1st November, 2015
Happy November to all our readers, Let’s hope it is just as enjoyable as October. We pleasure seekers will be spending it in a quiet little spot on Tenerife, arriving back in the first week of December. Wonder if they have white rabbits in the Canary Islands?
Sun, swimming, exercise and walking will, hopefully, dominate the month away. The hotel we’ve booked is a 4* Adults-only establishment with a gym, Hydro, three heated pools, British TV and free Wi-Fi. The location is Los Gigantes which is in the west of the island, overlooking La Gomera.
We haven’t been there before. Our only experience of the island group was thirty years ago on
2nd November, 2015
We are driving to Gatwick this morning – one of the first of the Autumn shrouded in thick fog or so the BBC reports. Many flights are cancelled from airports around the country including Gatwick. Fortunately, we don’t fly until tomorrow morning. We are staying at the Holiday Inn at Gatwick Airport so that we don’t have an early morning hour’s drive tomorrow.
It should be more relaxing.
Arrived at 1.00 pm and checked in. Because I am an IHG Gold Member, we were upgraded to an Executive Suite. We dropped off our bags and drove to the Long Stay car park. After parking, we took the shuttle to the airport and then another to the hotel. In the evening, we had a really wonderful meal in the restaurant – Garlic Mushrooms with Stilton Sauce followed by Fish Pie.
3rd November, 2015
We were up at 5.00 am and left our hotel by 6.00 am. We got on the airport bus outside our front door and were dropping our bags off by 6.30 am. We went up to the Aspire Lounge for orange juice, porridge with honey (Pauline), coffee and bacon sandwiches before going down to gate in time for an 8.10 departure. It didn’t happen. We were delayed by one hour because of ‘fog yesterday’. We were relaxed about it. What have we got to rush for? Lovely flight! Four hours drifted away in no time. Bags were off quickly and, in no time at all, we were registering in Hotel Los Gigantes. (We keep wanting to call it Big Beans in Tomato Sauce al la Grecque.
Our room is large and comfortable and overlooks the harbour. It even has British television channels and my iPad gives me Radio 4 so I can want for no more.
Our meal this evening was delightful with more choice than we could cope with. Four weeks here in the sun will be fun.
4th November, 2015
Lovely day. The temperature was a delightful 25C/77F with clear skies and strong sun. After breakfast, we did a walk of the local area to familiarise ourselves with things nearby. We came back for coffee and to watch PMQ’s on BBC2. We went on to spend a couple of hours in the gym and the salt water pool before going back to our room for a cup of tea.
Dinner is eaten out on the terrace looking out to sea and directly at La Gomera which appears quite close. As soon as the sun goes down – at about 7.00 pm – the lights of that small island burn sharply in the darkness.
Our meal this evening was a salad of wonderful anchovies and green beans followed by griddled Hake and Hake cooked in a white wine sauce with mussels and prawns. We made the mistake of being seduced by all the wonderful sweets on display. They were great but we regretted it immediately afterwards. We won’t do that again.
5th November, 2015
Early start to a gorgeous day which reached 26C/79F. We sat in the sun on our balcony for an hour after breakfast reading our iPad newspapers and then spent a couple of hours walking round the Marina/Harbour in fierce sunshine.
After beating a retreat to the shade of our room for coffee and The Daily Politics, we went down to the gym for an hour’s exercise and followed that with another hour swimming across the saltwater pool. The majority of this adults-only hotel’s clientele are on the older side. They are happy to sit around the pools but not to get in them. We spent the best part of an hour in the pool unhindered by any other swimmers. We have now been in the gym two days running without seeing another user.
6th November, 2015
A lovely, lovely day that was hot and sunny throughout. It reached 27C/81F and we really felt it as we climbed out and up from the sea shore and through the black, volcanic hills to get a better view of the surrounding area.
Actually, I’ve just developed a heavy head cold – my first since I retired nearly seven years ago. I am determined to fight it and not let it alter anything I have planned. As a result, we walked around the area for a couple of hours this morning and then returned to the hotel to watch The Daily Politics.
The heat, the walking and the cold left me feeing fairly washed out but we came here intending to exercise and exercise is what we did. We did half an hour on the treadmill and then 45 mins in the salt water pool. We felt great and returned to our room for a cup of tea. Because we don’t eat during the day, we went down to Dinner at 6.30 am and were both hungry. We ate about four different salads until we felt like bursting and then we had roast duck with more salad. The cooking in the Hotel Restaurant is (too) wonderful.
7th November, 2015
A day when my heavy head cold has really dominated. Like so many men, I am not often ill but, when I am, I go all the way. I wasn’t hungry this morning and only went down to Breakfast to accompany Pauline. I had some figs, dates and cold yoghurt which soothed my fiercely sore throat. After Breakfast, we went to the nearby Pharmacy and bought a nasal spray which eased my breathing and some paracetamol. I tried to ignore it all and went down to the gym. I’m ashamed to say, I stopped after fifteen minutes because I just wasn’t enjoying it. We went down to the saltwater pool. It is one of three pools here.
People do swim in the sea but this is so much more user-friendly. We swam 300 metres and I felt exhausted. As soon as we got back to our room, I fell asleep and didn’t wake for nearly four hours. Currently, it is 7.00 pm and Pauline is watching Strictly Come Dancing while I update my Blog. We’ll go down to Dinner at 9.00 pm although I’m still not hungry.