The Longest New Years Day

Happy New Year! And what happier a way to start things off than under a deep blue sky!

We were moving on to the next phase of our trip today, and leaving behind our lovely Appartment in 'Portal H'. But not before taking our first swim and snorkel of the year, in the crystal clear waters of the sea.

The water was deliciously clear, with shafts of sunlight going down to great depths - much deeper than I could dive to. There were plenty of fish to swim with and at one point with were right in amoungst a huge shoal of thousands. The best looking ones were black with an electric blue stripe.

After lunch, we cleared out of our Appartment and drove west for the next phase of the trip. After punishing the Twingo up some insanely steep roads in the back end of nowhere to eventually  ending near Tenerife's biggest crag - Guarra. The heat over on this side of the island is noticeably hotter and we had a great view of neighbouring island, La Gomera.

Walking in to the crag was desperately hot and it soon became apparent that even if we made it there without collapsing with heat exhaustion, there was no way we'd be climbing all afternoon. 

Dodging the cacti and following a tiny trail of rock cairns, we persevered and sweated our way around to a pretty impressive looking crag. Which was radiating heat

There was virtually no shade in which to hide, but luckily we found just enough of a cave in which to hide, which was quite literally a life saver!

Eventually, body temperatures declined and we snuck out of the cave and up onto our first climb of 2016! 

A cracking route, but boy was it hot! 

One route was all we could handle, so we made the trek back past the cacti, round to the car and rolled off down the hill in search of our new accommodation.

What followed was a roller coast of emotion, bad luck and good fortune! By now, we were both pretty much out of it, suffering slightly from a combination of heat stroke, late nights and dehydration. Imagine out disappointment then to find out that having located our next appartment (after several wrong turns), it was double booked and there was already a party of Germans in residence! The rather scatty owner denied all knowledge of our booking (despite us having an email - with a photo of her - suggesting the contrary!). Anyway, a night on the back seat of the hire car was looming.... The lady did ring round some friends to try and get us a bed, but had no luck. In many ways I was pretty relieved not to be staying, as her accommodation looked pretty grim to be honest, but the idea of starting the year off bedding down in a Renault Twingo was not one I was particularly psyched about!

Eventually we left her 'Finca' and with sketch map in hand, drove off on a 'last chance' recommendation. A cafe she new of apparently had some apartments above them?... Locating the (closed) cafe, there was a guy out on a balcony above it. I asked if he knew if the owner was home or if any other rooms were free. On hearing of our plight, he phoned his fried who lived nearby. This friend took us to another friend, who then phoned someone else and after some fast flowing exchanges, we were told 'there is hope - we wait'!. 

Five minutes later a car arrived and Sonia, (owner of the appartment arrives). It had not been cleaned from the last guests, but when she took us inside so we could see what we thought, this was the view from the balcony!

There was no way we were leaving! We agreed the price (cheaper than what we'd booked as well!) and before we knew it, our new found friends we busing around the house, tidying up, tuning the TV, collecting towels and at one point there were three ladies making the bed in the tiny bedroom! 

Then they left us in peace and we were finally alone with a roof over our heads, a fresh bed, some fine foods and even a small glass of wine in which to toast the start of the year and continued good fortunes! 

Guarra:

- Que bonitas son mis ninas (5+)