Tenerife 2019

We left Llanarmon Yn Ial very early on November 24th and drove to Manchester Airport for our Easy Jet flight to Tenerife. It was a damp morning; there was little traffic on the motorway and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. We left the car at the Meet and Greet car park area. This was the first time we have used this system, and, would highly recommend it, especially if you have a lot of luggage. Mel put his windsurf board on a trolley and carefully pushed it across to the airport. It would only fit on the trolley vertically so he had to be very careful not to catch the roof or the sprinkler system.

We checked in the bags and took the board to the oversized baggage area. We had to wait whilst it was manually scanned but all was well so we left it there hoping to see it again at Tenerife airport. The flight left almost on time and we arrived at Tenerife South airport about 11.30.am, we saw the board being off loaded from the plane even before we had got into the airport and Mel collected it from downstairs whilst I got the suitcases. We collected the keys for our hire car (complete with roof rack) which I had booked through Autoreisien and loaded up the board and suitcases. It was hot and sunny – a bit different from the weather we left behind at home.

We drove the short distance to El Medano and met Yuri at Casa Medano apartments . After showing us around the apartment she left us to it. We went to the cafe Flashpoint by the beach and had a snack and then went pack to the apartment to unpack.

We were both a bit tired after the early start and long journey so we walked into Medano and had a meal at the Agua Cafe. We returned to the apartment to watch the Strictly results (the wi-fi seems good and the VPN worked) and have an early night.

Ouch!

The next morning we went for our first run up to the top of Montana Roja (Red Mountain), but, unfortunately Mel slipped and hurt his arm quite badly. It was bruised and grazed and a lady at the Surf Centre put some iodine on it for him. (I have to report that it healed sufficiently to allow further running and windsurfing to continue without too much hinderance.)

We went shopping in Lidl and Mercadona supermarkets in San Isidro to stock up with provisions for the three weeks. We had a chicken curry for tea and watched “Guilt” on the TV.

Mel set his kit up in the storage room in the garage. It is a large room with lots of space for the kit and it is only a short walk to the beach.

The wind was quite strong all week and Mel had four good days on the water. It was very wavy and it was a challenge getting used to riding the waves but he thoroughly enjoyed the first week.

We also ran most days but that was a challenge too because the wind was always against you either going out or coming back. Most directions include hills too.

We did a couple of runs to Playa Tejita and to Arenal Del Mar and Mel extended the latter by running up towards the motorway service area.

We decided to have lunch in the town on the first Sunday but made a big mistake with the food order! We ordered twice as much due to a misunderstanding with the menu and ended up very full but still left half the food. Won’t do that again!

On the second Tuesday we went to meet Jennifer and John at the hotel they were staying in, Vinnci Tenerife Golf at San Blas close to Golf Del Sur. It was only a 10 minute drive from El Medano and very easy to find. We had a coffee with them and a good catch up as we hadn’t seen them for a while.

There wasn’t much wind during the second week so Mel didn’t go out on the water but we enjoyed running, reading, walking into town for a coffee and generally relaxing.

Friday 6th December was Mel’s 68th birthday so we went for a drive towards Mount Teide but not all the way there as we had done that when we were here last time. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees as we went higher up away from the coast. We stopped for lunch at Playa Tejita on the way back.

In the evening we went to the Bombay Babu restaurant again for Mel’s favourite meal – curry! The food at this restaurant is really good and this was the second time this holiday that we had been there. The staff are really friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had popadoms, starters and main courses with rice and nan bread – delicious!

On Saturday there was quite a strong wind blowing so Mel went out windsurfing and enjoyed it even though his kit was too big!

On Sunday 8th December Jen & John came to El Medano on the bus and we met them in town. We had a coffee and a bit of breakfast and then strolled along to where our apartment is.

It was very windy again and there were lots of sailors on the water which Jen & John enjoyed looking at. After they left we sat on the balcony reading the paper for a while then Mel decided to go windsurfing. It was very windy and too much for his kit so he soon came back again.

On Monday Mel decided the best plan was to hire some kit from TWS so that he could windsurf more successfully in the windy/wavy conditions. So we went to see the manager, Robin at TWS and Mel negotiated a good deal for 4 days equipment hire.

On Wednesday we went to Los Abrigos in the evening for a meal. We chose the Tasquita Los Abrigos restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the food, service and friendly staff. Mel chatted to a German man who had just arrived in Tenerife and spoke perfect English (of course). We had deep fried camembert and Canarian potatoes for starters and I had a mixed fish grill and Mel had Pork fillet for the mani courses. Both were really good and we were very full afterwards!