Fuerteventura
24th January >> 7th February 2009

Unfortunately there are no pictures this time for our short trip to this windy island as I lost the camera, yes all my fault - I believe I left it in a restaurant where we were enjoying an evening meal, I think I was distracted by the downpour that happened half way through the meal - but that's simply an excuse. When we returned the next day it was not to be found .... so sorreeeee no pics.

Overall the weather was good, certainly better than back in the UK, but it was windy most days, but apart from the downpour mentioned the rain stayed away, with the occasional drop or two now and again.

Compared to the other Canary Islands in my opinion this is the least interesting as there are less sights to see, though we did get out and about in a hire car and covered pretty much the whole of the island.

We were based in Castillo in the Castille San Jorge apartments. (See my report on TripAdviser for fuller details of hotel accommodation) The resort is just south of the airport, and is pretty small, but with masses of apartments half built up on the hill overlooking the town, so potentially a very big place as the Golf Course is close by too.

The thing that hits you however is the credit crunch is really starting to have a bad affect on the place, which is entirely dependent on tourists and basically not enough people are going there to sustain the economy, whilst we were there a shop we looked round one day had closed down the next, similarly a pizza restaurant we intended to try closed down and was for sale later in the week. Our hotel was certainly less than half full and it was obviously the same wherever else we went.

Some of the places we visited and would recommend included:

Correlejo on the North coast where we are able to get fresh fish at good prices, this was also the busiest location on the island. Also just south of here are the sand dunes which are impressive.

Caleto Negro on the West coast was well worth the trip as the rollers came in off the sea giving spectacular views of the cove and the cliffs.

Morro de El Jable on the South coast is where the large beaches are, the Lighthouse is the local landmark.

Near Playas del Cotillo on the North West coast is an old Lighthouse and a very informative nature trail.

Overall for us a quiet and restful time was had with lots of sunbathing and walking, but good to be away from the cold and snow and floods in the UK.