When I was six years old, I broke my leg.
That really would be a lie about me. At six years old I was still young, carefree with an almost unblemished body. It wasn’t until I was seven years old that my Scoliosis was really recognised. I am not sure by whom, when or why. I do know that the first course of treatment was barbaric as it consisted of me being made to hang off the top of doors for as long as my arms would allow, as if that would somehow magically straighten my spine.
Strangely it didn’t, and instead the next treatment led to me being in a plaster cast from my neck to my waist for a few years. But that’s a whole other story that I still have nightmares about.
Today the weather forecast was a bit indifferent and so we decided to use the car to venture out. We decided to head to Timanfaya National Park which was somewhere we hadn’t been since our first visit to the island in 2005. Then though we went on an organised coach trip.
It was only about 30 minutes’ drive away and with Karen holding the phone with the route on it we set off. I surprised myself this time with some smooth gear changing although it would help if I also remembered to release the handbrake every time we pulled off. It seemed being on the wrong side of me made me forget.
The roads were quite empty as we made our way across the Lava Bed and up to the Volcano. It cost us 12 Euros each to get in which we thought was reasonable. The road up to the already crowded car park was very steep. There were parking attendants who pointed you into vacant spots. Our spot was very tight and steep. I had to reverse back round almost blindly up a steep slope which must have been a 1:2 into the spot. Pleasingly I did it first time, although Karen was nervous whether the handbrake would hold the car securely after we got out.
Our tickets included a free coach tour around the Caldera and through the most spectacular parts of the lava. We couldn’t remember doing this before and the road looked new. It was very good and enjoyable. It took about 20 minutes.
Then we went to see where chickens for the restaurant were being cooked on the heat from the volcanic activity below. We thought we would go into the restaurant and get Karen a coffee. We ended up sharing a toastie as well.
It was still quite early in the day so we thought we would venture further on. We headed to El Golfo and the Green Lagoon. This was about 20 minutes away although we took longer as we missed a cunningly hid exit to it off a roundabout. El Golfo was on the west coast of the Lanzarote and as we approached it the seas looked spectacular but rough breaking onto the black rocks. There was no beach here and hence it wasn’t a tourist resort.
There was a large free car park and from here we walked up the side of a cliff to look down on the Green Lagoon. It was worth the walk although not the Lagoon was not a bright green or emerald in colour. It looked more just like a lagoon covered in algae. It was here that apparently Raquel Welch was pictured coming out of in the film 100 Million Years BC.
As we were here, we thought we would have a look around El Golfo itself. It was worth the effort irrespective of the Green Lagoon being here. We drove through it initially and found the road strangely just ended at one end of the village. It consisted mainly of a few restaurants overlooking the sea.
Karen fancied having her traditional holiday Maxibon Ice Cream here, so we found a shop selling them and sat on the rocks whilst she ate it. We mused as we sat there where we would end up if we got in a boat and headed straight out to sea (we think it may be Jacksonville in Florida).
We then headed back as Karen wanted to sit in the sun on the balcony for a couple of hours which I did but she didn’t as she remembered she needed to update her Safeguarding training for work, as she had already been reminded about doing it. So, she sat inside for what seemed like hours doing that until it was time to go out for dinner.
Tonight, we fancied eating at La Ola. We were happy to get a table outside next to a heater. Instead of a free drink at the end everyone in the restaurant was given a glass of pink bubbles to start with which was nice.
I had the Chicken whilst Karen went for Fish & Chips. They were both immaculately presented and were very well cooked. The place is rather posh inside and although the new Irish owner didn’t come to our table, we heard her talking about her plans to keep it upmarket and make other improvements after it had been closed for 2 years. Karen had a Brownie for dessert and then thought she should compare Irish Coffees. Apparently this one was even stronger than usual.
We were in no rush to get back as it was lovely sitting outside next to the heater but eventually we did so and went straight off to bed.
