La Gomera - Day 12

We had our final breakfast on the balcony then packed up and left.

We caught the bus to the airport after a little bit of confusion of the bus stop and the times.

Once at the airport there was a bit more hassle as the gate changed after we were told to board, and the plane was about 30 minutes late taking off..

We landed at Edinburgh about 5pm and caught the tram and train back to Linlithgow.

La Gomera - Day 11

It was our last full day today, and the weather forecast was hot and sunny. We caught a bus up the coast to La Caleta, and walked all the way back to Los Cristianos on the promenade.

We passed Costa Adeje and Playa de las Americas on the way. We stopped for some lunch in one of the (very) many bars/restaurants on the way.

Back at Los Cristianos we lay and sunbathed for a bit. We then went back to the apartment for a rest.

In the evening we went out to a Lebanese restaurant, which served us more food than we could eat and it was very good. Shirley had a chicken dish for the main course and Scott had lamb.

La Gomera - Day 10

We had our last breakfast on the patio then packed up and left the apartment.

We drove to San Sebastián and handed the car back to Cicar. We then caught the 11.00 Armas ferry back to Los Cristianos on Tenerife.

The ferry now had a Christmas tree, which hadn't been there on the way out.

Once we disembarked we walked up to one of the restaurants on the pedestrianised part near the beach for some lunch - a couple of rather disappointing salads.

We then walked up the hill to our apartment at Club Tenerife in the extreme south of the town. We were able to check in just after 3pm. It's a very well set out apartment with everything we need.

After a rest we went out for a walk to suss out the local area, and had a drink at a cocktail bar.

Later we went out for dinner at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant nearby. At this you choose what you want to eat and get the chefs to cook it on a hot plate. All sorts of meats, vegetable and spices, with hot starters and puddings as well. It was all very good.

La Gomera - Day 9

We decided to go on a walk by the coast today. First we drove to the village of Alojera, which entailed first going all the way to the top of the island then back down again. We parked near a small bar then set off down a track through the village.

Eventually leaving the houses behind we continued down to a secluded rocky beach. It had some kind of oven there, and lots of rock shelters.

From there we walked up and over a ridge to the main village beach, which has a small sea water swimming pool. We had our lunch there.

Then there was a steep zig zag path up to the main part of the village, it was getting very hot by then.

We drove back to Valle Gran Rey, and had a bit of a sunbathe and paddle at our local beach.

Later we went out again to catch the sunset. The island on the horizon is El Hierro.

Dinner was pasta with vegetables.

La Gomera - Day 8

We drove up to the village of Las Hayas and went for a walk through the laurel forests. The track went up to a picnic area then down into a gorge. Some of the trees were obviously very ancient.

After this we decided we were up for a more challenging walk, so drove on to park at a point where we could start a walk up to El Garajonay, the highest point on the island. The path was mostly well-surfaced, and we got to the top while the visibility was still good.

The way down was on the GR131 route, quite a spectacular part round the edge of a gorge.

We skirted the village of Chipude then had quite a long uphill stretch back to the car. Back in Valle Gran Rey we had a drink while watching some Germans play a game of boules.

Later for dinner we had an omelette.

La Gomera - Day 7

Shirley wasn't feeling up to a long walk today so stayed around Valle Gran Rey, going for a stroll up and down the coast.

Meanwhile Scott drove up the valley a mile or so and then started a walk up the steep side of the gorge. It went from 100m or so up to over 1000m at the top.

The highest point was at the village of El Cercado.

From there the walk went down through terraces and pastures, and through a remote hidden valley.

The path reached a chapel high above the valley floor.

From there it went steeply back down to the bottom, finishing at a church.

Later for dinner we had pork steaks and potato wedges.