Haria – Orzola.

Back again on that no.7 bus, this morning the driver seemed to be in racing mode and I quickly reached for the seat belt.  My timetable was getting a bit ragged by now. As it was already hot and sunny I enjoyed an orange drink in one of the cafes before leaving. Simple road walking led me to the one pleasant pedestrianised street in Magues. At the top of the road I was tempted by an open door into a ceramics workshop. The potter owner was all too pleased to chat and explain his methods – he incorporates volcanic material into his clays which produces some unusual and unique finishes. Unfortunately he had very little to show as the bad weather of the last few weeks had prevented him firing his open wood burning furnace. The one piece I most admired was far too large for hand luggage, shame.

I used lanes running beneath some fine volcanic cones and when I took a closer look at the map realised, all too late, that I could have done a high traverse of some of these.  Further on the track ran through the Bermejo vine growing area with some fine shelter walls, I took the opportunity to chat to a worker pruning the vines. What an excuse later tonight to taste this wine.

There was some delightful walking through a larva field bedecked with flowers. I passed an Aloe Vera farm doing good trade with the tourist buses [see how I try to distance myself from being a tourist – yet that is all I am]

Aloe Vera plants.

Somehow I found myself walking down a footway by the side of the road for the last 2k into Orlzola, not how I imagined the end of the walk. The busy little harbour was reached, no dipping my boots in the Atlantic. Boats from here make the choppy crossing to the adjacent Isla Graciosa. Orzola lies below some very steep intimidating cliffs at the northern end of Lanzarote and you can see why the GR131 terminates here rather than up that precipitous coast. Even at this low elevation rugged volcanic rocks disappear into the sea and gave a fitting place for contemplation – should I go across to Graciosa tomorrow?

The Northern Tip of Lanzarote with Graciosa across the channel.