. . . at Playa Blanca, Lanzarote. Yep it’s family summer holiday time. I’m not usually big on a summer holiday abroad but after all the rain back at home I’m actually very glad to be in the hot sun. I never seem to get board of running but after 19 marathons in 7 months I feel content to be resting in Lanzarote, knowing more marathons will follow soon enough.
Two years ago we had gone to Tenerife so we were familiar with the Canary Islands. We had an idea it was quieter in Lanzarote but on arrival this was more noticeable than expected and we were concerned there wouldn’t be enough to keep the Collins family occupied. As it was we found plenty of family activities and thoroughly enjoyed the week. An element of every day was spent around the hotel pool, Abbey and Lucas loved the pool slide and swimming to the bottom to collect coins I threw in.
The H10 Lanzarote Princess hotel has been a lovely hotel to stay in, it is near the beach with a central position in Playa Blanca and I would recommend it to anyone considering a holiday there. We had a day trip to Rancho Texas Animal theme park with Parrot, birds of prey and Sealion shows which we all enjoyed. Abbey and Lucas also thoroughly enjoyed having a go on the canoes. We had a coach tour to Timanfaya National Park to see the volcanoes and saw the strange hot earth which can still set branches on fire and turn water to steam in a matter of seconds. We road on Camels and even went under the sea in a yellow submarine and saw some ship wrecks and a diver feeding fish.
The weather has been excellent, hot and sunny with the typical Canary Island wind so things didn’t feel too hot.
In the centre of Playa Blanca is a pleasant tourist shopping centre which surprisingly got more interest from the kids especially Lucas than Mrs C. These days whenever we go out for the day Lucas (in his words) wants to buy a “Memory”, he means a souvenir. I just love some of the descriptions he comes out with.
I suppose no blog post from me would be complete without a mention of something to do with running, well it is a running blog. I had planned it to be an easy week as I’m not good in the heat and wanted to spend time with the family. As it was, I found time in the mornings before breakfast and it wasn’t too hot (well about 20 to 24 degrees C). I started with a 5 mile run the first day which helped me get a feel for the town and the surrounding area. Then a 6 mile and a 8mile runs, finishing with 2 10 mile runs. This is the most I have ever run abroad on holiday in a hot country. Not only have I run some good mileage I had a couple of local volcanoes to run up so no marathon but I had the Lanzarote equivalent to a fell running holiday. No “Marathon Mon” for a week but the “Mountain Goat” was back.
For any runner considering planning a holiday in Playa Blanca look for the hill west of the town called Montana Rioja (Red Mountain). It is a volcano with a crater in the top. It is a great place to visit and it is 1 mile around the lip of crater according to my Garmin. Three of my runs included a trip up this lovely mountain and on one of the days I even got the whole Collins family up!
On the other side of the town are a line of mountains. The second one from the coast was within my running reach and much higher. Ooooh, I just love a challenge! With no real path for most of the way to the summit and lots of loose rocks the going was the most difficult I can ever remember. In fact as I was going up I was very concern about getting down. On nearing the top I couldn’t believe I wasn’t alone and someone was already just getting to the summit. I was very impressed but also knew it was therefore possible and became even more determined to reach the top. I eventually got there with the last mile taking me 32 minutes. It was a local man that had beaten me and he didn’t speak a word of English but we still smiled at each other as to respect each other’s achievement and with gestures I managed to get him to take a photo of me at the summit. He kindly pointed me in the direction of a longer but safer route back to Playa Blanca, which took me past a herd of goats. All in all a great mornings adventure.
I’m sat in the Arrecife airport waiting for our delayed flight home. Back to reality, eh? I wonder what the weather is like in England….Rain?
