Day 1, Wednesday 22nd February
Departed for Gatwick on the Airport Express Coach at 8:30am to catch 14:10 flight to Gran Canaria I had an uneventful flight, landing at Gran Canaria airport at 18:10 I pick up my hire car and drive to Las Palmas. This was a bit challenging at first – nighttime driving, left hand drive car, and traffic - a bit like driving in London. The streets were also very narrow near my accommodation! But no prangs! I Booked into my accommodation then went for a meal.
Day 2, Thursday 23rd February
This morning I drove down the coast to the campsite at Player de Vargas. After booking in, I did some shopping for food provisions and tried to locate gas for my stove. I had some lunch at Player de Vargas, then went for a walk and later went to the beach for a couple of hours.
Two problems today – I couldn’t locate any gas for my camping stove and my airbed has a leak and deflates!
Day 3, Friday 24th February
I had a pretty good nights sleep despite waking up a few times to re-inflate the mattress. After a good breakfast I headed down to Maspalomas to find the beach. I got there at 10:30 and stayed till late afternoon. While there, I saw a small (6”) lizard in the Dunes – fed it some apple from my lunch! Then drove to my campsite in the mountains at Presa de las Ninas. What a beautiful location!!! It had an area set aside for camping, plus a barbecue area with stone fireplaces, a toilet block nearby and a water supply.
Day 4, Saturday 25th February
Drove down to Puerto de Mogan, then walked to La Playa de Veneguera. On the way I passed a banana plantation (quite common on Gran Canaria) and spotted a small bird of prey (Kestral?) I stayed on the beach for a couple of hours before walking back to Puerto de Mogan. Total distance walked about 8 miles in 4 hours. I treated myself to a Chinese ‘Eat As Much As You Can’ meal on the seafront of Puerto de Mogan, before driving back to camp for the night.
Day 5, Sunday 26th February
A beach day today!!! Wall to wall sunshine and blue skies again. Drove down to Playa de Veneguera. The road down the Barranco de Veneguera (Ravine) from Casa de Veneguera is a rough, unsealed, track, of distance about 5 miles! Careful - mind the boulders and (dry) ford crossings that have steep banks – real damage can be done to the underside of a car!
Had a good time on the beach sunbathing and going for a quick dip to cool off. Water temperature I was told was about 20 deg C. Not too much of a shock to the system, but not warm enough for me to stay in for a long time.
In late afternoon I travelled to Puerto de Mogan to do some food shopping, I had a meal and filled up with petrol, then headed back to camp. Petrol is cheap a little over half of what we pay in the UK.
Day 6, Monday 27th February
Drove to nearby (15 miles) Soria for the start of a walk. I was intending to do Rambling Roger’s Walk number 20. I didn’t get as far as I had hoped though. I had intended to return by a different (shorter) route but the tracks on the ground didn’t correspond to the tracks on the map, so I returned the way I had come on reaching the Chira Reservoir. I got back to base about 15:00 so relaxed in the sun on the hillside for a couple of hours. There were a couple of co-campers from Edinburgh on the campsite. I haven’t come across many English-speaking people in the mountain areas so it was good to chat. I had a barbeque tonight using some wood I found by one of the stone fireplaces.
Day 7, Tuesday 28th February
Today I plan to do part of rambling Roger’s Walk 25, Tasartico to San Nicolas. But before leaving the campsite I test the airbed to see if it can be fixed. I found 4 leaks and patched with the repair kit. I drove to Tasartico and parked the car in the village, then walked to the pass on Montana de Aguas Sabinas. I then returned to the car and drove down the Barranco de Tasartico to the beach at Playa del Asno where I stayed for a couple of hours including a dip in the quite rough water. Then it was time to get back to camp and have a meal. I shared a barbecue fire with the campsite couple I met yesterday. Tomorrow I move on to a new campsite at Llanos Del Mimre (Tamadaba).
Day 8, Wednesday 29th February
I spend the morning at the Presa de las Ninas campsite before travelling to my new campsite at Llanos Del Mimre (Tamadaba). I get supplies; food, postcards and stamps in Tejeda, then write and post my cards. It was then time to continue my journey to Artenara and then onto the campsite where I arrived at 18:30. It was getting dusk when I finally arrived. The official campsite was located separately from the picnic/barbecue area about 600 metres away. I was running out of daylight and needed food and to pitch the tent, so I decided to do this in the picnic area for the night. The next day, I would move the tent to the official camping area.
Site under construction - watch this space!
