Tourists in and Greyrocks out!

La Provincia says first intake of tourists underwhelms

June comes to an end and Greyrocks is finally packing for the getaway! Casual observation over the ten days since rules were relaxed suggests that Corralejo is seeing a good flow of day-trippers from Lanzarote and other parts of our island, but they are not spending much money! On the other hand there seem to be visitors from the Peninsula and we have seen that the few hotels that are open have guests. Ruth's emergent ear for Spanish has recognised - she thinks - some Madrid and Andalucia accents.

This past weekend saw the first flights from the rest of Europe. A Wizz Air from Luton to Gran Can was the first that would have brought Brits directly to the Canaries. There are certainly now German and Dutch speaking holidaymakers in town in relatively small numbers. As semi-residents who have been on the island for a protracted period Greyrocks is not alone! Rumours have been doing the rounds about flights to UK which are then cancelled, and of the planes coming out empty.

Stunning views on Lobos

Hopes that worthy businesses will  be saved by July and August tourist numbers are tempered by fears that this will result in importation of the virus and ecological set-back. Within the last week numerous small craft or water-taxis have been doing the run over to the islet of Lobos, even though authorised tourist trips have not yet resumed, and the result is that it now resembles a vertedero (rubbish dump). Clearly not on the scale of Bournemouth beach on the South coast of England, but bad enough, and adds fuel to the debate about acceptable day-tripper numbers when the season is under way!


Our final couple of weeks have been dominated by sensible jobs, physio sessions and planning, but we have experienced some new things: Ruth has twice been to Rogues' Gallery to play Scrabble with Anne and Mel, just across the road we have a real find: - an Argentinian steak place to rival La Bolada which has not re-opened, and two other eateries: one an Andalucian tapas bar, and the other an Italian seafood bistro.

But now we are focused on a scary three days of travel. Whilst Greece is not accepting flights from UK our from Madrid should be fine, but we have had to complete online the new Greek PLF and have some concern that we may be tested in Athens owing to our age, meaning some sort of isolation.Three flights, airports, hotels... Watch this space!!

Approaching (the new) Normality

... and the best laid plans.....

(Press photo)

For just a few hours the Canary Islands and much of the rest of Spain has been out of Phase 3 and in the "new normal", so Greyrocks is driven to recording how we fared during the two weeks of that phase. It's in the nature of a "state of alarm" that we didn't do much, but the quality of life has been steadily improving, and certainty about our onward migration  has been fluctuating!



As June started we were still in Phase 2 and the weather was beautiful. Blue Rock opened with great attention to the rules in force and joined a small number of bars and small restaurants which we patronised. One could walk on the beach, but not enter the sea, so the beach bars such as Anno 2011 and Galera Beach were attractive spots, and we began to use Cantante (with its harbour view) - particularly during its wine happy hours! Ruth's birthday happened at this time. This was only the second time it had been celebrated on the island:- the other being 2008!  The maximum table occupancy in Phase 2 was fifteen so we planned a lunch party with tapas for that number at "Anno". It was a very sunny day, the activity we observed below us on the beach was jolly, Natalie and team did us proud on the food front and everyone went away pleased. Unfortunately and typically both of us fell asleep at the table, and stayed beyond a reasonable hour. Bob poured Ruth into a taxi (our first since lockdown) and repeated the sleeping in part on the balcony!

Early March

When Phase 3 started the maximum table size was increased to twenty and we were on one such at Anno for their barbecue with many of the same crew. That event moved on to Blue Rock for the rest of the evening.

Swimming in the sea became legal, but Greyrocks has not yet ventured in:- largely as the beach experience is not very comfortable with all "furniture" and accessories other than a towel forbidden. The town's youth, however,  have taken full advantage of the freedom and each day a crowd assembles to jump from the little jetty at the "town beach".

Initial building work

In Phase 3 we have been free of time constraints for walks and have been watching the resumed building work at La Lonja, at the marina. this has been taken over by Eddie of Playita and Anzuelo. Just before we were due to leave the island we had been for a drink and tapas and were not given a bill! The waiter said it was "his treat" as the place would be closing for a change of ownership and re-fit. It would not be re-opening until June. We resigned ourselves to not visiting again until the autumn, and worried that the simple style of the place would be changed. Soon the stripping out began, and then it all had to stop, and we couldn't legally walk there anyway! Recently each day has seen new mural painting, and it's good!

We still won't get to see the finished product until the Autumn as Greyrocks has finally got an "exit strategy"! It has become a very time-consuming roller-coaster of a planning exercise, but we are now fairly confident that we will be leaving the island on 3rd July!
The plan is Version 5, with Version 1 having been due to start on 12th April!

That one - involving flying to Barcelona and then driving through France to UK and thence flying to Chania from Bristol obviously fell by the wayside. versions 2 to 4 were planned to start after 1st July, and have been with Vueling through Barcelona in various configurations, and had needed to start including Athens. Yesterday we settled down to book to discover that the key flight Barcelona-Athens would cost over EUR 450 each! Back to the drawing board! By late lunchtime we had found and booked with Iberia through Madrid and Athens for a much more sensible price, but were nervous wrecks!

Including those for Chloë's aborted trip to us for Easter we now have a spreadsheet of nine flights requiring a refund!

Watch this space! We are off now to get a sense of what the place will be like with incomers from the Peninsula, followed very soon by German holidaymakers.The island became clear of all Covid cases for about a week, but migrants travelling from the African coast in very small craft have re-introduced it. Predictably this has brought out the racism among the Brits. Time to move on!