lava lava lava

Today on the gloriously sunny island of Fuerteventura ( I feel like I'm reintroducing after the adverts) we explored the northern coast, where there were loads of lagoons, people, and more wild seas... it was a small seaside town called Cotilla - very Spanish and surprisingly tasteful as tourist places go.  we haven't been to the 'big' towns yet but we are struck by how unlike mainland Spain holiday resorts the island is, all the hotels seem to be low rise - or at least are in the smaller towns - tomorrow we get the ferry to Lanzarote and that is from a huge tourist town so the buildings there may well by high rise and more like we expected.

if you look closely there is a girl doing a handstand in this picture!!  (show off)

The coastal rocks were mainly black and volcanic and we drove through a very varying landscape - at one point it was just a vast volcanic lava spill, a little bit like Craters of the Moon we visited last year in Idaho USA. Fields and fields of lava rubble - black and lumpy.  then it would change and the landscape would be softer and sandstoney, and then bright deep ruby - wonderful colours and textures.

On the coast the black rocks set off these fantastic huge - think very large dinner plate - red and black crabs.  They were pretty amazing basking on the rock and huge colony of them, occasionally getting a dampening from the waves crashing over the rocks - as soon a they sensed we were there they scuttled away and hid in the crevices but when we were still and they felt safe they emerged to enjoy the sun again.

There was a lighthouse point, three different ages of lighthouse through the years - note wonderful blues skies which unfortunately didn't last!  slowly as the day progressed the clouds built up, the temperatures stayed high but the sun kept disappearing ntil by early evening it was almost like being at home - except I keep reading how FAB the weather is in Blighty!!!!

There was also a whale skeleton-mounted on a post pretending to swim - not very convincingly but I think its probably the nearest to whale spotting we will come to this holiday! 

On the way home we stopped at the Mirador do Valledoor - the hill we look at from our apartment, Dr Fred reckoned it was rude just to look at it and not go up it so he left me at the official viewpoint with my book and took off up a very windy hill side to touch the top of the rock!!