John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Tuesday 2 April 2013
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[2013] [Monday 1 April 2013] I’d set the alarm clock to ca.6.45am, but woke up ca.6.40am, woke Janet up, and switched the alarm off. It was still dark; it didn’t get light till ca.7.30am. There was no hot water for washing and showering. I had to be content with sponging myself at the sink. The result, though, was that the dressing on the right heel wasn’t compromised, and I left it in place. We went for breakfast ca.8am. Had corn flakes today. Tried the “German sausage; it was no better than the “English”. We were at the entrance for the scheduled “9.04am”. We were kept waiting outside the coach that was there, which was then driven off, for it had to be changed for some reason. I was OK; I just sat on my tripod stool. 
09:04:04 Waiting to depart for the Fire Mountains 
09:04:14 Waiting to depart for the Fire Mountains Eventually, a substitute coach arrived. We sat on the right on the second row. Our guide was a jocular fellow with a wry sense of humour, whose accent I couldn’t place; he didn’t sound Spanish. He introduced himself as “Abraham” and our driver as “Guillermo”. At one of the other two stops, he asked us to move to the seat behind the one we were in — less desirable because it was between windows, not by one — so that a family could sit together and not be split up. A young boy who got on at one of the stops walked with a stiff-legged limp, and I noticed later that the stiff leg was in fact an artificial one. 
09:15:18 Picking up others Abraham told us that there were no cows on Lanzarote and never had been, after we passed a standard EU warning road-sign with the image of a cow on it. We did see goats grazing, much as one might see sheep in England. 
09:46:28 Views on the way 
09:48:02 Views on the way 
09:53:06 Views on the way 
09:53:16 Views on the way We passed very many semi-circular walls each half-enclosing a young vine, and indeed our first stop was the bodega “La Geria” for a taste of the local white wine. We were offered “sweet” or “dry”; I chose dry. The impression I got was that it wasn’t much different from any other dry white wine; maybe if I’d chosen the sweet, I’d have got a more “Muscat” impression — for that was the type of grape used, I think. 
10:05:22 First stop… 
10:05:08 First stop… 
10:01:30 …for a taste of locally produced wine The floor was of black volcanic clinker, moistened. 
10:02:32 …for a taste of locally produced wine 
10:06:24 Vines protected by semi-circular walls 
10:07:40 Vines protected by semi-circular walls 
10:13:44 An old wine-press As well as semi-circular walls, another way of protecting the vines — presumably from the strong Lanzarote winds — that we saw after we resumed our journey was by planting them at the bottom of shallow conical pits. I couldn’t get a photo of these, though. 
10:30:00 Vast lava plain, seen after we resumed our journey 
10:35:14 Views on the way 
10:36:12 Views on the way 
10:36:32 Views on the way 
10:38:50 Devil figure marking the entrance to Timanfaya National Park 
10:38:50 Detail from 10:38:50 
10:40:40 
10:42:14 Our next stop was at the Timanfaya National Park visitor centre, where there were conducted what Abraham told the children of our party were three “experiments”.  
“09:41” — unadjusted to Daylight Saving time? Entry tickets 
10:56:26 Demonstrating how hot the ash is just below the surface 
10:56:26 Detail from 10:56:26: Abraham, our guide 
10:56:26 Detail from 10:56:26: the park employee with his shovel… 
10:57:06 …handing out ash that’s too hot to hold comfortably 
10:58:52 A piece of scrub forked into this hole… 
10:59:12 …quickly starts smoking… 
10:59:18 …and bursts into flame. 
11:00:08 
11:03:08 Bucket of water tipped down the hole turns into a geyser. 
11:03:46 …and again! 
11:06:52 Naturally heated barbecue 
11:07:24 Naturally heated barbecue 
11:09:24 View from the Timanfaya National Park visitor centre 
11:09:40 The ocean breaking on the distant shore Back in the coach for a tour of the National Park, along narrow roads only just wide enough for our coach to negotiate, with occasional sheer drops on our side. 
11:23:30 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:24:02 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:30:52 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:34:08 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:37:30 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:38:02 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:41:52 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:45:44 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:46:26 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:48:08 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:49:24 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:54:24 A tour through Timanfaya National Park 
11:55:00 A tour through Timanfaya National Park We stopped at “El Golfo”. There was some feature, or vantage point, that Abraham suggested, but it was up a stony hill, and I didn’t think my feet were up to it. We went to a lower vantage point and watched the waves breaking in a narrow cove and elsewhere. 
12:24:20 Waves breaking at El Golfo 
12:25:10 Waves breaking at El Golfo 
12:26:04 Waves breaking at El Golfo 
12:26:58 Waves breaking at El Golfo 
12:26:58 Detail from 12:26:58 
12:26:58 Another detail from 12:26:58 Then we went in the shop/bar/restaurant that was there, and went through to the far side overlooking the ocean. We sat in a covered area, but nearby it was open to the sky, with umbrella-tables. The photos below must have been taken from that far side, because the reflection of one of the umbrellas can be seen in the first one. 
12:34:06 Waves breaking at El Golfo 
12:34:26 El Golfo Janet had a Diet Coke and I had a bottle of Canary Islands-brewed beer and a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, which came with a chunk of bread to mop up the sauce. 
12:37:24 Sampling Canary Islands cerveza… 
12:38:30 …in the restaurant at El Golfo The quality of the light changed, and I decided to take a photo. As I was getting up, though, I leaned on the arm of the chair, which was lightweight and slipped from under me, and I fell on the floor. I must have bumped my left elbow, the one that was badly ulcerated but latterly has been covered with scar-tissue, because it felt sore afterwards. A kind man from our party rushed to help me, but I was able to get up unaided. I took the photo, then finished my dinner. 
12:46:30 View from the window 
12:46:30 Detail of 12:46:30 
13:11:26 Restaurante Siroco €9.00 Janet bought a pair of local stud-earrings, peridot set in silver, for €29.60. Next stop was “Los Hervideros”, where the lava entered the sea and solidified, and where the waves break inside caves, which can be seen through pot-holes from balconies above that have been constructed for visitors. 
13:19:24 We made a stop here. 
13:15:38 Wave breaking in a pot-hole 
13:15:42 
13:16:44 Looking down one of the pot-holes 
13:16:54 
13:17:56 
13:19:44 
13:19:44 Detail of 13:19:44 
13:19:44 Another detail of 13:19:44 There are two roads back, running parallel to each other: the old road, along which we went, which Abraham described as “crinkle-cut” because it undulated over the surface contours (similarly to the one in “10:40:40”); and the adjacent, EU-funded, road, built on a levelled bed. Along the way, Abraham pointed out salt-beds where salt is evaporated out of the sea-water (Las Salinas de Janubio). I snapped the first photo out of the window, as the coach was moving at its normal pace; and I think it’s no worse than the second one, taken when Abraham had the driver slow down for such a photo opportunity. 
13:35:04 View from the coach — extracting salt from sea-water 
13:35:48 View from the coach — extracting salt from sea-water Our room hadn’t been prepared, so we went into the Reception area for the Wi-Fi. I couldn’t get in at first, so I went to Reception and was given a slip with a user name and password on it. 
The connection was very slow indeed. When I tried to check the Asda credit card account, it reported a server error. Managed to get off e-mails to Chris and to the members of the midweek group.
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