Lanzarote, Los días uno y dos

Jueves (Thursday), 15 de Abril

Puerto del Carmen to Costa Teguise

11.1 miles/17.76 km

Our trip to the Canary Islands started off with a BANG! Incidentally, we didn't know about the bang until we had arrived on the small volcanic island of Lanzarote and realized that a volcano on another volcanic island was erupting and disrupting air traffic all over Europe. It seems we had narrowly escaped the gigantic Icelandic ash cloud--we were certainly one of the last flights out of London that morning, April 15th. UK airports didn't see planes landing or taking off for the next 5 days. We considered ourselves to be quite lucky.

Moving on. We arrived at the airport near the city of Puerto del Carmen, determined to walk to Planet Bikes, where we had two rugged, yet lovely trekking bikes awaiting us. After wandering around for several minutes, we found this to be impossible and instead took a bus. A friendly German fellow named Roland was surprised by our arrival that morning from London, and was even more surprised to find we were taking his bikes for an entire week, and that we were using them to transport ourselves across the island. He set us up with flat kits, tools, helmets, and our bikes, and sent us on our way toward our first hotel in Costa Teguise. One thing he did not provide us with, however, was an Allen wrench, which was the only bicycle tool we actually needed during our entire trip: only two miles into the journey that day, Laura's seat post wiggled itself loose and proceeded to shrink to its lowest height, which was surprisingly uncomfortable. Luckily we were able to use our incredible orienteering skills ("Looklooklook! Another bike shop!") and our fantastic Spanish (a series of gestures, grunts, and pointing) to solve this problem. The seat was adjusted, tightened, and didn't give us any more trouble. That done, we proceeded along the coast for another 6 miles or so before arriving at our hotel.

The map above shows our route for the first day, in red. You should be able to click and drag, zoom in and out, etc. on any of the maps we've placed here (which, really, are all the same map. We've just centered them on different sections so you can see a play-by-day.)

Derek in Puerto del Carmen on the first day, getting acquainted with his bike. He refused to name it.

Laura and Blanche (A.K.A. Blanca) the Bergamont Bicycle, at Jameos Playa (Beach) in the city of Puerto del Carmen.

This was our gear for the whole trip. We later decided that our packs, as small as they were, were actually still too big. We could have reduced the clothes we brought by quite a bit. But no matter. As for the bikes, they were really cool and perfect for what we were doing (half road biking half mountain biking). They were 700cc wheels, but with thicker tires than a road bike and with some good tread as well as a front shock. They handled some pretty rugged trails quite well. Also, instead of gears and derailleurs, they were equipped with 8-speed internal rear hubs. I've ridden bikes with internal hubs before, but not ones which had 8 speeds. They shifted really smoothly and in any situation (whether you're pedaling or not) instantly. It was almost as good as a retro-direct, but not quite.

The western coast of Lanzarote on our first day as we approached the city of Arrecife on our way to Costa Teguise (also, pretty much the lowest position of Laura's seat during the ride!).

Viernes (Friday), 16 de Abril:

Costa Teguise to Guatiza circuit

19.3 miles/30.88 km

View lanzo in a larger map

The next day, we rode out of Costa Teguise along the coast to the northeast, signified by the orange route on the map. We were excited to be out of the cities and onto a bike route we had heard of which supposedly encircled the entire island. What we found was something that looked like this:

At times, the trail was more rugged still, and we found ourselves walking:

The rare flat & sandier parts became a playground:

The going was a bit slow sometimes, but it was such a beautiful ride with such astonishing terrain, we didn't mind taking our time. We stopped for a snack of galletas (cookies) and cashews where the trail met the ocean, after a few miles of inland riding. This was our view from there:

The goal in mind was to make it to the famous Cactus Garden in a little town called Guatiza. We made it! The first thing we did was order a huge bottle of water and a large meal. The best part about the meal was the fresh goat cheese, which we encountered several more times during the trip and thoroughly enjoyed. Here's a broad view of the entire garden:

Essentially, the place is an old quarry which a local artist (Cesar Manrique) transformed. It holds over 1400 different species of cacti. Here are some more pics from our lovely afternoon:

We found this little guy particularly amusing:

Some of them were just very interesting!

Brains!

These were the biggest barrel cacti I have ever seen. Derek loved them.

So that was our trip to Guatiza and the Jardin de Cactus. We cycled back the hotel in Costa Teguise via a different route, along roads, because it was late and we didn't feel like navigating through the fields of volcano rock, even if they were beautiful. Our butts were pretty sore by that point, and we were glad for some smoother riding. Overall, a pretty great day. (Laura thinks it was her favorite of the whole trip, if she had to choose.)