Well, we’ve finally taken the plunge and hired a car!!!!
It was something I wanted to do (as we will almost certainly want to later on) but I was rather scared as I’ve never driven on the “wrong” side of the road. Chris had done so once before but really not enjoyed it. (It had been a necessity to get to an airport as he had been told that he could get there easily by public transport but no, it wasn’t possible, so he was under pressure!)
Graeme & Camille (Dreamtime Wanderer) and Cath & Bear (Claudia B) had all said that here was the ideal place to start as the roads are pretty good and there is not much traffic; and they were right; apart from almost putting us in the ditch a couple of times (I did find it hard to keep to the left – but then I do in England!!) and nearly giving Chris whiplash by hitting the brakes too hard, I got on fairly well and Chris became really confident so thanks guys!
It was something I wanted to do (as we will almost certainly want to later on) but I was rather scared as I’ve never driven on the “wrong” side of the road. Chris had done so once before but really not enjoyed it. (It had been a necessity to get to an airport as he had been told that he could get there easily by public transport but no, it wasn’t possible, so he was under pressure!)
Graeme & Camille (Dreamtime Wanderer) and Cath & Bear (Claudia B) had all said that here was the ideal place to start as the roads are pretty good and there is not much traffic; and they were right; apart from almost putting us in the ditch a couple of times (I did find it hard to keep to the left – but then I do in England!!) and nearly giving Chris whiplash by hitting the brakes too hard, I got on fairly well and Chris became really confident so thanks guys!
We picked the car up from the airport on Monday (about 3/4 hr bus ride away) and Chris drove back – I was chicken and had decided I wanted to start by the marina where there is lots af space and empty roads! Once I got going it was not too bad so we took the chance, texted Ray and Carol and drove down to Costa Calma to have a cup of tea with them. |
Ray and Carol had been speaking to Cath & Bear as we left their boat on Wednesday and I had bumped into them on the way back from shopping on Tuesday and we had had a glass of wine together on board Moontide. We left about 7.00 and it was quite dark so Chris drove back – another good lesson.
The next day we drove up to Corralejo at the north of the island, overlooking Isla Lobos and then Lanzarote – a place we may anchor if necessary on our way up to La Graciosa (we still HOPE to get there). I can’t say the scenery was much to look at – really just old volcanic hills BUT just south of Corralejo there were the most amazing white sand dunes on both sides of the road stretching down to a wonderful white beach – quite incredible. Corralejo itself was a very commercial sea-side town- rather “kiss-me-quick” but still an enjoyable time. We popped over to the big cat (catamaran – 2 hulled boat) on the other side of the pontoon for a beer with Jim and Debbie when we got back. We spent most of the next day trying to find a place to re-fill our gas bottles; we have 2 camping gas bottles but these work out pretty expensive so had wanted to fill our others but had no luck. Still it was more driving experience. On Thursday we returned the car to the airport and took the bus on to the capital – Puerto Rosario – a commercial port but with a small marina and an anchorage so we may call in there as access looks easy. On Friday and Saturday Chris was working hard (I did shopping and washing so I wasn't COMPLETELY lazy!!)sewing a new cover for our life-raft and a sail-cover for our staysail out of brown sail material and we are beginning to look really smart – only the new head sail to go to get rid of the blue covers! It is looking like we may leave mid-week to try to move further north but as always it depends on the winds etc. I’ll be in touch but again not sure when!! |
PS I understand that it's forecast to turn really cold in the next week or so. I can really sympathise - I've had to put a denim shirt on over my T-shirt today!!!!!!