Gran Canaria 15 Nov 2017

Today's round trip, unlike yesterdays, would involve a lot mote effort on our part.  We are planning to walk along the Maspalomas beach then turn left and walk up to the beach at Playa del Ingles, and back through the town.  First though we are going to have a ride on a camel.

It's not far to the camels, the signs are easy to see, if rather amateurishly painted - black paint on green background cut in the shape of arrows.  Crude but effective.  The camp is made to look like a bedouin tent, but beneath it is a solid building - made of brick and wood.  We didn't get to sit on a camel, rather on a seat carried by the camel, one of us on each side.  The seats are built on a tubular steel frame and must be quite heavy, the addition of two adults must mean the camels work quite hard.  Either way they didn't seem bothered and easily rose from their sitting positions, tipping the passengers forward at an alarming angle.  The safety mechanism is a simple rope tied to the frame on one side and wrapped around it and pulled tight over it on the other - not exactly secure.  Jo was worried that hers was not tied tightly and held on very tightly throughout.  Although the ride was a good experience, it cannot be described as a desert experience because Maspalomas is visible in almost every direction, and never out of view.
From there we walked towards the beach, passing a small reservoir and spotted a grey heron on the far shore.  We didn't bring binoculars, so couldn't get a really good look.
We set off along the beach that borders the dunes, sometimes paddling in the sea, sometimes walking on the hot dry sand.  Progress was slow, partly because of the sand and partly because the beach is packed with people going in both directions, but mainly it seemed coming towards us. Part way along the beach becomes 'clothing optional', with very few taking the option.  We got to the other end about an hour after we arrived at the beach and started to look for somewhere for lunch.
The cafes on the beach are slightly on the expensive side, but the one we chose served good food, even if they spent a lot of time brushing the sand away.  They delivered the wrong meal, but soon corrected the situation, even if the waiter was quite angry (not at us).
After lunch we took a 35 minute walk across town along the same road as yesterday and bought ice cream from the Spa before walking down the hill back to the hotel.
From there we headed to the pool for a relaxing (read exausting) swim - how unfit we are!
According to Runkeeper we have covered 7.57 miles today (only a little of which was done by the camel).

oday I found out how the kitchen lights work.