LA GOMERA (E) DIARY  2

               From Diary 1.
30. Day 3. I head back south, just to explore the dry area around the airport. It is well over an hour’s drive to my first sight, but despite the lack of sun, it is great. Then the sun is clear, but only on the other side of the mountains. A giant rainbow show up down on the coast, then I cross the ridge and meet the sun - face on.

I reach the other side at 800 meters, and then dive into the forest tunnel. Mirador de Mocanillo don’t really display anything special. It seems like the area get a lot of dew. The tree-stems are covered in mosses and lichens, and even the road is wet. I find a sunny spot at nine, and eat the bread I bought yesterday for breakfast.

When I get down to 1300 meters in the southern side, it turns into grassland. I do a hike at 1100 meters, on the other side from Ermita de El Paso, and despite the lack of sun, it is great. Here are several interesting plants, and I scars up a flock of partridges, and I see several around this in clima-zone.

Then pass endless stone walls, on the barren slopes, pass the airport and into the tourist town of Santiago and it’s beach. It is a crappy gravel road the last part, and no parking lot. There is no access to the rocky water front, way below. It seems to be another Covid19 victim, intended to be a tourist compound, like a few others around Santiago.

I head down town to have a stroll and find lunch. It is a tiny town, only the beach front and one half alley behind. The beach is wide, but made up by fist-sized stones. I find my car dealer, and tell him, I have blinded the camera. He fully understands. I then help two blokes unloading gypsum plasterboards from a lorry.

A bit further along the coast, Playa del Medio is found. The one lane road passes a little farm and huge bone-dry mountain sides, which once were farmed. Now only the endless walls and a few native plants remains.

I follow the narrow remains of an aqueduct to an outcrop at the sea. Quite some interesting plants and a nice view.
Then down to Playa del Medio, where a few divers are found. I grab my lunch, and find a sunny spot to enjoy it along with the sea-view and a single seagull.

The variety of lave is large, and I gather some for a photo. I also find some limpet, and when I realise; they are shaped just like the island, one might become my souvenir from here.

I boot up, and do the hike to Playa de Chinguarime, to see Barranco de Chinguarime. Well, despite the blue colour on the map, it is just yet another dry ravine.

At one o’clock, I’ve see the sights if the day, but get a head start on some other sights, found along the road home. The first is Targa a little scattered village. Just as I’m about to enter the area, it starts to rain. To judge by the succulents, it is a first in a real long time. It is a real cosy settlement, and I just have to return on a sunny day.

As I head onwards to the next site, which includes a hike, the drizzle intensifies, and I figure; the other side of the island will be more suitable for me.
I try La Laguna Grande's El Contadero for another hike. The fog joins in higher up, but I have to stop at two minor peaks, to enjoy both plants, lichen and views.

It keep raining on the big top, and I seek lower ground on the northern side. I stop breathily at a forest, to enjoy the moss-overgrown stems.
When I pass 1000 meters, the sun is back, so are the astonishing views.

I almost pass home, on my way to little Arguamul. It is a seven kilometres, one lane road, cut into the coastal cliffs. The views are endlessly and breathtaking.
Here is a bit fertile, and they have small gardens and palms for their sap, and I actually see some goats.

Most buildings in the little settlement are ancient and abandoned, but here are surely romantic. The sea is close, but 2600 meters hiking away.
I save Guillama, the seaside settlement, for another sunny day, and head homewards at four o'clock. I get to enjoy a bit of sun and coffee, before I start with the 333 photos and diary.
The sunset is a bit average - for a Canarie one, that is. If it wasn't for the refrigerator, here would be absolutely quiet.
The highlights from Day 3. The lot from Day3.

31. Day 4. It is a busy day, except the sights are located quite close to each other. It is on the others side of the central highland, at the north-eastern coast.
I start chasing down some morning sun, and sit and warm-up, along with the lizards. Well, the night stayed at 20C, and neither of are actually cold, but it is still nice.

The first part is bye familiar roads, but they still look great. Here are hardly any traffic before ten, and I just enjoy the drive. I stop several times, once at Mirador de Tajaque, overseeing Benchijigua; the central crater. 
On the other side of the wall, El Bailadero is even better looking. 

The plants on the wall along the road, looks like the perfect botanical garden. The dandelions reach two meters around here, while the tree branches are completely covered in mosses, here at 1000 meters height.
Right around the corner, Mirador de El Rejo offers yet another astonishing view, both to mountains, farms and the distant sea. 

Eventually, after way too many photos, I make it to Hermigua - or at least the lookout for it. It is a cosy town, scattered around on an eastern slope, with lush farmland in the valley, and terraces up the mountain sides. I am so impressed by the work ancient farmers have put into building these terraces, and present day's farmers can't be bothered using them. I need quite some time, absorbing the view.

While I do a bit of a detour up a little populated canyon, the sun starts to be a bit unpredictable, which the photos suffer from. I park in the upper part of the main town, and see the rather disappointing Convento de Santo Dominigo. Then a long stroll in the upper main street, with views to the gardens and older buildings. 

I do another stroll in the central part too, with banks, cafes, farms and the church, which surprisingly enough is open. 
Then I head down to the lower parts, with a supermarket and a gas station. On this island, you use them, when you see them.

At the coastal cliffs, Mirador del Pueblo offers a great view to the town, the valley with crops, the mountains, the beach and Tenerife with Teide. It is a stoney beach, and I see enough from up here, although the rainbow coloured surf is interesting. 

A pearl-string of entreating lookouts leads along the coast to Agulo, a 18th-century town. Well, the first part with the bank, bars and a few tourists is not that old. I do a longer walk, and eventually find the old part, and square with the municipal and church. But it somehow lack charm and life in general. 

I head on towards Centro de Visitantes Juego de Bolas and their botanical garden. It up and inland through a yet another pearl-string of viewpoints, all the way up to 750 meters. 
The museum is a real treat, plenty of colourful illustrations, little text. The botanical garden a real disappointment. Just the local and invasive dry-area-plants, grown in a rich forest-soil, not suited for them at all. 

The last planned site is Mirador de Abrante, a glass-box outlook. The sun have vanished, but it is close bye, and I give it a chance. The greasy glass-box fail to amuse me, but the entire area is red vulcanite clay, and the little coastal town of Abrante, 625 meters down, get some sun. Tenerife with Teide is clear too. 

The GPS estate; we can be home 16;15. If there is a lot of sun, it will be later. But it is first through a laurel tunnel, and then, when I finally get out, by familiar roads. But I get to use the sixth gear a lot. And I am rewarded with coffee in the sun on my porch, with both mountain and sea views. 
The highlights from Day 4. The lot; Day 4.
              Then I continue in Diary 3.