Day 21 – to Puerto del Arenas

A big descent first thing into Riópar where there is a campervan / motorhome area for water and disposal, but the highlight was a great little cafe called Casa Abdon, with really good coffee, and a croissant to boot.

From here I was headed to the Rio Mundo, and it’s source, or the Spanish call it, it’s birthplace. It is however, quite unlike other river’s sources in that it comes about from a series of streams tumbling over a 700 metre rockface into a series of ‘Calderetas’, or stewing pans. Being Saturday it was quite busy, but not so much that it deters from the experience. It is quite a sight.

Roja even took an illegal swim in one of the calderetas, as is evident..

Not much further by van after that; about a kilometre actually, to the pass, Puerto del Arenas. There is a huge parking area here, with some day visitors parked up, and as the evening went on, a handful of camping cars and vans. This beautiful place, with its spectacular view of Cerro de la Torca Honda, is ruined like many of those Scottish 500 coastal places I visited in May. The smaller camping cars and vans have no toilets, and the people just wandered off, not even 50 metres, to pass their business. In the busier parking places used lavatory roll is commonplace, as in the UK, much more notable these last two years.

It was however a peaceful evening watching the rugby sevens from Edmonton; sad to see the game struggling to keep its place in world sport, many of the best teams are not here, and many of the teams that are have their best players missing – mainly due to a lack of funding.

Much more enjoyable though was a film I watched late on, Can You Ever Forgive Me? It’s precis may make it seem unappealing, a biopic of the life of Lee Israel, a failing author who turned to crime, but the two performances, Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, are quite tremendous.