Monday, 4 August 2014

Our last full day (and it’s off the beaten track).

On our last full day here in Fuerteventura, Manel chose to take us to the best of beaches – known mostly by the locals and way off the tourist trial.

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To emphasise how remote it is we had to go miles down a very bumpy unmade road (the poor car!) and, apart from a few others around, the whole place felt well away from civilisation.

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We can’t really elaborate very much here, the shot shows it all – a very beautiful, very quiet corner in the North West of the island.

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Getting down the 100 foot cliff wasn’t too difficult, after which it was plane sailing along this fabulous beach.

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Doug and Manel soon attempted a bit of snorkelling but the sea was a bit too rough for comfort.  Doug was exhausted when he got round the headland and took refuge in a calm pool before getting back (almost in one piece!)

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Boring! :– Meanwhile, James was very content to study the amazing geology of the cliffs (when he wasn’t sunbathing).  These cliffs hold thousands of years worth of volcanic history of the island.  A thin layer of red volcanic dust could just be detected and the rock below the white layer show signs of tremendous compression.  There are three distinct eruption depositions above the white layer, all of which show signs of rapid cooling.

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A close up of the stunning white layer in the cliffs (it could be quartz but knowledge is a bit thin without doing some reading).

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Back to less technical things – James took to enjoying some fun in the surf with Manel ………

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…… and then Doug took over from James and joined Manel after which it all got a bit scary – spot then drowning!

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Manel took advantage of some natural skin exfoliation!

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After a brilliant afternoon we left the beach at something gone 6 o’ clock and called in to the lovely coastal fishing village of El Cotillo ………

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…… where the local restaurants proudly display the day’s freshly caught catch.

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We decided to have our evening meal in the village at “La Vaca Azul” (the Blue Cow), which is a strange name for a fish restaurant!  Anyway, we had a superb ‘tapas’ of delicious offerings at a table right on the water front.(and there was plenty of veggie stuff for James)

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Afterwards, as the sun was setting,  we took a short walk down to the waters’ edge where there was a perfect example of a volcanic pavement (sorry – boring again!) ……

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…… and during further exploration we came across the most extraordinary “egg”, which can only have been formed by the swirling motion of the sea as it fights its way through rocks.  Manel is using his promotional tourism skills to present the “egg” at its best. ( He was as amazed to discover it as we were.)  ……………

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.………and lastly, what we walked down to the seafront to see – the sunset from El Cotillo.

Tomorrow we fly back to the UK (and “Chance”) after the most wonderful few days in Fuerteventura.  We’ve certainly seen another side to this island.

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