Hotel Orquidea San Sebastián de la Gomera

... hoogte en komen we de &#8220;Heuvos del Teide&#8221; tegen. Dit zijn grote ronde rotsblokken die de eieren van de Teide worden genoemd. Er is hierover een informatiepaneel aanwezig. Het landschap wordt gekenmerkt door geel lavagruis. Na 5 kilometer zijn we op 2740 meter hoogte en begint de echte klim richting de Teide. <br>Als we niet naar boven gaan en het brede pad zouden volgen komen we weer op de Montana Blanca uit.<br>Het begin van de klim staat met bebording aangegeven. Het pad gaat ...

Vandaag eerst maar terug naar Santa Cruz om onze toelating voor de Teide te halen. Blijkt ook maar een formaliteit te zijn.<br>En aan het enthousiasme van de ambtenaar te zien, doet hij zijn job bijzonder graag. Pffft...<br><br>Na dit verplichte nummertje gaan we een wandeling doen in de buurt van Vilaflor.<br><br>Op aanraden van de ...

Vandaag gaan we klimmen op 2000 meter hoogte. Van aan de zee een klein uurtje rijden en al op 2000 meter hoogte zitten. Ons Renault Cliotje mag zich bewijzen! Uiteindelijk vrij rustig aan, maar we komen overal waar we willen!<br><br>Het is warm, de zon brandt en na vandaag besluiten we toch om ons maar goed in te smeren!<br><br>Bij terugkomst in Los Cristianos vinden we ons ...

... is the visitor centre at Teide which is still a hole in the ground! There is apparently now a moratorium on coastal building, not that there seems much room left in Los Cristianos/Las Americas, and even the dreaded timeshare touts appear to be no more. So we´ve been strolling up hills and down barrancos, making the most of the bus service, and admiring spectacular views. <br><br><br>We´ve seen a few volcanoes since our last visit, but Teide ...

... were having problems, we could send the trailer back and if there was something wrong with it, they'd repair or replace it. Not quite what you want to hear when you're three postal weeks away, and relying on this to carry your stuff for the next nine months. Ah well, the day ended well with wine from the market and dinner in a flash restaurant - happily funded by the 50 euros that Nicola snuck in to my birthday card, thanks!

... been a little less energetic than Andy, but we´ve still both done an excellent walk from Ifonche down to Arona, even if the weather was a little hazy and we couldn´t get the bus driver to stop in quite the right place! We´ve also been back to Las Cañadas (check out my Spanish punctuation!!) to do the walk up Guajara, although only Andy got to the top - I was stymied by a combination of tricky terrain, altitude and the deadline of the bus home. Next time we´ll hire a car. Still ...

... point on La Gomera at around 1500 metres. We were lucky with the weather and could see El Hierro, La Palma and the splendid sight of Teide rising above Tenerife. We then scrambled back down to get the same bus coming back (nearly missing it thanks to further navigation problems) and went on to Arure for the walk down to La Calera. This was titled ´the last word in views´ and did not disappoint, with vistas in all directions and Valle Gran Rey shown at its best. The end ...

a<br>bit more energetic over the last few days. We got the bus to Santiago<br>del Teide and got talking to Peter from the Netherlands, whose company<br>was much appreciated on the walk along the ridge above Masca. He was<br>carrying a rather large backpack but as he´s an experienced mountaineer<br>this just about kept him to our speed! The views were spectacular and<br>we got back just before it started to rain. The journey home involved<br>two buses and a long wait in Guia de Isora ...

... Americas for the architecture, but it is all done for the convenience of the visitor and a lot of work goes into making it look good - planting, painting etc. It is almost Disneyesque in places! The setting cannot be faulted, between the sea and the mountains - our bargain apartment has an unexpectedly colossal terrace with a 270 degree view over the water, the land and the resort - makes for great sunsets.<br><br>We are here for R and R ...

... time that I wish I had brought a camera.There is a bus strike on La Gomera so transport is skeletal, but as long as the boat continues we should be ok. Tomorrow (weather permitting, it rains a bit here in the mountains) we are going to try to get up to Alajero in the mountains and walk back down, before heading to Valle Gran Rey on Wednesday. It is just wonderful to be swimming and sunbathing in early December. We are very lucky.