Just back from our usual October trip to La Gomera and further to my post above, the 'Benchi Express' run by Fred Olsen on the Los Christianos - San Sebastian - Playa de Santiago - Valle Gran Rey route is a bigger boat than was used on the old Garajonay Express service. It is a much more comfortable ride in our experience but be warned that it is slower and DOES NOT keep to the times on the Olsen timetables. The timetables indicate that it takes approximately 2 hours for the complete journey from Los Christianos to Valle Gran Rey but it takes nearly 2hrs 15 mins with the inevitable delays to the later ferry times that follow. Thus the ferry scheduled to leave Valle Gran Rey at 10.30am and arrive in Los Christianos at approx 12.30pm NEVER left VGR before 11.00am and hence doesn't arrive at LC until at least 1.15pm.

Luckily we were able to monitor the ferry's comings and going from our apartment balcony and so didn't take the chance on getting the 10.30am ferry on the way home but got up early to make sure we caught the 6.30am ferry so as to ensure we arrived at TFS in good time. The actual journey time from the ferry departing VGR to us arriving by taxi at TFS airport was 2hrs 50mins. We needed to check-in by 2.00pm at the absolute latest for our 2.50pm flight but had we caught the later ferry then I estimate that we wouldn't have arrived at the airport until 1.50pm at the earliest which would have been cutting it really fine given that my mother needs disabled assistance. If we had believed the Olsen timetables we would have assumed that we could have caught the later ferry and arrived around 1.00pm - in fact I booked the flights on this assumption - and would have stood a good chance of missing our flight check-in. It did mean that we spent longer than I had planned hanging around the airport but better that than be denied boarding at all.

So to cut a long story short - if you are planning on using the passenger ferry to travel right round to or from either Playa de Santiago or Valle Gran Rey, then leave a decent margin on the return journey for making the connection for your homebound flight.

SM

Thanks for the update. Doesn't look as if we'll be going in the very near future in any event: eyes turned to another relatively unexplored island that is awkward to get to - only this one is in the South China Sea!

Probably going to Tioman I. for a couple of weeks in February.

But I don't think we're completely done with Gomera yet, either.

I could never 'be done' with La Gomera - paradise is hard to find! Took our first holiday there (to VGR) in 1992 and finally bought a house there in 2007 so that we can now spend the gloomy Northern Hemisphere winters in the sun!

For interest, I'd never seen VGR as quiet (we don't live there but do visit often) as the autumn/winter of 2009 and there is no doubt that a lot of the locals are struggling to make ends meet (eg one of the local property agents hasn't sold a house for over 18 months!). Much as increased tourism is not on my agenda, VGR needs all the help it can get at the moment so don't desert!!

I'll be back in September!!

And, God willing, we too will be back in October as usual. And I too would hate it if it became just another mass tourist destination but last year I felt really sorry for the local businesses that rely on the visitor trade for an income - they do need all the help they can get. Bars and restaurants, however, low key do need a certain critical mass of visitors and the fewer visitors there are, the fewer the facilities and that can result in yet fewer visitors. It becomes a vicious circle of decline and I hope that it doesn't continue this year. We've seen it gradually getting quieter over the last 3 years and I was wondering whether we'd find that some more of the lcoal businesses had gone under by the time we return in the autumn - I hope not.

SM

To be fair, the VGR Ayuntiamiento are making some efforts to encourage tourism. They did a very good job reconstructing the main beach with fresh sand in June last year, although they have an even bigger job on their hands this year (and probably less available funding) as there was not an inch of sand to be seen along the whole length when we left for a UK visit four weeks ago!

I don't think any more businesses have closed since last Autumn and there have been one or two shop 'upgrades' although these are mainly targeted at the local population rather than the tourist (the new PC spares shop in Vueltas for instance).

One thing that was noticeable in the overall tourism demise last winter was that there seemed to be more English around. I'm just not sure if that is because more are discovering Gomera or because they are more apparent due to a lower German intake!?!

One thing that was noticeable in the overall tourism demise last winter was that there seemed to be more English around. I'm just not sure if that is because more are discovering Gomera or because they are more apparent due to a lower German intake!?!

I would think that it's probably a bit of both - we noticed distinctly fewer German visitors around and more English voices to be heard on the harbour beach at Vueltas where we usually stay. Presumably the sandless beach is the one along at La Playa? It always did look as if it was going to be more prone to erosion but I didn't realise taht it got that bad.

To be honest the thing that I liked about the whole island and even VGR was that it did have a feeling of being more than just about catering to the tourists so even though I doubt that I'll ever need to purchase PC spares it's good to know that there is enough trade to make it worth their while upgrading and it all contributes to the bustle. I live in a little seaside place myself on the east coast of Scotland and I think that it's the fact that we still have some 'proper' shops and not just souvenir and gift shops on our high street that makes it feel like somewhere that people live and not just visit.

SM

Keep up the good work, you two!

It's excellent to get these periodic e-mail reminders about Gomera, as I've promised myself we'll go back for a fourth time (to the Jardin Tecina in PS, mainly for the golf, though we've been on walks from there, too). We welshed out this past winter and went east instead, though we never made it to Tioman Island as planned, since my pregnant daughter-in-law didn't want to risk being quite so far from anywhere. Thailand and Singapore were very pleasant, but the souvenirs were less than welcome as my wife managed to get Legionnaire's Disease ( !!!!! - it's like the mother of all pneumonias and NOT to be recommended), apparently from the jacuzzi in our Bangkok hotel suite. Fully recovered, thankfully, but it was something of a jolt at the time.

More thumbs up for the East Coast of Scotland, too. My son (presumably troubled at the thought of impending parenthood and how it might affect his mobility) persuaded me to join him on a pilgrimage to St. Andrews in April, and it was blissful. Aside from St. Andrews itself and the Old Course, which we manfully challenged, the villages like Crail (a quite astonishing golf course in its own right) and Anstruther were lovely, and the entire ambience and friendliness of the people restored a lot of my lost faith in the U.K.

But then again, it WAS Scotland, and not England...
P.S. I was saddened to see that one of Gomera's permanent residents Tim Hart (Steeleye Span founder-member) died at the back end of last year. His ashes, or part thereof, were scattered on the island.

The yearly changes to the Playa Maria beach never cease to amaze me. Every year, starting with the first major winter storm, the beach starts to naturally change from mainly sand to mainly stone. It really demonstrates the power of the sea. (I wanted to post a couple of photos but it seems this forum only allows links to images). This usually happens around early January, but I have also seen it much earlier! Then the beach becomes progressively stonier, the remaining sandy bits only at each end. It also becomes quite steep!

This year, as I said earlier, it is stony, no rocky, everywhere and in the middle bit very steep as the winter storms (as in most of Europe) were pretty violent! (In fact, maybe for another post, the winter's rains were, according to the locals, way heavier that anything for the past 20+ years and more like the 'usual' weather patterns of that time and previous!).

The sea starts to return the sand around April time and last year the Ayuntiamiento provided a digger for about 6 weeks to remove all of the residual rocks leaving, for the first time in my memory, a totally sandy beach from end to end!

Playa del Ingles undergoes a similar natural phenomenon, but is never 'manicured'!

Summer tourism, mainly Spanish from the mainland, is also important to VGR and they mainly come to eat, drink and swim so the beach becomes much more important. Also, as the beach at Vueltas can become pretty hot in July/August as it is relatively enclosed, the 'main' and Playa del Ingles beaches become much much busier!

The changes make it interesting at all times of the year and the swimming in summer is fantastic!

Hi Slothrop,

Glad you had such a good time up here in Scotland - there are few places better when the sun shines! I live just north of the Tay within 10mins walk of that other well known Open championship course on the east coast. You know the one - the one that Tiger Woods has never yet managed to get the better off and win the Open at

I think that one of the reasons why I love La Gomera and VGR in particular so much is that the ambience is very similar to all those lovely East Neuk villages but with sunshine and a 'manana' attitude rather than east of Scotland presbyterianism and a chilly North Sea! And, just like here, I love the way you get wonderful walking in the hills within such a short distance from the coast. Each time we go I look longingly at the estate agents windows because my long term goal would be to have a post-retirement winter bolt hole, like rpg, on La Gomera for when the Scottish winter just gets too much but I could never forsake here during the summer. Our day light hours now extend way beyond my waking hours - for some weeks now the sky to the north always has a glimmer of light sitting on the horizon even at midnight. It's always a shock to me when I go to Cuba at this time of year and have to make the sudden adjustment to it being dark at 8pm and it only just getting light at 8am!

SM

Going again in late November for a leisurely week's golf at Tecina. What's the current score on the ferry around to Playa Santiago? I got the impression it was rather slow and the timetables weren't up to scratch earlier. Has that been sorted out? I'd sooner take the boat direct to PS than have to hike across the island.

Been here since last week September and, apart from General Strikes, all ferries seem ok to timetable. In fact the Benchi Express was running normally even on that day although we couldn't take advantage as we had to get our car across so had to wait for the last (only) Fred Olsen of the day! Armas were only running to La Palma.

Not sure why you think that the Benchi is particularly slow, in fact I reckon the turnarounds are pretty speedy from what I've seen! It will certainly be way quicker than getting off in SS and going across country!

All is suitably quiet and as laid back as ever............apart from Vueltas beach which is busy nearly every day as the 'main' beach remains totally stony! We have been told that 30% of summer tourists to VGR cancelled due to the lack of sand - we came for a couple of weeks in July and it was pretty quiet....but VERY hot!

Have a good week's golf, for me from the 25th till early Jan it's all about The Ashes!!

Not sure why you think that the Benchi is particularly slow, in fact I reckon the turnarounds are pretty speedy from what I've seen! It will certainly be way quicker than getting off in SS and going across country!

I'm going on an earlier post where SMa suggested that one look very carefully at the timetables for return trips to Tenerife, as otherwise there might be a nasty surprise at the airport. Good to hear it's working anyway. It rather depends on how the timetables pan out - if the Olsen ferry from TFE to the capital leaves appreciably earlier than the one that goes round to PS and VGR, there might not be much in it. Sometimes the flights come in at an awkward time and if you aren't a bit quick, you can end up waiting in that hell-hole of a port for four or five hours. Generally, the sooner I see the back of Los Christianos, the happier I am.

Ah, the crack of leather on willow! Used to be for flanneled fools, but now it's bookies' rules.

Been here since last week September and, apart from General Strikes, all ferries seem ok to timetable.

Due to date clash with a wedding we are here in Scotland this week rather than over in La Gomera for our usual Autumn trip but it's good to know that they seem to have sorted themselves out. Perhaps they've now put a faster boat on the route round to Valle Gran Rey? I'm really missing our 'fix' but attending the wedding was more important and my work commitments meant that I couldn't fit in both. But it's really is making me give some thought as to whether we could manage a trip in February instead when I can sort of see a window in my diary

SM