Land of the Landy

If you are a lover of good old-fashioned 4 x 4 vehicles, you're going to feel right at home on La Palma.  And if you are driving around the rural north, it seems that almost every car apart from hire cars are 4 x 4's! 

In the old days, mules were used to transport goods but then the farmer's friend and trusty steed became the Santana Land Rover.  Still chugging along the roads after 20 plus years of faithful service, the Santana is probably about as stuburn as a mule - and possibly about as comfortable.  But of course, you can cram a lot more on, in and around them than a mule. 

Then there are the baby pick-up's.  There are still a few of those about - they remind me of Matchbox cars that you really could 'pick up' and put in your pocket!  

And then the modern day Land Rover, still built from the same design and about as aerodynamic as a brick.  But it really is some workhorse!

Flat footed

The car needed some work on it having ingloriously failed its MOT last week, or ITV as it is called here, and it was booked in to the garage for 8 a.m. Monday. The only problem was, the garage is an hour and half away from our comfortable bed to which we are generally quite attached during hours of darkness. Oh well, we would just have to be brave and set the alarm for 6 a.m. - a time hitherto only referred to in horror movies.
The mechanic had already warned us that he wouldn't be able to start work on the car immediately. After all, as he pointed out, he didn't want to burn his hands. This was also his way of saying that the car wouldn't be ready until 1 p.m. If we were lucky.
And that's when our walking rucksack and poles started jumping up and down shouting 'Take me! Take me!' Oh well, alright then.
Our last walk along the GR 130 was from Tijarafe to Los Llanos and before that Puntagorda to Tijarafe, so we have been working our way very nicely down the west coast. We decided then to continue and walk the route between Los Llanos and San Nicholas. We already did San Nicholas to Fuencaliente a while ago with a walking group on the island, so it would be good to fill in this little section.
I had heard that finding the route leading from Los Llanos was tricky so we decided to start at San Nicholas and walk our way back. It is probably a good job that we did – not that we didn't have trouble finding the route heading north out of San Nicholas! Then, at the end of the village, we spotted the good old royal colours of the GR130 walking sign - only 10.5 km to go ..

The walk, was a great pleasure looking at houses hidden from the view of the main road. And projects such as this one -


And cactus we had never seen before, presumably called 'paddle cactus' growing alongside an explosion of bourganvilia -

Yes, it was a treat to be surrounded by the gentle sights and sounds of nature walking along an easy track, somewhat of a departure from what we have become used to. It was the flatest walk we have done in the last 8 years – in other words, since we moved here! Not a mountain, ravine or even so much as a hillock to climb. What? No steep tracks sliding on loose gravel, no pencil-thin paths balancing over a 300 metre precipice. Where's the fun in that?

But we did enjoy it and at least the car was fixed – and went on to pass the ITV – so we could head home to fill in a little bit more on the map of our walked sections of the GR130. Just Barlovento to Los Llanos and Puntallana to Fuencaliente to go.
On the way home, we made just one more stop at the country bar in Hoya Grande. It was the car's idea, honest!