A different view of Lanzarote

Whilst Lanzarote is perhaps best known as a sunny beach holiday destination, there's much more to it than this. However, even in late October, this required a fairly early start, in order to complete a strenuous walk before the sun is too high in the sky. This was definitely the case with the climb of Atalanta de Femes, one of the island's highest peaks at 611m.

The start of the walk should have been easy to find but, as so often, proved not to be. Hence the walk began with an uncomfortable and embarrassed skulking through a farmyard which, as well as many tethered dogs, had some pretty scary looking untethered  turkeys.








Once on the path itself, the scene was pretty barren.

Yet even here, there were plants, like the spindly tree above,  trying to find a way to grow in the almost total absence of any water apart from dew. These survivors (right)  gained a little respite from the sun by growing close to the bank where the track had been cut from the rock.












Views from the mast field at the top were breathtakingly far reaching:

It seems that a local tradition is to write one's name in pebbles on the floor of a caldera, or extinct volcano crater. hard work in the heat, it seemed to me.

The West Coast shoreline and the 'luxury' hotel

As these pictures show, the West coast of Lanzarote is quite stunning, with black lava cliffs falling into the roaring breakers and blue 'swimming pools' formed by the huge rock pools on the foreshore. So, quite a long way from the nearest settlement (the lighthouse just visible in the second picture above), someone thought it was a good idea to build a big luxury hotel, the Atlante del Sol.




That was over 30 years ago. Here it is now, long abandoned when, it seems, the money ran out and the dream became a nightmare. Presumably there is no money to demolish it and return the land to its natural state. What a sad mess.

The red mountain volcano in the Canaries

A short walk today up the Montana Roja, or Red Mountain, marked the start of my trip to Lanzarote. This hill (I couldn't call it a mountain in all seriousness) seems to loom over the resort of Playa Blanca, and makes a very pleasant stroll as well as an excellent viewpoint over the South Western tip of the island.

Cloud and caterpillar: what on earth is it?!

A familiar walk around Lud's Church gave fantastic views of The Cloud - and an extraordinary caterpillar, which I can't identify despite looking in books and online. Any ideas anyone?!

Late summer insects basking at Trentham Gardens

As always, there was lots to see at Trentham Gardens, near Stoke on Trent, where a completely new grand garden has been created by the lake in the last few years. I find it an interesting mix of traditional and modern garden design.

 

A Comma butterfly, whose numbers thankfully are buoyant since its larvae feed on nettles; for some reason, they were attracted to this statue.

Glorious Ness

As Saturday was amazingly sunny and warm, a visit to Ness Botanic Garden on the Wirral seemed like a great idea. It's not an area I'm very familiar with, squeezed between the Dee and the Mersey, but the countryside on the way was charming.

At first it looked like a scratch and sniff blog would be ideal. This rose smelt divine, in an old fashioned kind of way.

This is not the sharpest photo but you'll have to imagine the delicious scent of chocolate from this Cosmos!













The garden is owned by the University of Liverpool and was established in the early 1900s to provide a home for specimen plants brought back from China and other far flung places by intrepid plant hunters, as was all the rage at the time. Some of the trees are especially beautiful.









I have no idea what this might be, it had black flower buds with blue flowers, a very beautiful small tree.















This acer is showing its vivid Autumn colours.

The crab apple was absolutely loaded with fruit and prompted some debate about the merits of crab apple jelly...

This tree doesn't look very special but turns out to be one of few remaining specimens of the Wollemi Pine, a 200 million year old tree, once thought to be extinct but recently found in Australia. One of the oldest known tree species, the Wollemis Pine was around when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The precise location of its discovery in Wollemis National Park remains a secret to deter specimen hunters.














One extra special touch: once the gardens close at 5.30,  visitors can continue to wander around freely and let themselves out at any time before dusk. Perhaps no-one else realised this, as they all left; it felt like Ness in all its glory was our own private garden.

After the flood

An overnight stay in Tewkesbury enabled me to get acquainted with a town I'd never visited, but knew of as the scene of a dreadful flood in 2007. Two months worth of rain fell in 14 hours and 95% of homes locally were without water at some point over that time.

Notice how the abbey sits on the highest ground, such as it is. And a very beautiful abbey it is too.














My walk took me across the fields which are submerged at the top of the picture above. The mill (below, right) can be seen stranded (top centre) above:

 

The Severn and the Avon join together here, flowing on South as the Severn, through Gloucester to the sea.. It's very flat countryside, with the small Bredon Hilll looking quite substantial as a result. The plump sheep were clearly not the rugged upland Lake District ones I've seen a lot of over the past few years: