles together, despite spending most of its time either braking into or accelerating out of sharp corners. Plus we'd just driven it from sea level to an altitude of 2,421m, which must take a significant toll on one's fuel economy.
Crater View The views into the crater as we drove along its rim were fabulous. We continued along the LP-4, eventually picking up the LP-1/2 ring road again and, several hours later (thanks to the bending, winding roads again), arrived back at the hotel having covered just over 100 miles all day.
Lighthouse Sunday - This morning we'd driven five miles South from the hotel, to the Faro de Fuencaliente - the lighthouse that lies at the very southern tip of La Palma. Once again, it was really, really blow-you-over windy.
Lighthouses They had built a nice new lighthouse next to the original (and now decommissioned) one.
Salt Next to the lighthouses was La Palma's only remaining salt farm. They use a combination of the wind and the sun to evaporate the wet bit out of sea water to leave the salt behind. They apparently manage to produce 600 tonnes of salt each year this way. Good effort.
Playa Echentive On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at one of the few beaches on La Palma where you can walk all the way down to the sea.
Playa Echentive I say "beach" because that's what they call it, but that might be a generous assessment (unless you do most of your beaching in Brighton or similar). Still, it was a lot more comfortable to walk and sit on these rounded pebbles than the usual volcanic stuff you find on the ground virtually everywhere else.
Volcan de Teneguia This is our Qashqai parked in front of the Volcan de Teneguia. There are two interesting points of note in this photo. First, although it didn't look it from here, the volcano was over 1,000 feet tall. Second, the ground we'd parked on, and indeed all of the ground you can see in this photo, is younger than I am because it was all created in 1971 when this volcano last erupted.
ND10 A bit further up the coast I found a nice rocky spot with some good breaking waves that looked promising for some ND10 photos.
Qashqai When I returned to the car, I noticed that it formed quite an interesting composition with the green door and the wall of the banana plantation.After another exciting day of trying not to get blown over, we returned to the hotel for a beer and some dinner.
Paso Fuencaliente Monday - Today we'd decided to drive up onto the Cumbre Nueva ridge to do a short(ish) hike. On the way up we stopped at the view point at Paso Fuencaliente to admire the view to the North-West.
Walking The trail started in dense forest, which our guidebook indicates is known locally as "laurisilva".
Walking Judith was looking fairly pleased with our progress so far.
Sky After a while the dense forest gave way to more open countryside.
Coast View Eventually we got our first view of the Eastern coast of the island.
Teide We were also getting occasional views through the clouds of Teide, the volcano on Tenerife, which was quite impressive considering that it was about 80 miles away.
Shrine We passed a small shrine under a tree by the trail. That was a bit Blair Witch.
Trees After a while the trail looped back up into the tall trees and we returned to the car. A nice walk indeed.
Hotel View On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a view point that overlooked our hotel. From here it looked like it was right on the sea front, but it was actually sitting on the top of a 40m cliff. You could also see a little of the banana plantations that surround the hotel.Despite being physically little more than a mile from the hotel here, we were also almost 2,000 feet above it and it would take us around 20 minutes of driving to actually get there.
Sunset We were back at the hotel in time for sunset, a pint on the terrace and dinner.
Los Canarios Tuesday - Today Judith had decided to have a look at the hotel's spa while I went for a slightly more arduous walk. The walk started in the town of Los Canarios, which was handily a mere 20 minute drive from the hotel.
Trail The trail started in the pine forest above the town and was initially very easy to follow, although it was not so easy to walk on as it was covered with loose volcanic rocks.
Signpost It was also very well signposted.
Lava However, as the trail climbed, it left the well marked forest and crossed this lava field, where it was significantly trickier to follow. Fortunately this section was only a few hundred yards long.
Dirt Road After the tough-to-follow trail across the lava field, it started to follow one of the island's many dirt roads for a while.
Forest Off the dirt road and back into the forest, although it was pretty sparse at this point. The trail would be difficult to follow across this terrain if it weren't for the fact that it had been conveniently lined with rocks and cleared of pine needles.
Terrace Back at the hotel and it was time for a(nother) beer on the terrace. The terrace faced directly West and was a fabulous place to watch the sunset from...
Beer ...with a beer. I say "beer". I really mean cold, fizzy lager. But it somehow tastes okay when you're on holiday.
Heron This small heron seemed to live at the hotel. You'd think the hotel's staff would get fed up with it scoffing the little fishies in their ponds.
Sunset Another lovely sunset across the hotel's gardens and pools.
Sunset
Workout Wednesday - Today we had decided to try to drive a full circuit of the island, which would be no mean feat on the infuriatingly winding roads. First stop was the picturesque seaside town of Puerte Tazacorte. As we arrived, we saw this bloke doing tai-chi or some such. He seemed to have picked a bit of a precarious spot to do it though.
Bonkers Workout Even more so when I zoom out and you can see where he was actually standing, several hundred feed above the sea front.
Puerte Tazacarte This was the view of Puerte Tazacorte from their harbour wall. They had the most beach-like beach we saw on La Palma. Despite that, it was not what you'd exactly call busy. And this was the busy end of it.
Crab This crab, along with several others, was resting in the sunshine on one of the big concrete blocks that lined the harbour wall. Although there's nothing in the photo to provide any scale, it's body would have comfortably covered the palm of your hand. Scary. I'm glad I didn't go in the sea.
Coast We continued our journey around the coast. The North was very green and lush compared to the South where we were staying.
Tree This tree had an information board, so presumably it was interesting in some way. Unfortunately the board was only in Spanish, so I've no idea what it said. I thought it was best to take a photo of the tree anyway, just in case.
Green The road continued across the green North of the island.
Volcan de San Antonio Several hours later we found ourselves back in the more arid South. On the way back to the hotel we stopped in at the Volcan de San Antonio. There was a small visitor centre that showed a very interesting video about the volcanic history of La Palma and a short walk along the rim of the volcano's crater. This was the view from the end of the trail, looking South. The peak in the distance on the right is the Volcan de Teneguia. That's the one that erupted in 1971. To its left you can just about make out the lighthouses and salt farm, right at the southern tip of the island.
Crater This was the view looking North, across the crater. The crater was just over 300 feet deep and, as you can see, it had got lots of trees growing in it. What you can't quite make out in this photo is the tour group that were amassing on the other side of the crater, about to start the walk along the rim.
Coastal View Still on the rim of the crater, but looking slightly further West, up the coast, the cliffs in the very far distance are at Puerto Tazacorte, where we were a few hours ago shortly after starting our epic circuit of the island. Our hotel is visible on the left, nestling amongst the banana plantations.
Rain Minutes later, as we were walking back to the visitor centre, it started to rain. It wasn't heavy, but it was that fine, misty sort of rain that soaks you without you realising that you're getting soaked. Still, at least we were on our way back to the visitor centre at the time, unlike the tour group who were on their way out onto the crater. Doh! Here they are trudging back.
Playa Echentive I dropped Judith off at the hotel and headed back to Playa Echentive (the rocky beach we visited on Sunday) to take a few photos. This is an ND10 effort of the rocks at the southern end of the beach.
Playa Echentive This is an ND10 HDR of the southern end of the beach.
Rainbow I noticed a fabulous rainbow forming behind me. This turned out to be a bit of a mixed blessing. It was good because it looked great. But it was also bad because a minute later it started to rain, as you can see from the raindrops on the lense. Grrr.
Sunset As the sun was setting, I continued to shoot, despite the rain. Many of the shots were ruined by the rain drops on the lense, but for some reason that I can't quite explain, some shots, like this one, showed no traces of the rain on the lense at all. Which was handy as it was a fabulous sunset.
Rocks Thursday - It was a lovely, sunny and almost completely cloud-free day (at the hotel at least), so we decided to spend our last full day on La Palma laying about by the hotel's pool. At about five o'clock in the afternoon I decided to head out to try and get a few photos before sunset.Initially I headed to the Faro de Fuencaliente lighthouses at the southern tip of the island, but it was very, very windy there again, which didn't provide a very accommodating photographic environment. So I headed slightly West to this small, rocky beach, hoping that it might be sheltered from the wind. It was not. Worse than that, the wind was blowing the spray from the waves about in a most camera-unfriendly way. I just managed to get this one shot off before retreating.
Playa Echentive So I resorted to returning to Playa Echentive again. It was still pretty windy there and there was a lot of spray being blown off the waves. So I swapped my ultra-wide 11-16mm lense for an 18-200mm and retreated up the beach to take photos of the waves from a spray-safe distance.
Sunset I hung around for long enough to watch the sun go down. As there were still very few clouds in the sky, I stuck with my 18-200mm lense to take these close-up shots of the sunset.
Beer Back at the hotel and it was time for our final dinner. And this is the beer I had with it, which I pulled myself. It was a feature of our all-inclusive package that there were strategically placed pumps around the resort that you could pull your own beers at. Alternatively you could just go to the bar and get one pulled by a professional. Which was probably the smart thing to do given the number of self-pulled beers I had that consisted of around 20% beer and 80% froth.Friday - Got up, had breakfast, packed, checked out of the hotel and drove to the airport for the flight home. It started raining as we left the hotel and continued to rain pretty much all the way to the airport. A good day to be going home.We had a really good time on La Palma and I might even go so far as to say that it has been the most scenic of the five Canary Islands we've visited so far, with it's varied scenery and climate and excellent hiking trails. It was a curious place too though in that it wasn't heavily oriented towards the visiting tourists (yet), which was nice. But it'll likely be increasing numbers of visiting tourists that bring the money to provide the sort of roads that all of the larger Canary Islands benefit from. As brilliant as our hotel was, it was also a pain being so out of the way and having to drive up and down the hillside to and from the main road. If we visit again we shall almost certainly endeavour to stay somewhere more central on the island to limit the amount of driving we need to do to get to the places of interest.