Gran Canaria 2012 Part two.

GRAN CANARIA

PART TWO

While we were at the shopping centre, we noticed a bike-hire place. We decided to see what the prices were like (expecting them to be high), and were amazed it was only SEVEN Euros for a whole day (and I DO mean 24 hours) each! That was it - we went back the next day and hired two 'city bikes'. They are like those bikes you see around Oxford and Cambridge. You don't get a helmet if you hire this type of bike as you are not supposed to go on roads outside the confines of the 'city' (Maspalomas, Meloneras, Playa Del Inglis), but you DO get a basket on the front (and a bell). Not sure why no helmet, but maybe accidents don't happen in the city????

Anyway, we left our apartment 'bungalow' early. This is a shot of our pool. REALLY lovely, and it was all kept pristine clean, but we didn't use it once - preferring the open sea or the beach to lie down.

You can see the 'bungalows' we stayed in. This was probably the cloudiest sky we had all the time we were there!

Here she is - bike rider extraordinaire! We'd had a 'test run' with some friends in Bakewell a few months earlier, but to say she hadn't ridden a bike for many years (apart from that), Sue was fine.

We travelled to Playa Del Inglis. It was mainly flat, but there's a really steep hill up to the town. However, the views as you climb up just get better and better. You can JUST see the lighthouse at Maspalomas, sticking up on the horizon. We did a lot of miles on these bikes, and NO sore bums!

We could also see the dunes - our first glimpse of this natural phenomenon, along with the glittering expanse of the ocean

As we reached the edge of them - you REALLY got the measure of just how widespread they are. There's been a hell of a lot of building around the edges, but I'm so glad they have preserved them and they are a protected area now.

Sue makes sure we've got enough water for our desert trek.

We looked out for Lawrence..........

We DID see camels - but no Lawrence!

After Playa Del Inglis, we rode the whole way in the opposite direction as far as we could to a place called Meloneras. We'd walked a bit of the way in the evening, but wanted to see just how far the promenade went. This was the end - Meloneras beach. We decided to try and ride to Puerto Rico, but we soon had vehicles tooting at us - we would be in trouble with the law, as we had left our 'designated area' and were now on the open road - where helmets were obligatory! We slunk back to the prom' like naughty kids!

The sea and rollers here were beautiful. We earmarked it for a 'beach day' soon.

We called at one of the many dune-side bars and ate.

There were some very interesting things on the menu. I didn't buy Sue one of these - but a lady on the next table was greatly amused when it was set before her!!