A day of rest.

That should really read  “an expensive day of rest“

Last night was not good, I was up and down with abdo. pains. It is almost a year to the day since my last episode cramped our progress in Gran Canaria and I can’t believe it’s happened again. Is there something about the Canary Islands?  I skip breakfast and go back to sleep. JD wanders off into the caldera but is soon back because its raining and miserable. We manage to book another expensive night here, there is not much other choice. I resign myself to not going up to the Altavista hut on Mt. Teide tonight and we only had the one reservation. As it happens the afternoon is foul with wind and rain, probably snow higher, so we console ourselves with a coffee in the cafe filled with hapless tourists. The young English couple return from an early morning [pre-permit] ascent of Teide and are in ebullient mood – congratulations. We are treated to a spectacular rainbow behind the hotel towards sunset. The Parador is the only hotel in the Teide Park and seeks to recreate the ambience of a mountain lodge, especially in the public rooms.  The evening is made pleasurable by an excellent meal with good wine in the restaurant, I could happily slip into this luxury life, I didn’t say that – back to tomato sandwiches tomorrow. We replan our onward journey on the GR131, scaling Mount Teide will have to wait for another day.