Gran Canaria - The Saga

[AlanHo]

We travelled down to London yesterday afternoon to stay at the Renaissance Hotel overnight before catching a 10.30 am flight from Heathrow to Gran Canaria.

The trip to Gran Canaria turned out to be eventful.

 

Yesterday, we were driving down the M40 about 4 miles before turning onto the M25 when the Garmin Satnav announced that there was a 27 minute delay on the M25 on the 5 mile section before we turned off onto the M4 to Heathrow.  We were in no hurry and I initially decided to ignore the warning – but just as I was about to take the M25 slip road - I changed my mind and stayed on the M40 to take the cross country route via Uxbridge. It  proved to have been a fluke wise decision because we later learned on the London radio news that people had been stuck for more than an hour and a half in stationary traffic on that section. Phew – that was a near miss.

 

When we fly from Heathrow, we stay overnight at the Renaissance Hotel because we can leave the car there for the week we are away as part of the tariff for one night’s stay for £105. To park a car in a Heathrow long stay car park costs almost that much. This time we were in for a rude awakening. Firstly the cost of dinner there (which was always a touch expensive) had gone up an unbelievable amount. So we walked a couple of hundred yards to the local McDonalds and had our first fast food in months (which was surprisingly quite good). 2 Chicken legend meals for less than £10.
We went back to the hotel  - watched a bit of TV news about the Euro farce - and then turned into bed. Only to find what looked like tiny black beetles between the quilt and the sheet which we eventually decided were mouse droppings. Hotel management were possibly more aghast than we were, changed the bed linen immediately and cancelled our payment. However – the result was a severely curtailed night’s sleep.

 

This morning we took the 08:05 Hopper bus from the Hotel to Heathrow terminal 5. We have never used terminal 5 before and initial impressions were good. We were travelling business class and you normally get fast tracked through bag drop, passport and baggage checks but I reckon it took the best part of an hour from arriving at terminal 5 until we reached the Lounge. We then spent 30 minutes having breakfast there before the flight was called. Hence Libby had no opportunity to browse the shopping area about which she was a little grumpy. I won’t call it duty free – because it isn’t.

We boarded the flight with the usual frustrations of stuffing 200 people into an aluminium tube with inadequate hand luggage storage space – pushed back – and were then told we were not taking off yet - but moving to a parking area because French air traffic control were being grumpy and our take off would be delayed by an hour – it was actually 64 minutes.

 

So we arrived at Gran Canaria an hour late at 3:10 and were subjected to my pet hate – no air bridge - but a hot, packed, stuffy bus ride from the plane to the terminal.  The bus discharged us at the terminal into a glass walled area with two exits to take you past the passport control cabins. However – there were no security staff in the cabins and we were trapped in the holding area for 40 minutes until they turned up. Libby was building up a head of steam but I shrugged it off saying that we would have had to wait that long anyway at the baggage carousel - so the wasted time was a wash – at least the baggage would be waiting for us. You guessed it – it wasn’t – it took a further 30 minutes before the baggage arrived.

 

The final straw was with the car hire. I had booked a Ford Focus but there wasn’t one available so we were given a brand new (17 kilometers on the odo) Citroen C4 Cactus. It is a car only its mother could love. The bloody thing hasn’t been touched by an ugly stick – it has been thrashed by one. First impressions after a 30 kilometer drive to the hotel are that it seems well put together, has uncomfortable seats, very stiff gearchange (new car?), lots of road noise and a noisy engine which has lots of pep but a strange engine note. I suspect it might be a 3 cylinder turbo. The dashboard is a weird concoction of curves and squares that do not appear to like each other. More anon on the subject.

 

We finally reached our hotel at just after 5:30 in pouring rain – we could have flown to America in less time and got just as wet.

 

We are promised sunshine tomorrow – but I aint holding my breath

[Gandalph]

Can't stand that place, Gran Canaria. Been there once and it was once to many.

[Irene]

What a pity to have such an 'eventful' start to your holiday.  Hopefully things will improve for you both after today.

Just find yourselves a nice large glass of wine...  Enjoy!

[andsome]

Went there many years ago,and had a great time. Hope things Buck up for you

[AlanHo]

We have had a lovely day today - the hotel has fully lived up to its brochure promises and we spent the morning exploring the hotel and its large landscaped gardens. The weather today has been splendid and we have well and truly but the trial and tribulations of the previous day behind us.

 

We decided to walk rather than use the car and managed a 3 mile (round trip) walk along the shoreline promenade to the next village where there was a big 3 story market which was intereresting.

 

Now off for evening dinner and another bottle of Rioja.

 

 

[AlanHo]

We continue to enjoy Gran Canaria - the mountains, mountain villages, the spectacular coast road, the beaches etc are all impressive.  I can imagine someone not liking Gran Canaria if they stayed at Puerto Rico (which is mini Benidorm full of chavs) or who didn't have a car to get around. For sure we will be coming back here next year.

Here are a few random pictures off my phone.

[AlanHo]

 

[andsome]

Nice piccies

[Irene]

  looking good, Alan.  

[catgate]

The pictures are wonderful. They just look like pictures taken overseas