The Road from Santiago

  Stumbling along the track, across the blasted heath it becomes clear, from the photo at the other end, they no longer want you to go down this way. I think you are old enough for this. Let’s talk about Calima. No one told us and we didn’t look it up.  We had gone to Tenerife for the first time on a ‘we are exhausted and it is winter and we need to do nothing’ holiday in February 2020.  The hotel, as you will see soon, was by the sea and below the surrounding landscape.  We had an afternoon pick up for the airport so planned to swim, change, lunch and go.  The lifeguard was wearing a face mask.  This was February 2020 so that was a bit unusual.  It was only when we went to the entrance of the hotel, some significant metres above ground level, that we noticed the world had gone yellow. [see photo] The Calima is a dust filled cloud which blows in from the Sahara.  It can last a day, it can last a week.  It is most common from February to April...

Costa del Silencio is a small coastal resort town located in the municipality of Arona, in the south of Tenerife , one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It's a quieter, more laid-back destination compared to its bustling neighbors like Los Cristianos or Playa de las Américas. Ok, I wondered what ChatGBT would have to say and I think you can say that the lack of spelling mistakes or reviews of car parks shows it for what it is.  Obviously it is a new technology. History does not leave us ‘Newcomen’s Steam Engine - rubbish, only good for moving water 2 stars.’ I had a student who got it to write homework. It was ok except it didn’t use examples from the course to back up the arguments - that and he barely wrote a word before - gave the game away.  A talk I attended reckoned even with limited and accurate data sources, it was not up to marking exams yet.  A new generation of computers was needed to make it effective.  Please feel free to quote this one way or another in f...

We are heading away from the bleak magnificence of the road and into the holiday villas and apartments of Los Abrigos and beyond.  If you have a moment you may want to go there and update the English wiki page. It says  ‘ Los Abrigos is a small fishing village in Granadilla de Abona , Tenerife . [1] It has a small harbour, which developers want to expand.’  The Spanish one is much bigger.  Currently the permanent population is about 5000.  In the mid nineteenth century it consisted of two single-story buildings, one of which was lived in by six people.  Before the tourists the greenhouses came, as did the army during the Second World War. The most exciting thing that happened in the last 500ish years was the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, on 1st October 1519.  Having called in to Santa Cruz news came a Portuguese squadron was looking for them, Magellan hid here before heading off for America. Time for a bakery.  The Dulce Ban describes itself a...

 Life is a little hectic today and so we are staying put - somewhere which is basically a bit bleak and lacking even a charming little café.  Let's talk airports. By the 1960s it was clear a second airport was needed to deal with the pale northerners heading south to soak up the sun.  The 1977 crash at Los Rodeos, the northern airport, in which 583 people were killed, helped push the project forward.  Twenty months later Queen Sofia opened the place and DC-9 from Lanzarote landed. In August 2025 6424 flights came from 11 countries on 207 routes from 57 airlines.   The place has enjoyed a post Covid rise.  The three years before about 11m flew in.  Since 2022 it has risen from 10.8 to 13.7m  Over the last year September and May saw just under a million and March 1.38.   In terms of routes, the UK tops with 57, Spain second, with 26 and then Germany with 25. Ryanair tops the flights [49], then TUI [21] and Easyjet [20].  In total...

  Bits of Tenerife are superbly bleak and barren and it is no wonder that, apart from the very occasional farm house and fisher hut, this place was largely depopulated until the arrival of desalination plants and jet aircraft.  Today’s route, along the coast, south of the airport, does feel a but like that.  Landing at Tenerife Sur you feel you are on the edge of nowhere but, in fact, there is a little bit more before you fall into the sea. Having said that we are in for some slim pickings today.  La Tejita car park gets 127 reviews and 4.2 stars.  Paradise Gardens Apartment - lovely to see the traditional names making a come back - summed it all up. ‘ Spacious free parking lot with a somewhat uneven surface. If it is full, it is conveniently parked along the road. Just a few hundred meters from the wonderful long beach with fine black sand or the trail leading to Montaña Roja.’  One looks south and imagine that the next stop is Antarctica.  Africa has...

The south of Tenerife has something magnificent and bleak about it. Crowning it is the Montana Roja - a huge lump of geography.  It stands out over the surrounding countryside and has over 1200 reviews.  The top five words are Beach [137], Windy [83], Vision [31], nudist [17] and sunset [17].  A week ago Martina said ‘Nice place, very windy.’.  About the same time Eduardo reckoned ‘Beautiful beach, covered from north winds. Good for chilling, families and couples. Reminder that there is nudists as well.’  All this is for the end of the day. We will pass the Centro Infantil Bilingue  El Topo.   Two weeks ago Karen Oviedo said ‘Excellent children's center, I only have words of gratitude for the entire great team that helped my two little ones become strong and independent children, thank you so much in advance... ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️’ La Casita de Aitor is next on our route.  It is a woman owned place and, given its location, one for keen on airports.  A...