Benchijigua

Day trip time! Our last WHS for the Canaries was the nearby island of La Gomera, specifically the Garajonay National Park, where one of the last laurel forests in Europe still grows. We'd booked an organised boat trip there, so off we went.

Very early start, getting on the local bus at around 7:15am since we had to make it to nearby Los Cristianos at 8am. Slight mixup with the buses as neither of us realised you had to flag the bus, so it drove straight past! Thankfully we only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one, and Shandos spent most of that time berating me which was nice.

Regardless - we made it, and met the rest of our group at the wharf. Almost entirely Germans, who absolutely love La Gomera for some reason. Tour leader was German as well, but promised he'd provide info in both languages for us.

The ferry between islands took a bit over an hour, and then we were herded onto a small bus. Our tour was about 16 people so larger than I'd like, but thankfully not a huge coach. We set off around the island, heading for the top of the volcano.

It's very rugged here, reminding me a lot of Kauai though with more obvious farming and occupation. Deep jagged valleys, misty peaks, green cliffs and so on - quite nice and appealing!

Around 11:30 we arrived at the national park entrance, and went on a 2 hour-ish hike. First part went through the national park so we tagged along near the back, filming and talking to camera as we went. Managed to get some decent footage I think!

The second part was more dramatic and interesting, though it was outside the world heritage area so I didn't film it as much! Lots of little terraced farms clinging to the slopes, streams cascading down, clouds billowing past and so on - very appealing environment.

Stopped for lunch around 2pm at a restaurant where we had local foods - a vegetable soup with "add your own corn-starch" as a side to make it more filling. Apparently that's what locals would eat! It was nice enough. But then it was back on the bus and hurrying for the ferry wharf since we'd been running slightly behind schedule all day.

We made it just in time around 4pm, so with the ferry ride, the walk through town, and then the bus back to Las Galletas it was nearly 6pm when we got back to the boat. Poor little Schnitzel had been on his own for 11 hours in a fairly confined space, though thankfully he hadn't climbed up the steps and gotten stuck like yesterday when we went out briefly for lunch! Very happy to see us, and seemingly none the worse for wear.

Naturally, we ended up staying in for dinner - I went out and grabbed some kebabs.Read more