La Santa, Playa de Famara, Teguise, Haria and Mirador del Rio
First stop on today's tour was La Santa on the west coast. There is a popular surfing beach and a large ugly sporting complex. We did not stop. The road north was blocked so we were diverted onto a dirt track with a ridged surface. Tomas said that if we went 100km/h we would fly over the bumps. He was right but I felt the potential downside of flying off the track into the sand was worse than a bumpy ride.
Playa de Famara is a lovely and somewhat remote beach on the north coast of Lanzarote. There is almost constant wind and the shallow dunes (or large sandhills) are constantly changing.
Playa de Famara looking NE towards Mirador del Rio.
There are lots of smooth rocks on the beach which are used by locals to build windbreaks thus ensuring they can sunbathe without being sandblasted.
Wind driven sand sculpture.
Wind driven ripples in the sand.
A very pretty spot marred only by the amount of plastic flotsam on the beach. A problem shared by many other remote beaches we have visited in Spain.
Next stop the old island capital of Teguise towards the centre of Lanzarote. A charming well kept town with a castle on the hill above...
...and a windmill...
...and this lady.
Moving north we stopped briefly in Haria. A pretty little town but with little to detain us.
A sign to our next destination. The Mirador del Rio.
Entrance to the Mirador. This looked ominous. We couldn't see the entrance about 50m behind the sign.
Entrance to the Mirador del Rio, another César Manrique creation, was €4.50. A bit rich since the cloud was so dense we couldn't actually see anything. On a clear day there is a spectacular view over the Estrecho del Rio to Caleta del Sebo where we spent most of October.
An alternate was to walk a few hundred metres to an alternative lookout but this too was obscured by cloud.
Next stop Cueva de los Verdes.
Playa de Famara is a lovely and somewhat remote beach on the north coast of Lanzarote. There is almost constant wind and the shallow dunes (or large sandhills) are constantly changing.
Playa de Famara looking NE towards Mirador del Rio.
There are lots of smooth rocks on the beach which are used by locals to build windbreaks thus ensuring they can sunbathe without being sandblasted.
Wind driven sand sculpture.
Wind driven ripples in the sand.
A very pretty spot marred only by the amount of plastic flotsam on the beach. A problem shared by many other remote beaches we have visited in Spain.
Next stop the old island capital of Teguise towards the centre of Lanzarote. A charming well kept town with a castle on the hill above...
...and a windmill...
...and this lady.
Moving north we stopped briefly in Haria. A pretty little town but with little to detain us.
A sign to our next destination. The Mirador del Rio.
Entrance to the Mirador. This looked ominous. We couldn't see the entrance about 50m behind the sign.
Entrance to the Mirador del Rio, another César Manrique creation, was €4.50. A bit rich since the cloud was so dense we couldn't actually see anything. On a clear day there is a spectacular view over the Estrecho del Rio to Caleta del Sebo where we spent most of October.
An alternate was to walk a few hundred metres to an alternative lookout but this too was obscured by cloud.
Next stop Cueva de los Verdes.