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.