Friday 21 December 

It was good to see the lights of Funchal airport when I first opened the curtains this morning - and to see lots of stars.  Last time we were here it was dull and damp.  We were up for breakfast quite early by our standards, so watched the sun rise over the Ilhas Desertas as we addressed our bacon sandwiches.  We got the shuttle bus into town, then walked along to the cable car station, visiting the bustling Mercado dos Lavradores on the way.  Wonderful displays of fruit and veg, and of course a thriving fish market.  

The cable car ride offers superb views over the city, the water and the mountains round about, but buying the tickets was a kind of linguistic ping-pong.  I asked in Portuguese for our return tickets, combined with entrance to the botanic gardens, and was answered in English.  I paid with the French Visa card, and then got the instructions in rapid French.  Paciência.  

From the Monte top station there’s a short walk to the next cable car to the botanic gardens.  December is perhaps not the ideal time to visit, but it was very interesting nonetheless.  Like much of the island, the botanic gardens are pretty vertiginous, and the paths are not exactly even.  No broken bones, I’m happy to report, but various over-used joints and under-used muscles are protesting a bit.

Once back to sea level, we enjoyed a walk along the prom, which was a building site when I first visited some years ago.  We stopped for a glass of something at a cafe near the water, meeting by chance a Canadian couple, Jill and Ed, who turn out also to be on the QE.  Hope we connect with them again: friendly, interesting people.

We decided to eat pre-paid, ie back on board, and to repair to the cabin and balcony for a rest.  As Martyn dozed, I was treated to some entertainment by young people learning wind-surfing, dinghy sailing and kayaking beside our ship in the harbour.  Exhausted just from watching.

Saturday 22 December 

Some fantastic views of moon, clouds, cliffs and water as we approached Tenerife.  A big ask for the iPad camera, but I’ll see later if Photoshop can help.

We had pre-booked a small car with an automatic gearbox, but arrived at the rental office to find that they’d assigned us a 4x4 Volvo of similar size and attitude to my Ateca.  CICAR have a new office next to their car park, and we were served by the same helpful booking clerk as two years ago.

Altogether a far better experience than last time.  For a start, the weather has been sunny, warm and calm all day, and we were able to get up into the Teide National Park this time.  Beautiful drive, with terrific views across to Gran Canaria, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.  Above the tree line, the landscape is like nothing I’ve seen before.  Arid, empty scenery with sweeps of granular volcanic rock everywhere, and some astonishing multi-coloured strata.  We paused by the Garcia rocks at the foot of the cone of Mt Teide, but opted out of the ride to the top in the cable car.  I’m doing a bit better at altitude these days, but 3710m would be asking just a bit too much.

We lunched on a Lidl pastry apiece, tradition oblige, but this time by the water in Puerto Santiago, for which we cared little, then wound our way along to Puerto de la Cruz, where Martyn has stayed some decades ago.  His hotel was still there, but much of the surrounding countryside, once virgin forest and scrub, has been developed.

It has been a day of getting lost.  Although we found our way out of the port easily this time, we took a wrong turning for Puerto de la Cruz, and found ourselves on quite the wrong side of the tracks - unmade roads, overgrown, undeveloped lotissements and some pretty dilapidated housing - and had to retrace our steps.  Since we had some surplus fuel, we’d hoped to explore the part of the island to the north-east of Sta Cruz, but again got last.  We’ve a lot of time for CICAR, but not for their cartographer.  We even struggled to find the entrance to the port, unlike last time, but we did at least negotiate the hairpin bend into the CICAR car park at the first attempt, unlike last time.  I doubt if we’ll visit Tenerife again, but if so, perhaps it’ll be third time lucky.

From what we’ve seen of the resorts, wild horses wouldn’t drag us there.  But the forests and views from altitude, and the sheer magnificence of the National Park make it well worth a visit.  The inland towns also have their charm, even as seen from the main roads.  So we don’t write it off.