Northern La Palma
18 August 2010
Penny
Drove along the coast road to Barlovento through province of Puntallana. We were joined by Henke from Sogno d'Oro. Fantastic views all the way along. Playa de Nogales, a fine black sand beach sheltered by high cliffs is where turtles come ashore (although we did not see any) and therefore a protected nature reserve. At San Juan de Punallana we stopped to admire the view and have a coffee at a pottery, only there was no pottery, only lace and no coffee as the machine had broken! At La Galga, another National Park, this time home to an ancient laurel forest' with huge ebony and mahogany trees. Very well set out with guided trail. At Punta Cumplida we stopped for well deserved ice cream (long hard walk in the forest) and a swim in the lava rock pools. The Astrophysics Obervatory at Roque de los Muchachos, quite surreal and breathtaking views. It was getting quite late by this time (area is closed to visitors at night to prevent artificial light interfering with telescopes) so continued along some hair raising mountain roads (especially with 'Stig' Bates behind the wheel) back to Santa Cruz and a Pontoon Bar B Q.