RedRooster Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 As yesterday was a 737 with a range of thousands, i will say America as you don't speak any foreign languages.
JumpingFrog Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Google thinks your photo is of Teide in Tenerife. As far as I can tell it looks right, a bit scary really!
RedRooster Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 Very scary https://tineye.com/search/752caf0488c3b7659344c67d70ada24bf8523582/
Nick Jones Posted March 21, 2019 Author Posted March 21, 2019 JF is correct..... though tineye might be cheating..... Tenerife it is. Nice. Some really fantastic roads here. Have a 3 cyl Polo as a hire car. It’s done 108k Km’s and is making some slightly alarming noises in 2nd and 3rd. For all that I’m quite enjoying it and it even makes quite a nice noise between 4 and 5k - which is a good thing as it spends a lot of time there . Have done a fair bit of walking too. My legs hurt..... Another pic from yesterday of a relatively recent lava flow (1798). Looks like it could have been there weeks/months rather than 200 years. Vent it came from is mid left. Absolutely amazing place and well worth a visit if you’ve not been.
Nick Jones Posted March 21, 2019 Author Posted March 21, 2019 And from today, much older landscape from the the far northeast of the island. Very vertical landscape - that’s why my legs hurt........
PeterC Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 I clambered up Teide in '64, there are fumaroles on the peak. It is far from extinct. The western flank has been acive siesmically in 2004-5, suggesting a possibility of flank eruption, Mt St Helnes style. https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~gljhg/JHG/Recent publications_files/Marti et al 2009_Tene_crisis.pdf Peter
Nick Jones Posted March 21, 2019 Author Posted March 21, 2019 Can’t get to the very top as that requires a permit these days.... none available ‘till mid May..... Still it is possible to get to a couple of hundred metres below the summit either by cable car or shanks pony...... Question is...... am I/we physically able to walk it. My default position was “of course I bloody am you cheeky b’stard” but after a fairly tough walk today, considerably shorter, less elevation gain and, perhaps most significantly, at much lower altitude..... I am forced to consider more carefully.....
Nick Jones Posted March 21, 2019 Author Posted March 21, 2019 2 hours ago, PeterC said: I clambered up Teide in '64, there are fumaroles on the peak. It is far from extinct. The western flank has been acive siesmically in 2004-5, suggesting a possibility of flank eruption, Mt St Helnes style. https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~gljhg/JHG/Recent publications_files/Marti et al 2009_Tene_crisis.pdf Peter Thanks for the link Peter. Interesting reading. Not quite sure where the flank eruption idea comes in, but it is an active volcanic system with a number of very recent (geologically speaking) small scale eruptions, so some renewed activity wouldn’t be that surprising. I don’t find any evidence of concern since then, although it seems that certain British tabloids were concocting stories in 2018.
Martin Posted March 22, 2019 Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) Was on Lanzarote last week. I have never been on the Canary Islands before. Seem to be firmly in British hands. From 31 flight back on Saturday, 14 went to the UK. Even an "overseas Market" from Waitrose was available nearby. Nature outstanding. Black beaches. No trees. Had an 4WD Jeep Compass (the Corsa was only available in Automatic, and I was not able to drive that ). Instruction from Sixt: no gravel roads , yes of course Martin Edited March 22, 2019 by Martin
Nick Jones Posted March 22, 2019 Author Posted March 22, 2019 Funny that. From my experiences on Gran Canaria and Tenerife, the British may hold the beaches and the bars, they rarely venture far inland. Except possibly in packs on coach tours.... We are not typical Brits as we almost never go to the beaches but are up walking in the hills with the Germans, the French, the Dutch and the Spaniards. What is the point of renting a 4wd if you are not allowed off tarmac? I don’t mean you, clearly anything is better than a Corsa automatic, but the hire companies...... Did see some real jeeps on a group safari on Wednesday - was a bit envious!
Bumblebee Posted March 22, 2019 Posted March 22, 2019 So once upon a time, prior to multiple back spasms and an impending spinal fusion, I used to do Ironman races. Ironman Lanzarote is regarded as one of the worlds hardest due to the amount of climbing on the bike, the wind and the heat combined. I did Ironman Lanza and fell in love with the place. I have been every year since with the family. I get up at 7 AM get on my bike and go and ride for 3 hours from Puerto Del Carmen out to Fire Mountain, across the old lava flows, out and up towards Haria. Its a hot and lumpy old ride, and if the wind is up it is a lesson in suffering, as riding a bike quite often is. It is however stunningly beautiful, especially early morning when it isnt too hot and the sun is peeking through the early morning clouds you always seem to get out that way first thing. The family like the pool and the bars, and that is cool, but I loved to get out there early and just ride. I hope once my back gets screwed together I can ride a bike again. I dont miss triathlons particularly, but I do miss riding. I would like to ride Tenerife too, the riding there is supposed to be excellent, I think even Team Death Star (Sky) train there
PeterC Posted March 22, 2019 Posted March 22, 2019 14 hours ago, Nick Jones said: Thanks for the link Peter. Interesting reading. Not quite sure where the flank eruption idea comes in, but it is an active volcanic system with a number of very recent (geologically speaking) small scale eruptions, so some renewed activity wouldn’t be that surprising. I don’t find any evidence of concern since then, although it seems that certain British tabloids were concocting stories in 2018. The Canarias govt doesnt like to rock the tourism gravy train with minor concerns about possible eruptions. in 2011-2013 Hierro experienced many thousands of eartquakes but despite warning from experts in Madrid and Iceland they chose not to arrange evacuations. This map show the thousands of earthquakes that terrified the inhabitants. Hierro enlarged by 4 inches east to west. Peter
Nick Jones Posted March 22, 2019 Author Posted March 22, 2019 I would say that there is some excellent bike riding to be had here. That is seen through the eye of experience of travelling with no 2 son an his bike. He being a fanatical 10,000 miles a year road biker with pro ambitions...... He hasn’t been here yet but he would definitely like it a lot.
Nick Jones Posted March 22, 2019 Author Posted March 22, 2019 Today was supposed to be a recovery day.... but sometimes things get lost in translation...... How a loop which has 200 vertical metres worth of steps gets described as grade 1, easy..... Never-ending they were...... Nice place though. Cloud forest with ancient pines festooned with old mans beard and huge tree heathers in full bloom. This after a trip to the botanical gardens with the most amazing fig tree
GT6MK3 Posted March 23, 2019 Posted March 23, 2019 Better you than me. I like engines for all that verticle manouvering.
Nick Jones Posted March 23, 2019 Author Posted March 23, 2019 Well, can relate...... you often have a quick way down too! This is the fig I mentioned. Last time it saw anything like this I was in NE Oz Also spotted this in the same town. R5.... so what..... ........but with a boot? Have seen a few classics, only a few. Real Mini, proper old mk1 or mk2, gorgeous Citroen DS, Fiat Strada Abarth and several series 3 Landrovers, though Spanish made Santander’s. Two sit less than 100m from here. One maybe moves, the other definitely not for some years. I have seen one in motion. The amount of effort needed to drive it on these roads makes me tired just thinking about it!
Nick Jones Posted March 23, 2019 Author Posted March 23, 2019 So it occurred to me that I could photograph one of the landrovers without much effort (feet still hurt) and, as I did so, purely by chance, a land cruiser drove past it..... This is the one that may still be working. The tyres are all holding air and it’s parked by the roadside. I haven seen it move though, whereas the ‘cruiser was moving.... Apologies for dodgy pic - finding the limits for iPhone distance wise! Also quite a few Suzuki SJ413s, mostly looking very hard-used. Unsurprisingly perhaps as they probably started as hire cars.....,
lotus62 Posted March 24, 2019 Posted March 24, 2019 i saw quite a few of these R5+ in spain many years ago, think they are called renault 7 if I remember correctly. locally made, never saw one in France
Nick Jones Posted March 24, 2019 Author Posted March 24, 2019 That probably explains why I’ve never seen one in France then.
Nick Jones Posted March 24, 2019 Author Posted March 24, 2019 A mission to El Teide was mentioned. Tonight I’m tired. Really tired. Today we have learned that - 1,300 vertical metres in 9kms is a serious walk, especially when most of the vertical is in the last 5..... (and you have to come down again) - It may “only” be the same as Ben Nevis in those terms (and that near did for me a few years ago), except for the small matter of this walk starting almost 2x higher than the summit of Ben Nevis (1343m vs 2400) - Altitude matters. Feels like gravity got 50% stronger. Actually you get weaker.... And anything over 2500m puts you in the altitude sickness zone. We got to about 3600m. - It no good thinking that you can always come down on the cable car if you found the ascent a bit taxing, if some bugger has turned it off. It was working when we left, saw it moving, but off by the time we reached the top..... we (and others) were unhappy about this. - You normally need a permit to access the last 200m of El Teide. However, no cable car means no park officials or even most of the people with permits to go up there, so they leave gate unlocked..... Open goal..... which initially I thought a blessing, Senior Management unconvinced...... we set off but a combination of us being already broken by the initial climb, altitude really starting to bite, really strong, cold winds and the knowledge that we had to get ourselves down again.... Mission aborted. All but the top 1800m of the island shrouded by cloud anyway so views (reward) minimal..... Pic of the lower 2/3 of the real climb (you walk 5km uphill to reach it) that reminds me of Stelvio, due to the number of bends, though I reckon this has may more bends and Stelvio is much less steep and better surfaced! To be clear, most of the part in question is in the bottom half of the pic. This isn’t a whinge - except at the poor condition of my 51 year old carcass which really hasn’t appreciated today. Though I think we acquitted ourselves rather well against younger climbers...... It is a truly remarkable place with great savage beauty, and really very accessible for what it is. The path we used is a masterpiece, the man-hours, and effort in those hours in its making are sobering. Those path builders must be rock hard.... I have many photos - hopefully a few decent ones amongst them, but spare you for now at least....., Will I be able to walk tomorrow? Good question? I was totally “bungalowed “ by Ben Nevis but hopefully a bit fitter this time courtesy of a few days warm-up training......
toofast2race Posted March 24, 2019 Posted March 24, 2019 El Teide is a helluva walk - the cinder / scoria screes on the route we took was about 5 steps up for one actual step. Amazing scenery for a geologist
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