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Thursday, 18 April 2013

Are we nearly there yet?

When we were looking for a house to buy on La Palma, directions to properties for sale were usually convoluted and confusing. 'Turn left at the palm tree just before the bus stop and after the little road with a post box on the corner' or 'right after the second bend where there's usually an old man sitting on a rock.' With so many palm trees and even more bends we had many car journeys that were rather longer than necessary. And of course if you stop to ask anyone the way, the reply always begins with a long intake of breath followed by ...'turn around ....'
In the end, we choose to live in a rural area an hour from the capital and whilst that sounds as if directions could be complicated, in fact they could hardly be simpler. I know, everyone says that!
But the thing is that the major and secondary roads are carefully waymarked with kilometre markers. For example, the main road which goes from Santa Cruz to Los Llanos by way of the north is the LP1, the La Palma 1. Right from start to finish, there are kilometre markers. What a great idea!
This means that you can give directions using the markers as a reference or even tell the emergency services where you are in the case of an accident.
For the very minor roads and in towns, I'm afraid it's still a case of ... left at the palm tree ..
Here are a few points of interests when on the LP1:

Km
1                      Santa Cruz de La Palma (Roundabout by harbour)
3.2                   Road up to Roque de Muchachos
7                      Petrol
7.2                   Bar/Restaurante Julio
8                      First tunnel
10                    Puntallana
15                    La Galga
19                    Church of San Juan and GR130 nearby
22                    Los Sauces
28                    Road to Piscinas de La Fajana (natural swimming pools)
32/3                 Barlovento
45                    Old village road to Franceses
46.5                 New village road to Franceses
54                    Roque Faro and El Reyes restaurant
55                    Road to village of El Tablado
58                    La Mata Restaurant
58.5                 Road to Don Pedro
58.9                 La Zarza Archaeological Park and walk
59.9                 San Antonio Restaurant
59.9                 Petrol Station
60.9                 Llano Negro – supermarket
64.1                 El Bailedero Restaurant
64.2                 Road to Roque de Muchachos
64.3                 Hoya Grande
68.2                 Las Briestas Restaurant
70.1                 Road to Restaurant Azul
74.1                 Junction to Las Tricias
76/7                 Puntagorda
80.5                 Mirador Garome
81.7                 Helipad and Bodega
83                    Bar/restaurant Muralla
85/86               Tijarafe
93.5                 El Time Restaurant and Mirador
99.2                 Turn off to Tazacorte
100                  After the 100km mark, the LP1 ends and joins the LP 2. Turn left for Los Llanos and right for Tazacorte.
Simples!

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