Roberto's Wall

Once upon a very long time ago ... so the legend begins  ...
I love those stories, don't you?  And La Palma has quite a few legends as you would of course expect of an island 'cast adrift from mainland life.'  The legend of Robert's Wall (El Pared de Roberto) does not disappoint as, in the best of traditions, it involves a young couple deeply in love.
Now as we all know, young couples in love will stop at nothing to be together.  Which is just as well because Roberto and his young lady rather inconveniently lived on opposite sides of the island.  Not to be thwarted however, the two would make the long and arduous journey to the top of the island where they met in a secret lover's tryst.
The course of true love never runs smoothly though and imagine poor Roberto's anguish when, arriving at their rendezvous point, he discovered an impenetrable wall blocking his path.

In desperation, poor Roberto called out that he would give his soul if he could reach the other side.  Only silence followed.
At this, Roberto rather rashly bettered his offer with a promise of both his body and soul if he could pass (he was after all very in love).   At that, the devil heard him and Roberto was immediately engulfed in a ball of flames and burst through the wall, disappearing to his death.
The next morning, his young lady was found laid dead.  Her body was taken to the Roque de Muchachos and laid to rest.  And to this day, the gap in the wall remains.

If you would like to walk through Roberto's Wall, you can find it by walking between the Roque de Muchachos and the Mirador Andenes.  If you don't want the sort of long walk that takes body and soul, then approach it from the mirador end from where it will only take you about ten or fifteen minutes to reach.  Although there are several smaller walls in the area (must have been a busy spot in the old days), Roberto's wall is the most impressive and just to make it crystal clear, it is marked with the sign, 'Pared de Roberto.'

Not only will you be able to appreciate the size of the wall which even today springs up abruptly as if from nowhere but the views on a clear day are beyond awesome.

Reaching for the Stars

If there is one thing about living in the rural north of La Palma that's for certain, when we do visit the capital of Santa Cruz or go to Tazacorte, more often than not we are in a rush! What with shops that close for three of four hours during the afternoon and a long list of accumulated jobs to do and people to see, it's probably no great surprise.
But when we do have extra time available (or make a concerted effort) it makes it all the more special to go somewhere we haven't been to before - or not for a long time at least. And one such place a couple of weeks ago was the Mirador de San Bartolome.

 Now I know that we have been there before so I know that it's a great look out point (Mirador) and being just north of Puntallana at the 15km turn off for La Galga, we've passed close by a zillion times. But it must have been quite a few years ago since we went to the actual mirador and I can't say that I remember anything particularly remarkable about it, except for the great view of course and a statue to do with the legend of Lover's Leap.
Ah yes, I remember now - it was when we were investigating access points for the GR130 Camino Real and the logistics of accommodation along the route. But that aside, I had heard from the owner of a house in La Galga that it was a great place for observing the stars.  This we had to check out!

 As it turns out, we were in for more of a surprise than we had expected - not only is the Mirador way better than I was expecting (or remembered) but we were thrilled to see that even in the daytime there was lots of astronomy going on! First of all though, a little about Lover's Leap.
As the legend has it, a young farming boy was in love with a fair maiden but sadly, she didn't love him back. It can happen.
So, all being fair in love and war, she decided to set him an almost impossible task - that he should leap over the gorge three times. As he was so totally in love, he readily agreed to the challenge and with the aid of his lanza, the long pole used to leap down the steep barrancos, he completed the jump three times.
'There,' he cried, 'you are mine!' And with that he stepped back and fell to his death.

It's a bitter sweet story and very fitting that there should be a statue in its memory. However, if you are not into legends or great views, the mirador is well worth a visit for the astronomy aspect alone.
For example, do you know how many kilometres it is to Polaris? You can find out at the Mirador - and the direction too - but even when you know what direction it's in, the distance is just impossible to even begin to get your head around.

Or perhaps something that you might find immediately useful is the 'dial the stars' - a really great idea where you can set the disk to the month you are in and find out the relative position of the stars.

And with several information boards too, you may well find out something about astronomy that you didn't know before. But talking of which, I am thrilled that there is now a book available on the Observatories at Roque de Muchachos, A Breathtaking Window on the Universe, and in fact I have just received my copy.
It is written by Sheila Crosby who not only is a funny and inventive author with a decidedly different take on writing but when it comes to astronomy and the observatory on La Palma, she knows what she's talking about - after all she worked there as an engineer for 12 years and for the past three works as a specialist 'Star Guide.'
If like me you are not a great whizz at astronomy or even if you are - you'll find it incredibly informative but still a fun read - and that's not an easy act!!
You can order it here and quite frankly, you'd be crazy not to get a copy.

British Summer time begins in La Palma

Goodbye winter, Hello summer.  And as if to order our very late snowfall is melting on the mountains.  Most winters there is snow up at Roque de Muchachos, the top of the island at 2426m above sea level, but this year it came as low as 1000m which was especially amazing as it was near the end of March.  We can actually see the ridge of the Caldera right from the finca and the photo below was taken from our car park area today, looking inland.

 This photo was taken from the same place a couple of days ago on zoom and you can still see the snow.  Brrr, a bit chilly up there I think!   

We have never been 'treated' to snow here as the finca is much lower down at 500m above sea level and so whilst it is still a little snowy at the top, we are basking in glorious sunshine and surrounded by spring flowers.

 I'm starting to think I like this British Summer time ...