A Trip too far?

Or maybe I'm just getting old!

Mosquitoes, bug spray, a beach which was washed away in a cyclone before Christmas, Indian Bureaucracy, and that's not to mention that there is hardly a licensed premises to be found.

Perhaps I need a day or two to acclimatise but not overwhelmed with the charms of the place just yet, or perhaps its time to let someone else take care of the tour arrangements - jury is still out.

Lets see how I am feeling after 8 days of vegetarian, alcohol-free yoga retreat - probably as chilled as that ice cold beer that John Mills drove all the way to Alexandria for!

Having said all that, we are staying in a very peaceful place on the edge of the backwaters and can watch the fishermen at their work with their 'chinese' nets and see the Brahminy Kites flying all around. Up early tomorrow for a boat trip and some bird-watching - I'm sure that will make me feel better.

While it is a pity that we are unable to enjoy the beach because most of the sand was washed away in a storm, we are only here for 4 days - what about all those businesses around us who rely on the beach to draw in their customers!

Where's Scotty when you need him?

Our departure was only spoiled by the failure of the jetway so that instead of walking from the warm dry terminal to a warm dry aircraft, we had to walk out into a cold, wet Edinburgh morning - just like Ryanair and queue in the rain. Still the first glass of fizz made us feel better.
Uneventful flight - service and food were fine but the A330 is getting a little bit dated and worn. Had plenty of reading to catch up on so not really bothered that my screen system wasn't working.
Arrival and transfer at Abu Dhabi went smoothly but what a busy place - and of course primarily a shopping mall. Interesting to note that a litre of Johnnie Walker Black was about £28 - not sure its much of a deal when you can buy a bottle in Asda for about £23!
Think we took the bumpy road to Cochin - seat belt sign on for most of the flight and at one point even the cabin crew told to take their seats - but otherwise fine except for the air traffic delay which meant that we were about 40 mins late.
Cochin is a very new, very shiny, and very efficient airport - claims to be the first airport wholly powered by solar energy. Straight through immigration, the bag arrived quickly and even our driver was waiting in the agreed place - but again a very busy place even at 4.15am on a Sunday morning.
Transfer to the hotel took about 45 mins and we finally got to our room - and bed - by about 5.15.
Would have been so much easier if Gene Roddenberry had invented the transporter machine instead of just the TV series!

Its that time again!

A bit later than usual this year but we have reached that point where the spare bed is covered with holiday clothes waiting to be packed; the bags have been prepared; shopping finished; vaccinations (9 of them each) up to date; so all that remains is a bit of packing.

We have decided to head for Kerala in the south of India this year. Originally we had thought about Goa as well but it seemed a little too busy and touristy so we have opted for just over 4 weeks travelling around Kerala.

We leave on Saturday morning - Etihad to Abu Dhabi and then on to Kochi - arriving in the early hours of Sunday. First stop will be Cherai Beach - about an hour from the airport - and a few days to acclimatise and sort out some practical details before we get on the road.

Given the prevalence of vegetarian menus where we are headed, and an apparently growing area where alcohol is prohibited, we are just off to The Ox on Broughton Street for a large steak and a bottle or two of red wine.

A perfect end to our trip

With half a day to fill between our arrival in Tenerife on the ferry from La Gomera and our flight departure for Edinburgh, we followed the advice of our friendly guide Juan Miguel and picked up a hire car from CiCar at the port - €39 all in for the day with fully comp insurance and no worries about checking for scratches and dents etc.

Drove along the coast to a little fishing village- Tajao- which has so far avoided the mass tourism crowd and had an excellent lunch at Agua y Sal.

While we stood waiting for our table we had a chat with one of the waiters about the fish on display and chose the three courses of our meal - Grilled langoustine and Scallops to start, Spaghetti a la Marinara to follow and  sardine and tuna brochettas to finish. A reasonable half litre of ice cold white wine to wash it down and a cafe solo to follow - all for less than £50. Just the sort of meal that Bernie G would have enjoyed - and probably still does.

Due the onset of the Scirocco wind from the Sahara, the temperature was hovering around 37C and really too hot for anything other than a quick stroll around the port and back to the air-conditioned comfort of the airport terminal and hordes of our compatriots who have gone from the blue-white skin tone of their arrival to something akin to the that of the grilled langoustine we had for lunch.

Leaving La Gomera

We have talked about coming here for a walking holiday for about 12 years - so it was good to finally make the trip. Really enjoyed the island and the walking - probably as challenging as I would choose now.

Will have to plan another trip in a year or two.

The final walk

For our last walk, we hiked to the top of the island – Alto de Garajonay. Great view point although the cloud was just clearing as we started the walk.

From there we headed cross country to La Cercada and the local pottery centre – where we weren’t really tempted by their artisan products – and then on to Chipude and Sonia’s Bar and restaurant for our lunch stop. Great food but a bit more than we needed since we still had 2-3 hours of walking which finished with a climb to the top of La Forteleza.

Aside from the guide, Linda and I were the only ones to go all the way to the view point at the top – which was hidden in the cloud when we got there. The descent was a bit more challenging than the ascent but a great finish to the day and to our week of walking.

Short taxi ride home in time for shower and pre-dinner drinks. Unfortunately, Linda was laid low by something in the lunch and had to retire before dinner – thankfully nothing major and she was back to normal in time for breakfast.

On our own for the last day – all our fellow walkers departed at the crack of sparrow-fart this morning – 7.00am ferry to Los Cristianos and their respective flights home. We had a leisurely morning by the pool, strolled into town for lunch, back to the pool for the afternoon and then back into town for dinner. 

While it has been a good holiday it feels like we have been in one place too long – perhaps it would have been better as a two centre holiday – 7-8 nights in one place is too much for me.

Brandy for breakfast

After resting on Saturday, Juan Miguel was keen to get us moving again on Sunday morning, one of the ladies had come down with a head cold so only 6 of us leaving the hotel for the drive to Valle Hermoso. It took nearly an hour to cover 35km over numerous switchbacks and ascents and descents and we were ready for a coffee stop before the start of the walk.

The only place that was open seemed to be the haunt of the towns less salubrious characters – avoided the temptation to join them drinking brandy for breakfast and settled for my regular café solo.

Today’s walk had been billed as a gently undulating trail on the northwest of the island leading to a small chapel and then a coastal path leading us back to town. Since we had driven down to the bottom of the valley, we started – as usual with a long climb – and found that for the first half of the walk, the undulations were decidedly upwards and by the time we reached the chapel – our lunch stop – we were walking in the low cloud.

This stayed with us for walk around the coastal path so that the views were a little limited but cleared as we headed back to town along a path which only undulated  downwards.

Quick coffee stop in town – same place, same clientele still drinking brandy – before we headed back to the hotel. Another pleasant but challenging hike through another very different terrain.