Sore feet!

Adeje Market

And so, as another day beckoned, we decided that we should really go and visit the Adeje market, (which is on a Thursday and Saturday). It is not far from the hotel and, since the weather was a little overcast and even slightly dull, we decided that the market would be a good idea. It was. It is a fantastic market with about 150 stalls. We had a good walk around and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was interesting that some of the stuff being sold appears to have come from the same source in Pat Pong, Bangkok, (and is of the same quality!), but it was actually pretty good. Captain Clarke bought a shirt and I bought a small coin wallet – you seem to be only able to get them in Spain and my last one broke … it only lasted 30 years!

Wallking along the prom

Having been to the market, we discovered that we were only a few hundred metres from the El Duque shopping centre, so we thought we’d wander down there. It’s an OK shopping centre, with high street names in it like Superdry and Beneton, but we didn’t really want anything so we decided to wander down to the beach promenade and have a wander along there. Now, this, my friends, is where we went wrong. We had left the hotel dressed only for an overcast day and a short walk. We had not left the hotel with appropriate footwear for a long walk. I was wearing mules and Captain Clarke leather flip flops. However, walk we did. We walked along the prom, past the road that leads up to Zena and Simon’s hotel, past our hotel, past the harbour, past the really posh ‘Beach Club’ which only has day beds around its meandering pool, on and on. By the time we got back to the hotel we had walked just over 7 miles – it isn’t the distance that matters, it’s the footwear!

The road to Zena & Simon’s hotel

The first problem encountered was my legs. I suffer from what I call ‘statin legs’. If I walk up or down long hills, or sets of steps, or just anything other than flat, my muscles begin to ache. And ache they did! There are lots of hills over little cliffs, steps up or down the paths, etc. etc. I began to really suffer, but apart from the aching, it was a really good walk. The second problem came in the form of blisters. Now, I didn’t know the Spanish for blisters, (or I had forgotten it), but I sure do now!!!! Ampolla should you ever need to know. I have blisters on the side of my feet, I have blisters on top of my big toes, I have blisters underneath my big toes. I have more blisters today than I have ever had! Captain Clarke too has blisters on the soles of his feet. And so, lesson number 454, if you’re going to walk a long way, make sure you have appropriate footwear!

The ‘Elvis’ Bar mentioned yesterday!

Now, with my aching muscles and my, now bleeding, blisters, you might think that my problems had gone away, but no! You’d be wrong. You see, the other significant departure from our original plans was that the sun had come out. Being slightly challenged in the hair department, I always take a hat or wear a very high factor sun block. But it was overcast when we left. I didn’t do either. May I say, of myself, what a plonker! My head now resembles the brightly coloured arse of a lobster! And sore! Oh my word!! So, now with aching muscles, (which have evolved to be exceedingly painful muscles), bleeding blisters and a head that’s brighter than the red in a German flag, I can quite honestly say that I have never felt all over body pain quite like it! I had a very bad night’s sleep last night because either the blisters, the muscles or the burnt head woke me every few minutes. We will not be walking a long way today! In fact, I am not really walking at all … more shuffling along with a pained expression on my face!

Captain Clarke with an empty glass!

Last night we visited another good restaurant. Actually, it is the restaurant we visited on our first night and Captain Clarke wanted the ‘Pepito de Lomo’. Called Miguel Angel, (which is interesting because we discovered last night that the bloke who runs it is called Daniel and he comes from Nottingham!), the restaurant is run by a couple descended from Hong Kong. The food though is Spanish and the waitress, (there appears to be only one), is from Cordoba – although she has lived in London which she found to be far too stressful, in Minorca which she describes as a ‘prison’ and Mallorca which she likes, but there is no work in the winter. She is very nice, although we are not yet sure what her name is. She moved to Tenerife a year ago and loves it here. She has a stable job, she is ‘fija’, (literally meaning she has a full time contract of employment which is quite rare in mainland Spain), she loves the climate, she loves the people and she enjoys her work.

Whatever he’s paid, it’s too much!

The food is excellent again. Captain Clarke had a small, (not!), fillet steak ‘rossini’, (on a slice of fois gras, for anyone who doesn’t know and is interested), and I had just the fillet steak. We elected for the ‘papas con mojo piquant’, (Canarian Potatoes), and washed the whole thing down with a bottle of Rioja. Very good it was too. The only down side to the whole evening was that the restaurant had employed a local singer, (actually my guess is that he was from Manchester, but I didn’t bother to ask!). It seems that almost every restaurant here employs a singer on a Saturday night – where they all come from is anybody’s guess! I pointed out to Captain Clarke that there were only about 20 covers in the entire restaurant – how much did they pay him? Surely it couldn’t be economical. Mind you, on balance, whatever it was it was too much!

Our ‘small’ hotel!

One final note about the hotel. The Wifi here is truly dreadful! In fact, it is so bad that to post this blog and add photos to it, I have to tether to my mobile phone and use that instead of the Wifi! Great Uncle Bulgaria has sent me some photos of he and Madame Cholet’s trip to Warley Park yesterday to see the snow drops and daffodils, (which look great), which I would normally put on the Gardeners’ Club website, but the Wifi here is so bad, it might have to wait until I return to the UK! How difficult can it be to put in a reasonable Wifi network? It’s RudyMenTerry!