The Canary Islands, like the Madeiran archipelago, are volcanic in origin and Lanzarote is the northernmost main island in the group. It was the first to be colonised by Europeans in the 14th century. Most of the volcanic eruptions took place nearly 4,000 years ago, and the island was quickly settled, but between 1730 and 1736 there were massive new eruptions which totally devastated most of the south west of the island. Over 25 new craters appeared in those 6 years and the fertile plain around the village of Timanfaya was transformed into a desolate, blackened and hostile landscape. This area is now a National Park.

We visited the park and were transported over a moonlike landscape in one of the park buses. Private cars are only allowed as far as the Visitor Centre and the only other ways you can travel are by camel tours or on a guided walk. We tried to book a walk but alas, they were booked up for days ahead. The Visitor Centre contains a restaurant, El Diablo, where your meal is cooked over an open well 5 metres deep with a temperature of between 80 and 200C. Gorse bushes are magically set alight in a hole in the ground outside, also water poured into holes in the ground erupts like geysers with a loud ‘swoosh’.

We went back to Arrecife one day and found it wasn’t as scruffy as our first impression of the dock area. The centre is a typical Spanish town with cafés and squares and also a large inland lagoon, the Charco de San Ginés, which is the original hub of the town.

We also visited two famous cave formations, the Cueva de los Verdes  and the Jameos del Aqua. Jameo means ‘a large cave, hollow or volcanic bubble which has burst giving access from above’. Both sets of caves are part of a 6 kilometre long volcanic tube which runs from the Mount Corona volcano in the north of the island to the sea on the east coast.

We also went by car up to the topmost point of the island to the Mirador del Río. This was a gun battery and spectacularly overlooks the island of Graciosa where we anchored last month. It is so well camouflaged that try as we might, we could not see it while we were on Graciosa.

We also visited the Jardín de Cactus, a spectacular display of over 10,000 plants of over 1,400 species. They are laid out in a circular amphitheatre of volcanic stone below a traditional windmill.

All of these sites are the inspiration and intuition of one man. César Manrique was a Lanzarote-born artist (1919-1992) who had a great influence on the way the island was developed for tourism. After living in Madrid and New York for a number of years he returned for good to the island in 1966 and began creating works of civic art throughout the island. It is through his insistence on sustainable tourism that Lanzarote is now a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the first complete island to have that honour. Every village is neat with white houses. There are no billboards by the sides of the roads, no neon shop signs, no electricity cables hanging around everywhere as in the rest of Spain and no huge buildings. Modern architecture blends in with the monuments and old buildings. Manriques mantra was, ‘art and nature, nature and art’. It is evident in the whole island that the people share his love of nature and the environment, especially such a fragile one as Lanzarote.

Manriques house at Tahiche is now a museum and foundation and was built by the artist over five volcanic bubbles. It is an amazing experience to wander through different underground rooms, some with open ceilings, amid the lava flow. His sense of style is evident throughout all of his civic creations on the island. Architecture merges with nature and artistic works look as natural as their surroundings.

Pat has visited Lanzarote before - on a holiday with Carol. People who have visited her flat back in Sunderland will have seen the Manrique artwork on the walls there!

Mike was fascinated by the agriculture on the island. Even in parts not affected by the recent eruptions, farmers have to work very hard to scrape a living from this dry landscape. The soil beneath the volcanic ash is very rich and one of the methods used to grow fig trees, vines and other fruit trees is to plant them in deep trenches beneath the ash. To protect the crops from the wind, little semicircular stone walls called ‘zocos’ are built, protecting the plant from the effects of the winds. The volcanic ash laid on top of the soil allows the humidity through at night, yet prevents its evaporation during the day. Thanks to this technique, melons, water melons, potatoes, onions, garlic and corn are grown without irrigation. Amazing!

Having the use of a hire car made such a difference to our time on Lanzarote. We were able to visit all the main sights in the three days we had the car, and still found time to swim and walk locally near Puerto Calero, a really nice marina. There were not too many of the usual touristy shops selling perfumes and designer clothes.

We took our leave of Lanzarote after 8 days on 7th September and made the short hop across the strait to our next island, Fuerteventura.

Fuerteventura is a lot different to Lanzarote. It is closer to Africa and has a definite hint of the Sahara about it. It is the second largest of the Canaries, being 60 miles long with an area of 668 square miles. It has the best beaches and the best climate of all of the Canary Islands. Sun worshippers flock to the miles of golden beaches and great billowing white sand dunes.

The capital, which we did not visit, is Puerto del Rosario. The whole island does not have a population of much more than 40,000. Fuerteventura came late to the tourist phenomenon and there are no giant resorts.

We did the 15 mile journey in 3 and 1/2 hours and tied up in the small marina at Corralejo. This is a busy little port cum resort and we found we liked this small town as we explored. We intended to stay for three nights and do some walking but ended up only staying for one. The pontoons had security gates and when we arrived back after our walk around town, found the gate locked and we hadn’t been given an access key. We found a security guard who didn’t speak one word of English and to the mime of unlocking the gate he indicated he would come around to let us on to the pontoon. That was a bit annoying as we had wanted to go out for a bite to eat later. The next morning Mike enquired about a key at the office but was told that there were no keys issued  to boat owners! There weren’t many visitors in this small marina. Most boats were owned locally so perhaps they didn’t mind not being free to come and go as they please. (We were later told that there had been some thieving and that they had just recently installed the gates).

Our next port of call was at one of the few purpose built resorts, Caleta de Fuste, 23 miles away. The marina here is called Puerto del Castillo. A very friendly Capitania welcomed us with his last remaining berth and we spent the next couple of days just enjoying the sandy beach. Pat still keeps trying to breathe through her nose instead of her mouth while snorkelling! According to the Pilot book, this resort was originally built for German holidaymakers, but we only saw Brits while we were there. It was funny to see the bars advertising not only live football on their big screen TV’s, but all the soaps from home, and even Big Brother!

We left on the 10th for the second largest town on the island, Gran Tarajal, only 15 miles away, which has a large marina. Unfortunately, a very big fishing competition was being held there that week so we weren’t able to get in. No bother. We just anchored in the bay and were perfectly comfortable. Going ashore that night we hoped to find a bar showing the England - Croatia game which was advertised in all the bars back at Castillo. Not a one! We found one small bar showing the live Spain - Armenia game so we had to make do with that. Gran Tarajal is again a nice little town. Not many tourists here but a nice sea front and a small old town atmosphere.

The next day, after watching the massed start of the fishing competition (there must have been over a hundred boats) we upped anchor and sailed the 21 miles to our last stop on Fuerteventura, Morro Jable. Now this is a resort full of Germans! There are many apartments and hotels alongside the beach here but the whole area is really pleasant. There is still a nice feel to the town behind the beach - and we must say - what a beach! North from Morrow Jable the beaches extend for miles, especially popular with nudists, but the one here was quite spectacular enough for us. We went ashore in the dinghy and again chilled out. It was nice to order a pizza from a cafe just behind where we were sitting, and for the waiter to hand it over the wall to us when it was cooked! We spent 3 nights at anchor here and Pat didn’t sleep for two of them. There are wind acceleration zones in certain sections of the Canaries, where the usual trade winds are funnelled through the mountains or around headlands, and Morro Jable is in one of them! No exaggeration, one night the wind was constant at 45 knots for long periods. Pat thought our wind generator was going to be whirled away! Luckily, our anchor held well in the sand although other boats were slipping. It was only during the night the wind really got up. During the day it was a nice cooling breeze!

We feel we would have liked to stay longer on Fuerteventura and explore inland a little bit, but we had to keep moving as we had to be in Tenerife by the 19th as Trevor and Shirley from Cramlington were coming for a holiday. So, on 14th we left for the intervening island, Gran Canaria.

Gran Canaria has been described as a ‘continent in miniature’ and is almost round in shape with great ravines or ‘barrancos’ which radiate from the central peak, Los Pechos.

We arrived in Las Palmas marina after a 12 hour journey from Morrow Jable. The large marina was full of local boats and yachts preparing for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which leaves near the end of November every year to cross the Atlantic to St Lucia. All the local boats have to leave the marina from October onwards until the start of the rally, and there are obviously no visitors welcome in that period either. Almost 200 boats make the crossing every year. There had been some reports of boats broken into in the last few days before we got there so we made sure we were all locked up when we went ashore.

We were very pleased to see that our German friends on Narwhal, Annd and Bente with baby Siri, were already there and we welcomed them aboard to catch up with news. We were informed that Siri was no longer a baby as she had just celebrated her second birthday! She was carrying her own provisions in a little backpack and was very proud to do so.

Las Palmas itself seemed too large for us at first. We have been in small towns and villages for a long time now so were overwhelmed by a big city again. After exploring though, we found that we liked it, and the old town is particularly beautiful with grand churches and buildings.

Again we didn’t have a lot of time to spare for Gran Canaria but we got the bus up to Galdar, a town on the north west corner of the island to visit the Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave).This is an amazing archaeological museum and park.

When the Spaniards first discovered the Canaries in the 15th century they found aboriginal inhabitants called the Guanche. They are thought to have possibly come from central and southern Europe via northern Africa in some distant age. They had brown complexions, blue or grey eyes, and blondish hair, and these characteristics still persist in a large number of present inhabitants of the islands, but otherwise they are scarcely distinguishable in appearance or culture from the people of Spain.

When discovered by the Spaniards, the aborigines belonged to a Neolithic culture, though they were advanced enough to have pottery. Their food staples consisted mainly of milk, butter, goat flesh, pork, and some fruits; and their clothing comprised leather tunics or vests made of plaited rushes. They left alphabet-like engravings and characters whose meanings are obscure, but they are known to have been monotheists. They lived in settlements of stone houses and also in caves.

There are Guanche remains all over the Canaries, especially in Fuerteventura. Most are untouched but unfortunately they are mostly unprotected and are therefore crumbling away.

The village at Galdar was discovered in 1987 beneath sugar cane plantations and since then the remains of over 60 houses and caves have been uncovered. The cave with the painted wall is believed to have been used for ceremonies for the dead as mummified bodies were found in adjacent chambers. The whole complex is open to the elements but protected from the sun by a gigantic roof. The logistics of how the authorities were able to erect the roof without damaging the site is beyond us!

This museum with guided tour was well worth the entrance fee of €6 and we would recommend it to anyone visiting Gran Canaria. Photography within the museum is not allowed so unfortunately we have no photos to show you but you can go to the web site here. The town of Galdar is pleasant also, with a splendid church square and quiet streets.

Apart from Galdar, our only other visit was to the Jardins Canaria, a botanical garden not far from Las Palmas. We travelled in style in a car hired by Bente and enjoyed a couple of hours exploring a vast complex of all kinds of flora.

After a couple of days we left for Tenerife and we had to motor sail all of the 58 miles to Santa Cruz. We have had some cracking sails since leaving Europe but this day there wasn’t a breath of wind for most of the journey. We were joined for a short time by a group of dolphins and you felt you could almost touch them as the water on our bow was so clear and calm.

Tenerife is the largest island in the group, and is named after the Guanche words for ‘white mountain’ referring to Spain’s highest mountain, Teide, which is often snow-capped. Teide is the highest mountain in all Spanish territory, not just the Canaries, and stands at a grand height of 3718 metres (12,198 ft). We hope to climb it while we are here.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife (to give it it’s full name) is a large modern city of over 200,000 inhabitants. It began life in the 15th century as a simple fishing harbour, then developed into the main port for the old capital of La Laguna, just inland. The Canary Island waters were infested by pirates and many attacks were made on Spanish ships returning from the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these pirates were English and French privateers, backed by their governments who were trying to take over the Canary Islands and to wrest control of the lucrative Americas trade from the Spanish.

Santa Cruz suffered one such attack by the English pirate Robert Blake in 1657. He managed to sink a treasure fleet in the harbour but was driven back to sea.

In 1797 another important battle took place. The British fleet commanded by Lord Nelson tried to take the city but were again successfully repulsed. It was in this battle that Nelson lost his right arm.

The other main incident involving Santa Cruz is that it was here that General Franco, who was captain general of the Canary Islands at the time, organised the uprising that was launched from Ceuta in 1936 to begin the Spanish Civil War.

On arriving in Santa Cruz in time to meet up with Trevor and Shirley, we decided that, as Sheila and Jim are coming out in October, that this is as good a place as anywhere to stay for a while. There are many good chandlers here and we have already bought and fitted another solar panel, a new wi-fi aerial, enamel paint and many other things. There are always so many jobs to do on the boat. We’re not just on holiday you know!

We cycled the 10 kilometres north to San Andrés where there is a splendid beach which the local people use. There are all the facilities you would want (toilets, showers, changing cabins) and a number of small kiosks serving food and drinks. There are shady palm trees dotted all along the sand which, incidentally, was again imported from Morocco. A lovely spot.

We travelled down to Playa de las Americas by bus to see Trevor and Shirley with their son Chris and girlfriend Chloe. They had rented a six bed apartment for the week and so we stayed overnight. We enjoyed an evening in a Soul club and were treated to the sound of the Temptations and others. They visited us in their hire car a couple of days later where we treated them to salted sardines cooked on the barbecue. It was good to hear the sounds of home again, even though they are all Newcastle supporters!

We haven’t quite worked out how the bus system works yet. We bought a ‘Bono’ card for €12 each which gives you half price bus travel anywhere on the island. We put it in the machine on the journey to and from Las Americas, and the back of the ticket was stamped with €4.70 each trip. Other local people were using cards but were getting off halfway at villages so how does the machine know the difference? And what do we do if we only want to travel halfway? We’ll find out eventually I suppose.

We visited the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (the museum of Nature and Man), in Santa Cruz which gives an insight into the natural flora and fauna of the Canary Islands on one hand and the history and culture of the Guanche on the other. Admission was free on Sundays so that’s when we went. It was €3 for an audio guide in English so that helped us as all the information labels are in Spanish! Much research has been done into the lifestyle of the Guanche on all the islands and there is a large collection of artefacts and also mummified bodies discovered in burial chambers.

So that’s us for now. We are here for another month so next month’s update should be short and sweet, but we’ll find something to tell you about, I’m sure.

Bye for now.

Photos below as usual.