Off on my bike : Lanzarote

El Molino.

Still a little bit of cycling to do to get to the boat, five whole miles through the holiday homes of Mazagón.  Then I stow the bike in the bowels of the 'Volcán del Teide', a large, modern ferry, and enjoy a day of not doing a lot.  So good to be able to just sit around, sunbathe, read - there is even a little show in the evening, dancing in various styles.  My allocated pullman seat isn't terribly comfy, but I find a sofa to curl up on instead and sleep like a log, helps that the boat is not terribly busy.

Peñas del Chache.

More lazing around in the morning, then after lunch the boat docks, and I actually cycle a bit, through Arrecife and up into the hills.  I am aware that somewhere on the island there are beaches and lobster-red northern Europeans, but not for me, I am heading into the centre, about as far from the sea as Lanzarote gets.  First impressions, it is a dry, arid even, windy place, with little in the way of plant life.  Fields of black gravel with crops poking out, often with carefully built arrays of semi circular walls as protection from the wind.  Villages of solid stone built houses with flat roofs and whitewashed walls, one such being my destination, Tiagua.  Only a twelve mile or so ride and three hundred metres in altitude, but I must look hungry on arrival as my hosts provide a large plate of tuna empanada, cheese, chorizo and even some wine.  Accommodation is in one of the buildings associated with an old windmill, most cool.

Viniculture, Lanzarote style.

I have a free day on the island, so of course I decide to ride up to the highest point - no, really, Peñas del Chache is only six hundred and seventy metres above sea level, and ten miles or so away, and without the luggage weighing me down I power up it.  Shame the very top is inaccessible due to the military installation there but what can you do.  Back via the historic town of Teguise, many old buildings and museums, I like the former grain store that is now a bank.  Not much to do in Tiagua of an evening, but I get a pizza and find a bar with the football on, that'll do nicely.

Back on the bike next morning, I ride through lava fields, past numerous volcanoes, lines of tourists on camels, and a large salt works.  On to Playa Blanca, this is more of a tourist area, but I'm here to get a boat, I can see the next island, Fuerteventura, it's only eight miles or so away.  Time for some lunch and a beer or two, and then me and the bike are back on the ocean wave, let the island hopping continue!

El Diablo de Timanfaya.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.