I’d stayed overnight at an airport hotel and had taken advantage of night before checkin so that after a quick breakfast I was able to check out of the hotel and wander straight through security without needing to stop for anything else.

A smooth flight and a relatively painless journey through the airport at Tenerife, with the only downside of the night before checkin being the bags are always the last off. I made it through with about 10 minutes to wait for the bus into Los Cristianos, only to discover a massive queue at the bus stop which indicated the chances of getting on the first bus were unlikely and it was possible the service wasn’t being particularly reliable.

At 14:15 the 14:00 service finally turned up and it was touch and go if there would be space as it was a large bus with lots of potential standing room. Thankfully I didn’t need to worry as at 14:25 whilst the earlier bus was still loading passengers, and I was still about 10 people from the doors, the 14:30 pulled up so myself and the rest of the queue opted for an extra 5 minute delay but spent sat down in comfort. In the end we followed the earlier bus all the way back into Los Cristianos, arriving directly behind it with nobody standing on our bus.

From the bus stop I walked the 500m or so down towards the seafront and my hotel to checkin, drop off my bags and quickly freshen up before heading out for a wander along the seafront.

Just next door to the hotel was a small ice cream shop, so I decided to get into the holiday spirit by having an ice-cream in the sun, whilst continuing my walk along the seafront.

I walk all the way down to the harbour, but decided that there wasn’t much else to see so headed back to the hotel and paid a trip to the hotels pool, which was suitably refreshing.

Swim completed, and all showered and dried, I was just in time to head down for the start of dinner service in the hotel, which was convenient as I was starting to get quite peckish.

After dinner I had another wander along the seafront at night, but there wasn’t much more to see (other than some people who were already quite well gone from the drink at 8pm!), so after a while I headed back to the hotel to have a night cap and then an early night ready for an early start the next day.

The main reason for staying in Los Cristianos was actually to make it easy to hop across the strait to visit the neighbouring island of La Gomera which has far fewer accommodation options, and to help get to see the island I’d booked a day tour. The tour was originally supposed to start with a pickup from my hotel just before 9am, but whilst halfway through breakfast I got a phone call from the tour guide saying there had been a change of plans and he was going to collect me at 08:30 instead, so I quickly finished off what I was eating, popped up to my room to grab my bag and then head out to the pick-up stop.

The reason for the change was the tour guide having to do two rounds of pickups in the local area as the tour company only had a 7 seater van on Tenerife to match the 15 seater minibus on La Gomera, so he needed to collect 5 of us, drop us off at the ferry terminal, collect the other 5 people on our tour for the day and then get us all together and onto the fast ferry that left at 09:30.

Everyone corralled onto the ferry in time we took the 55 minute journey across to La Gomera, landing in the capital San Sebastián de La Gomera where we were met by the bus for the actual tour. We immediately left San Sebastián and headed straight out of the city on the main road to the West, starting a long but rapid climb up into the volcanic mountain that the island is constructed out of.

Our first stop was at the twin view points of the Mirador Colgado and the Mirador de los Roques. The first view point looks out Northeast over the island which, on a normal day, is covered by a dense fog of cloud caused by the trade winds blowing against the island, in comparison the view from the Mirador de los Roques towards the Southwest should be crisp and clear, with you passing through a cloud of mist and fog as you cross the road. However, a couple of days earlier a Calima (hot dry wind from the Sahara) had passed through the islands making the air dry and clear and the view points both spectacular, although it did mean we missed the advertised horizontal rain and cloud curtains.

Next stop was a quick coffee break in the small village of Temocodá and then on round to the neighbouring village of El Cercado to visit the Centro de Interpretación - Las Loceras. After a quick look around the museum it was then a short drive to the next viewpoint the Mirador Punta del Belete which looks directly down one of the many gorges carved out of the volcano by millennia of water flows. Along with it being a stunning natural feature for the shape of the gorge it also shows the history of the island with the clear bands of when volcanic material was laid down, thick and likely lasting many years during the early volcanic formation of the island and then much narrower representing eruptions that only lasted months in the more recent past.

From the viewpoint we then drove back into the heart of the island to visit the laurisilva forest and then stop for a traditional Canarian lunch in a small restaurant located in the heart of the forest.

After lunch we then drove to the north of the island and visited the Mirador de Abrante located high above the town of Agulo, one of only a handful of towns on the northern coast of the island. It was then a short drive back on ourselves to the Centro de Visitantes Juego de Bolas which has a small garden showing off plants native to the island, an reconstruction of a typical Canarian house from the period of the Spanish conquest, and an exhibition on the whistling language unique to the islands.

We then embarked on a the long, but very scenic, drive back initially along the north coast and then heading deep inland into the mountains before crossing through them in a series of tunnels to emerge about 10Km outside, and a good 2Km above, San Sebastián. A final drive down the mountain side and we arrived back in the city centre with about 40 minutes to spare before we needed to board the ferry back to Tenerife. The tour guide was based in La Gomera so he left us there with just enough time to have a quick self-explore around the city centre before heading back to the ferry terminal.

Whilst we’d been driving back to San Sebastián the clouds of the trade winds had started to form again over the island and with the speed of those winds it had made the sea a little choppy, so the crossing back from La Gomera to Tenerife wasn’t a smooth as the journey out, but we still arrived on time back at the harbour from where we headed back to our hotels individually. It was only 45 minutes later once I was comfortably back in the hotel that I got a phone call from the tour company as there was supposed to be a hotel transfer to meet us, but he’d got stuck in traffic and now couldn’t find any of us!

By the time I’d freshened up and headed down to dinner in was into the last hour of service and it appeared that most of the food had already been eaten with nothing much being refreshed. I was able to get a satisfactory dinner out of what was on offer, but it was hardly the excellent dining opportunity the hotel advertised. Just about sated I had a quick nightcap in the bar before heading back to my room.

I hadn’t originally planned very much for the day, thinking I might just have a day relaxing in the pool or on the beach, but having experienced the size, or lack thereof of the pool and the fact that every sun lounger had been nabbed within minutes of the pool area being opened at 09:30 I decided to do something a bit more active instead.

I headed up to the series of bus stops in the centre of Los Cristianos that make up the bus station, picked up a one day travel ticket for €10 (plus €2 for the plastic card it’s delivered on) and headed off on a public transport tour of the island.

My first leg was the 473 bus North out of Los Cristianos along the Western coast of the island. The first 40 minutes or so were pretty dull as the bus worked its way through the resort towns of Las Americas and Costa Adeje, but once free of the tourist resorts, and the TF-1 Highway, we headed down on winding coastal roads past the banana plantations and open countryside of this part of the island.

I hopped off the 473 in the small town of La Arena, based around a shallow bay with quite impressive rock formations on either side of the bay and a wide sandy beach. I had a little wander around here, but with one eye on the clock as this was the most important connection to make, my next bus only ran three times a day, so I didn’t want to miss it.

Though I needn’t have worried too much as whilst I was wandering along the seafront I saw the inbound bus coming into town, a quarter of an hour late, which turned out to be exactly how late it eventually was when it made its way back for the next leg – the long ride on the 325 up through the mountainous Northwest of the island with another stunning and rapid ascent from sea level to 1000m+ mountain pass in a little over 35 minutes. The route continued through the mountains before a more gradual, but equally impressive, descend down into the small town of Icod before continuing along the main coast road to the end of the line in Puerto de La Cruz.

I spent about an hour wandering around Puerto de La Cruz, heading down to the castle on the seafront and taking the spectacular cliffs in the distance that we’d driven through, before heading back to the bus station to pick up leg three of the day, the number 102 all stops (should have caught the express 103) over to Santa Cruz.

After leaving Puerto de La Cruz this bus again climbed up into the mountains, although this time it was almost exclusively along the main highway across this part of the island. As we ascended up into the higher parts of the route the clouds closed in and we went through a pretty impressive rain storm which had the immediate effect of causing all the traffic to grind to a halt and what should have taken less than an hour to get across to Santa Cruz ended up taking over 90 minutes.

The rain had eased off to a light drizzle, accompanied by a warm sun and a rainbow, as we arrived into Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the island and the joint capital of the Canaries (along with La Palma de Gran Canaria). I did consider going for a wander, but with the delay on the previous bus and very long lines for all the buses heading back to Los Cristianos at the bus station I decided it was probably best to continue moving.

I’d just missed the 112 express bus back to Los Cristianos, but decided as it was express without any stops it was probably best to wait for the one a half hour later, at least with the advantage of being number 2 in the queue, given the queues for the stopping buses were already pretty long. It turned out to be a good plan, as the stopping buses appeared to be in a mess and only one put in an appearance whilst I waited for my bus, leaving just a couple of minutes ahead of mine and leaving a fair number of people behind. My 112 service powered down the motorway all the way to the turn off to Los Cristianos where it promptly joined a traffic jam stretching all the way from the town centre, which eventually took us over 30 minutes to inch our way the kilometre or so down to the bus stop.

Back in Los Cristianos, now close to the end of dinner time, I headed back to the hotel and had another unsatisfactory dinner before heading back to my room and turning in for the night.

I had a bit of a lie-in as my activity for the day didn’t start until 11am, and was starting from the building directly opposite the hotel on the seafront. I’d booked onto a scenic bike tour with cheese and wine tasting which sounded like quite the gentile and relaxed trip.

Of course it’s less gentile when after meeting down on the sea front you all get in a van and drive the 29Km to the Parque Recreativo de las Lajas, located some 2,200m above sea level up the side of Mount Teide and then the cycling is all back down the side of a mountain with the breaks on full pretty much the whole way.

The first part of the tour heads down the main mountain road, stopping off at the Mirador de Vilaflor where you can take in the views of the clouds below you and in the distance the sea a very long way below you. Its then back onto the main road and down into the town of Vilaflor itself, the highest town in Spain where we left the main road and started to wind our way down the mountain on smaller secondary roads.

After about 90 minutes of continuous downhill we reached the Bodega Reverón where we stopped for the Cheese and Wine tasting before remounting our bikes and continuing our descent. A short while later we pulled over at the side of the small lane we were on to take in the views down onto the coast and back up the mountain, at which point our guide proudly announced we’d reached the mid-point of our descent altitude wise, we’d come down 1,100m and only had another 1,100m to go except it would be squeezed into about 10Km of travelling, rather than the 19Km we’d done so far, which meant some of the road were going to be at 25%.

The remainder of the descent can mostly be described as a mixture of terror and aching hands, back and legs. The hands from having to grip the breaks with full strength most of the time just to keep the bikes speed down, back from having to sit bolt upright to avoid over-balancing the bike and legs from cramping for being in the same position on the pedals, never actually peddling, just resting, all the way down. Not helped by the final 5Km being on the busy main road into town, including cycling onto and navigating the main slip-road from the motorway into Los Cristianos and the very busy highway into the centre of town.

By the time I was back at the hotel I was exhausted, in some discomfort and in need of a stiff drink – a solution to all of those coming in the form of a relaxing float in the hotel pool and then a beer whilst soaking up the late afternoon sun, having managed to find a sun lounger that had been vacated.

Feeling much more relaxed I headed back up to my room to have a shower and then headed down to be in the queue when the doors opened for dinner, which turned out to be the way to do it as there was plentiful, if not particularly inspiring, food. I was at least able to have a reasonable dinner before heading to the bar for a quick drink and then an early night to try and rest my still slightly aching body.

I had a relatively early start so that I could grab breakfast and check-out of the hotel in time to walk round to the harbour and pick up my whale watching tour that I’d booked for 10:30.

After leaving the commercial and tourist harbour in Los Cristianos the boat headed out into the strait that runs between La Gomera and Tenerife and is home to around 400 Short Fin Pilot Whales.

We were sailing out to sea for about 30 minutes before we encountered a pod of whales complete with mum, dad and several juvenile whales. The boat switched off it’s engine and we just drifted along side them taking in the majestic beauty of these amazing creatures. The company I’d booked with has a strict no-chase policy so when the whales eventually decided to head off further out into the strait the boat turned and headed slightly further along the coast to see if there were any other pods, or for sightings of the other local resident – Bottlenose Dolphins.

We did spot a couple of dolphins, but they were too far in the distance to be able to get clear photos of, and there were several other ships near them so the captain decided it was better to stay away from them.

Having seen the Pilot Whales and just about seeing the Dolphins we headed back into harbour ready for us to disembark and the 12:30 tour (which looked much fuller than our less than half-full boat load) to embark.

I had a wander back along the seafront, stopping off for a quick bite of lunch in a café, before heading back to the hotel and collecting my luggage.

If I’d learnt anything from the journey in it was to avoid the main busy points on the air bus route so rather then heading to the main bus stop in the centre of Los Cristianos, I, instead, headed the 500m or so back to the previous stop where I was able to board a mostly empty bus stow my luggage in the rack and get a comfortable seat before the bedlam at the next stop where the bus went from mostly empty to totally full in a couple of minutes.

Ignoring how busy it was I had a smooth journey back to the airport and waited for the crush to unload itself before grabbing my bag as one of the last off and then heading into the terminal to check-in for my flight that I already knew was going to be heavily delayed due to delays at Gatwick and very strong headwinds.

By the time we finally pushed back we were 50 minutes late, but the captain was optimistic of not being to late getting back to Gatwick, after all the strong headwinds on the way down meant we were looking at some very strong tailwinds on the way back. The inbound flight had taken over 4½ hours to make the journey down. Our pilot was predicting just 3½ hours to get back home.