Oil, Water, Wheels and the Home Again Blues

Why Bob had a daytrip to Gran Can!

Greyrocks is now settled in the winter home, but the weather has been almost entirely glorious so that it feels like it is still summer. One day last week it reached 42°C in the afternoon outside The Blue Rock, but there has been no time for full day trips to the big beaches:- it has been repairs, health checks and jabs, haircuts, re-stocking, intricate financial tasks, ICT changes and renewals of acquaintances! Phew! And then there was the jolly jape (and expense) of Bob having to fly over to Las Palmas for a five minute meeting at the British consulate in order to extend his passport sufficiently for an Indian or Cuban visa. What a farce - and all because of the privatised mess back in UK!

But enough! Let's do the annual rundown on what has changed in Corralejo since the Spring.
The first thing that strikes the returning semi-resident is the relentless inward swell of surf! Yet more schools and camps have opened, each with vans all over town and at beaches, and the punters are evident everywhere. Ruth sat next to two such middle-class Brit women on the flight from Barcelona. Possibly related to the trend is the outbreak of maniacal skateboarding, which, along with new motorised three wheel scooter contraptions for hire is causing some stress in the pedestrian bits of town! At least it looks as if some action has been taken over dog poo, of which there is now definitely less!

And should you want a cup of coffee... well this continuing trend has made it to the complaints pages of the English press! Italian coffee shops are everywhere - many with pavement seating on the high street, but popping up just about anywhere. (An interesting one is the veggie place on the kids' square) There are rumours that Italian settlers are now the most numerous in the municipality. Some have tried to run restaurants and failed spectacularly, but there is some resentment about the take-over of the old town, and when Mike at the Casbah closed down there was huge relief that the replacement is a genuine tapas bar run by a Canarian. (Not the best in town by several, but not bad, and Richard - yes, not Ricardo! - is a great host) It is now pointless to chart the openings and closings of every establishment - especially all these small places, but three key restaurant sites are unoccupied at the point of writing:

• Just down from Hiperdino the former Colombian place has clearly been opened and then closed again in our absence. It is something to do with licenses. As Hemingway´s several years ago it was fairly nice! It is now up for rent again!

• Between Fazz´s and the Antigua del Puerto down at the harbour there is a corner site that has been in Greyrocks´memory Spanish, Chinese, Greek, US style roadhouse, 3 different tapas bars, and most recently a promising-looking grill with cheap fish. It closed suddenly just before we left in April and is still hors de combat although some new plate glass went in yesterday!

• In a lovely position overlooking the bay is what was for many years Castaway. It became "On the Beach" with glorious white and blue floaty decor and a price list to make you wince - possibly to pay for... Well - we also think it may have had something to do with a troublesome neighbour of Greyrocks, so few tears are being shed about that loss. It´s just a shame that such a nice spot is empty. Next door the Sidreria and Banana Bar have melded and emerged differently, too!

Elsewhere all credit to the Council for some improvements in the cycle paths, revival of the mall at Campenario, which looked like it might be a white elephant, and some really interesting events since Greyrocks returned. None of these has - of course - been adequately advertised in any language, but heh!



2014 International Blues Festival

So first was a "manifestation" taking place simultaneously on eight islands in the archipelago to protest at Repsol´s prospecting for oil off the coast. The issues are pretty clear. If you can read Spanish here is Repsol´s side and the other!

One Satuday we woke to a noisy helicopter circling for hours. It was part of the annual swim from Lanzarote to Corralejo. This is a serious swim :- at least five hours, but we missed the key moments like the arrival of the guy with one leg! Next day the swim was only from Lobos to Corralejo and we did see the aftermath with hundreds of youngsters partaking of lunch at the Nautical Club.

Last weekend we were told of multiple serious cyclists and we ourselves had seen a few practising. It turned out to be the 8th North to South ride organised by an infantry regiment in the Spanish army but open to others. 150 gruelling kilometres! Here is some footage from last year!

And finally - with its usual lack of publicity we had - last weekend - the Blues Festival. Somehow we managed to miss the street events on Thursday, and the Saturday evening when eight of us ate at La Plaza for optimal viewing was a bit disappointing, but the Friday night was a stonker! Greyrocks watched the first act (Brits and an Irish guy we know) from the front barrier thus wrecking three out of four knees for several days, but well worth it for a brilliant performance. We then moved to the German bar nearby and paid a fortune for sullenly served wine and an unceremonious closure. The middle act - from Scarborough - we thought good, though others disagree, and then on to some amazing stuff from Malford Milligan  - so good we behaved like groupies and went backstage to shake his hand. Related downloading has since then taken place!

Oh, and now it´s Halloween and the Day of the Dead!