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dave_future_predatorHi everybody! I am home after our week on the Canary island of Fuerteventura, which, I was reminded, was actually the scene of filming for Primeval 2x05 as the Silurian. I hadn't really expected to see where actual filming was, it's not the tiniest of islands, but today, on return, a quick look at www.douglashenshall.com ( <- click for actual bts pics), I was amused to realise, good grief, we were actually at one of the spots, hahaha. I should have looked before I went :p
Here are some pics and what have you from my hols, feel free to have a look.
I knew it would be hot, but my god, I had no idea just how baking it would be. We had to be so careful and, despite a mostly Scottish background, felt the need to be of the mad dogs and Englishman tendency and used the air-conditioned car we'd hired to survive the middle of the day to get about from place to place. We managed to avoid major sunburn, though the heat affected my son a fair bit. Someone told us there has been no rain for almost 2 years, and while we were there other Canary islands were suffering devastating forest fires. From what we saw of Fuerteventura, there's next to nothing growing to burn, so maybe that's why it's been okay o.0
We were in Corralejo, on the northern coast, from where you can see Lanzarote in the distance, and a small island, Lobos, close by. It was all very blue sky and pretty and my first impression of the place was amazing. View from local shopping centre bell tower.
It was windy, but that kept things pleasant, and the beach nearest to our (pretty good, I thought) apartment-hotel was very nice even in the late evening.
We're not huge beach people though, and we spent a lot of time travelling about and seeing the island. The interior was just nearly barren, and on a similar latitude with the Sahara not surprisingly was like a desert. The hills were amazing, just rocky, worn down ex-volcanoes *g* Lots of aloe vera and, as here, prickly pear on show. and this place was what passed for a verdant plain... OMG bush!
Our travels took us through high passes where ground squirrels tried to hassle passing motorists *g* (cute!) This was a viewpoint over an oasis that is now dried up. Oops.
But! On the other side of the hills we would find amazing coves and beaches! Still baking, from dawn until dusk, but hey. Dave liked this beach at Ajuy. There was some lovely white sand there, honest. But the rocks were awesome.
On a little northwest trip we found incredible sheltered blue pools surrounded by black volcanic rock and white sands, while beyond the rocks the sea crashed in.
And just down the coast at Cotillo, a curving sandy beach. So pretty. What a backdrop with those hills.
There aren't many 'visitor attractions' as we know them on Fuerteventura, but one of them is the Cueva del Llano, a 'cave' that is really the remains of a volcanic tube, in other words, what was left after a lava flow cooled around the outside and then the lava drained away, leaving a hollow cavern. The original tube was formed almost a million years ago, then over time, the tube was both stabilised from above by clay and calcite making it hard, and water flowing through the tube causing underground erosion and deposition. We were able to go underground for a few hundred metres, in places it was 5 metres high, and 12 metres wide. Further into the cave where we didn't go, humidity was 100% and unique species of spider-like creatures dwell... ooooh!
The hole we went down by, the result of a volcanic 'bubble' bursting *g*
The guide was funny, pretended to leave us in the dark of course. This is a pic of the roof, before it got too dark for me to take pics. You can see the white veins of clay/calcite as veins in the volcanic shell. Really fascinating place.
We visited one valley that had a floor of black volcanic rock that people in the first millenium BC had formed into houses. These days, it was like a bloody oven. The wind was roasting. We were out of the car for 10 mins, tops *g* The black stuff covered the valley all the way to the sea nearby, where it was equally baking :D
The southeast of the island has endless white sand beaches popular with kitesurfers. It was a bit windy!!! Sand on legs! Ouch! I think we spend our holiday running away from places!
Before we get to the Silurian, here's Dave with a prickly pear, and a plant with poky bits that looked vicious. And yes! Even Dave finally had to take off his scarf.
On our last full day, the intense heat and higher wind of the couple of days before had subsided, but we headed out as early as we could to visit the dunes and beach just south of Corralejo. You could see them from the road and they looked amazing. I had no idea it was the Silurian *g* Here's the dune we climbed over to get to the beach :)
See the 2 rocks at the bottom of the shot? Then look at the hill with a bit of a volcanic caldera feel to it in the background of the Silurian bts pics. Then look at my dreadful snapshot from the top of the dune (I swear the hill on the left of my pic is the same one, we saw it every time we left Corralejo) which I had to cut my thumb out of, because, for frak's sake, it was so bright I couldn't see anything, and it was baking hot and I needed to get to the water :p
It's the Silurian! LOL
I thought the view the other way was better :p
And the view from the beach on the other side of the dune was wonderful. But it was so hot we stayed about half an hour, then headed back over the dune. One hour in the Silurian, tops *g*
And only the odd black rocky outcrop spaced along the beach. Dave found his own sandy little water-filled pool and stayed put.
It was sooooo nice to come home to cool Britain. *headdesk* We did have a good time, but it was hard work, LOL. But also nice to have breakfast and dinner all made (I only put on a kilo :p) The restaurant staff were so lovely. And, not really our thing, but the entertainment staff were very funny of an evening, as we sat watching Olympics with a beer on the other side of the courtyard. All in all, not a bad holiday. Can I have some rain now please? *veg*
Here are some pics and what have you from my hols, feel free to have a look.
I knew it would be hot, but my god, I had no idea just how baking it would be. We had to be so careful and, despite a mostly Scottish background, felt the need to be of the mad dogs and Englishman tendency and used the air-conditioned car we'd hired to survive the middle of the day to get about from place to place. We managed to avoid major sunburn, though the heat affected my son a fair bit. Someone told us there has been no rain for almost 2 years, and while we were there other Canary islands were suffering devastating forest fires. From what we saw of Fuerteventura, there's next to nothing growing to burn, so maybe that's why it's been okay o.0
We were in Corralejo, on the northern coast, from where you can see Lanzarote in the distance, and a small island, Lobos, close by. It was all very blue sky and pretty and my first impression of the place was amazing. View from local shopping centre bell tower.
It was windy, but that kept things pleasant, and the beach nearest to our (pretty good, I thought) apartment-hotel was very nice even in the late evening.
We're not huge beach people though, and we spent a lot of time travelling about and seeing the island. The interior was just nearly barren, and on a similar latitude with the Sahara not surprisingly was like a desert. The hills were amazing, just rocky, worn down ex-volcanoes *g* Lots of aloe vera and, as here, prickly pear on show. and this place was what passed for a verdant plain... OMG bush!
Our travels took us through high passes where ground squirrels tried to hassle passing motorists *g* (cute!) This was a viewpoint over an oasis that is now dried up. Oops.
But! On the other side of the hills we would find amazing coves and beaches! Still baking, from dawn until dusk, but hey. Dave liked this beach at Ajuy. There was some lovely white sand there, honest. But the rocks were awesome.
On a little northwest trip we found incredible sheltered blue pools surrounded by black volcanic rock and white sands, while beyond the rocks the sea crashed in.
And just down the coast at Cotillo, a curving sandy beach. So pretty. What a backdrop with those hills.
There aren't many 'visitor attractions' as we know them on Fuerteventura, but one of them is the Cueva del Llano, a 'cave' that is really the remains of a volcanic tube, in other words, what was left after a lava flow cooled around the outside and then the lava drained away, leaving a hollow cavern. The original tube was formed almost a million years ago, then over time, the tube was both stabilised from above by clay and calcite making it hard, and water flowing through the tube causing underground erosion and deposition. We were able to go underground for a few hundred metres, in places it was 5 metres high, and 12 metres wide. Further into the cave where we didn't go, humidity was 100% and unique species of spider-like creatures dwell... ooooh!
The hole we went down by, the result of a volcanic 'bubble' bursting *g*
The guide was funny, pretended to leave us in the dark of course. This is a pic of the roof, before it got too dark for me to take pics. You can see the white veins of clay/calcite as veins in the volcanic shell. Really fascinating place.
We visited one valley that had a floor of black volcanic rock that people in the first millenium BC had formed into houses. These days, it was like a bloody oven. The wind was roasting. We were out of the car for 10 mins, tops *g* The black stuff covered the valley all the way to the sea nearby, where it was equally baking :D
The southeast of the island has endless white sand beaches popular with kitesurfers. It was a bit windy!!! Sand on legs! Ouch! I think we spend our holiday running away from places!
Before we get to the Silurian, here's Dave with a prickly pear, and a plant with poky bits that looked vicious. And yes! Even Dave finally had to take off his scarf.
On our last full day, the intense heat and higher wind of the couple of days before had subsided, but we headed out as early as we could to visit the dunes and beach just south of Corralejo. You could see them from the road and they looked amazing. I had no idea it was the Silurian *g* Here's the dune we climbed over to get to the beach :)
See the 2 rocks at the bottom of the shot? Then look at the hill with a bit of a volcanic caldera feel to it in the background of the Silurian bts pics. Then look at my dreadful snapshot from the top of the dune (I swear the hill on the left of my pic is the same one, we saw it every time we left Corralejo) which I had to cut my thumb out of, because, for frak's sake, it was so bright I couldn't see anything, and it was baking hot and I needed to get to the water :p
It's the Silurian! LOL
I thought the view the other way was better :p
And the view from the beach on the other side of the dune was wonderful. But it was so hot we stayed about half an hour, then headed back over the dune. One hour in the Silurian, tops *g*
And only the odd black rocky outcrop spaced along the beach. Dave found his own sandy little water-filled pool and stayed put.
It was sooooo nice to come home to cool Britain. *headdesk* We did have a good time, but it was hard work, LOL. But also nice to have breakfast and dinner all made (I only put on a kilo :p) The restaurant staff were so lovely. And, not really our thing, but the entertainment staff were very funny of an evening, as we sat watching Olympics with a beer on the other side of the courtyard. All in all, not a bad holiday. Can I have some rain now please? *veg*
