The North Coast

It was time for a leisurely day out and we went to the north coast on the assumption it might be sheltered from the wind. We went first to Garachico, which is a lovely town. Its been rebuilt over the past couple of hundred years having been all but wiped off the map by a volcanic eruption and lava flow.

Those lava flows reached the sea and created some deep channels and pools full of crystal clear water. When we came last year  we couldn’t get close as the waves were too big and scary. This year whilst still large we could take a closer look.

As you can see it was still pretty wild and the water was charging up and down the channels in a most impressive fashion. You see pictures of people swimming in these channels but I can’t imagine it ever being safe

There are some deep pools that are sheltered from the waves and they did look very clear and inviting (had it not been for a sanitary towel floating in one!). The crabs seemed to like it here though

The whole area is criss-crossed by concrete walkways making for a very entertaining amble with the added risk of the odd soaking from an occasional larger wave

I waited for ages to see if the family would get such a soaking but circumstances wouldn’t oblige

The old harbour has been splendidly restored and they have put exercise machines out. The juniors posed for me after some pressure. I would have had a go but I have a bad knee

We wandered into town and had a marvellous lunch in an excellent and exceedingly friendly restaurant on the town square. Goat and fresh fish was the order of the day

To fill the afternoon we thought we’d take a look at Puerto de la Cruz (PDLC), the original Tenerife holiday resort. We parked up by the western beach and walked along the shore, through town and back to get a feel for the place. The waves looked a bit scary so we declined a swim

Next to the beach was a huge area of piled stones, several hundred of them, all together, impressive and surreal in equal measure

The waves were mighty and judging by the efforts to block them and the obvious damage they still cause is testament to the power of the Atlantic swell

We wandered past the harbour into the busy heart of town

We wanted to take a look at the Lago Martianez, a huge complex of swimming pools that appears on every image of PDLC. It occupies all of the headland to the left of the hotel in the photo below and I have to say it looked pretty impressive and is probably worth a day out

PDLC also has some fine views direct to the summit of El Teide (you can’t see it from the west and south coast)

Apart from that and whilst we did enjoy our afternoon we weren’t all that taken with PDLC. It looks dated with lots of high rise from the 70’s and its loud, brash and a little tacky. I think it needs some serious money spending to bring back to life. The north coast is stunning but I think I’d choose to stay elsewhere