Gran Canaria – July 2026
Wednesday 8 July 2026
We were excited after accepting an invitation from Dawn and Len for a short break in Gran Canaria. Ann, John, Sandra and Jim were also joining us.. Poor Dawn has been in agony with a trapped nerve in her shoulder and Len had been unwell for a week with food poisoning. Fortunately, they were able to chair a pre holiday briefing in The Wild Geese. We got a bit side-tracked by a long discussion as to what a spurtle was, it’s a Scottish spoon for porridge.
Thursday 9 July
7.45 rendezvous for the drive to Santa Cruz to catch the 10am Fred Olsen Express ferry. It took 1.25 hours and I spent most of that time watching what could have been a leaf or a small insect darting around the open deck, it was a leaf!
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The island is nowhere as busy as Tenerife and there are not so many high rise buildings. Very pleased with our room at Bull Vital Suites & Spa, we overlook the golf course where the boys are playing tomorrow.
It was a hot walk to find somewhere for lunch and we ended up in the middle of a shopping centre. John picked up a Gay City map which was full of adverts for Naughtybastard.com, Sex Shops and Swingers bars. It appears that short tight shorts are the mode, mainly worn by men.
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| Lunch in the main square | Jim studying the Gay City Booklet |
Walked along the Maspalomas sand dunes to look out for the surfers and nudists. What an amazing sand desert. Further along the promenade at Playa del Ingles there is a special place for nude sun bathing. In the distance and also from our hotel we could see the landmark lighthouse that took 28 years to build.
| Back at the hotel, drinks with some popcorn produced by Sue. |  |
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Rick getting measured up for a belt. Night of the Chateaubriand – bit heavy for Len’s stomach
Friday 10 July
Shocking news about Ann Widdecombe’s death. Lovely lazy day while the boys played golf at Maspalmos Golf course. Dawn and I enjoyed a Passion Fruit exfoliation and massage while Ann had a Tropical which also included a wrap. The boys came back exhausted, they had had a good but hot game won by Rick and Jim. Len is still not 100% and they couldn’t wait to tell us that they thought he had got taken short on the Fairway . Rick lost a ball in the sand dunes.
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| Hotel had the egg timings sorted | Relaxing by the pools | It was a lizard thank goodness! |
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Such a shame that Arthur Fery lost to Zverev. Pre dinner Prosecco and a little bit of Bonnie Tyler followed by Name that Tune, you need to have Ann on your team, she was good. After supper we played a sort of musical chairs where if your card suit came up you had to sit on the next persons lap, sometimes there was a pile up. This was followed by Higher or Lower, a real fun night. Jim tripped but said he was pushed.
Saturday 11July
Weather is lovely, there’s a heatwave at home so 24 degrees here is just right. The girls took a taxi to the local market which they said was enormous and not particularly well planned. They came back with some clothes for the grandchildren and Dawn bought a lovely dress. Rick and I tested out the spa that has a hydro massage pool, sauna, salt cabin, Turkish bath, cold plunge pool and relaxation area.
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Crazy Golf before supper at a posh burger and cocktail bar. I won the individual award and the girls won the team award. Jim blamed the his poor play on his injuries and Len still not 100%. We had front row seats at a bar for the England Norway match , the Scottish contingent left early and although England won it was hard going.
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Sunday 12 July
A bit of sightseeing was in order as The ferry wasn’t until 4pm. Started at the sandy, commercial Playa del Ingles beach where we had stayed around 38 years ago and when after having a camel ride I got stuck in the toilet and a lady had to climb over the door to pass me a handle. The plan was to make our way to Puerto de Mogan, the Venice of Gran Caneria. The sat nav wanted to take us on the motorway but Rick wanted to take the rural route. In order to do that he had to drop pins along the way passing through Playa de Las Mujeres, Pashto Blanco, fill up with fuel at Aguineguin, on to Playa de Puerto Rico and Taurito. Some of these places were very basic and full of locals, others like Puerto Rico and Taurito were much more newly developed, quite up market but looked horrendous. The sat nav still wanted send us back to the motorway but Rick was determined to keep on the minor roads. When we got to Mogan I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about as there was hardly anyone around and I couldn’t see any canals. It was such a windy, up and down road but quite green with spectacular scenery in places. We encountered lots of amazing tunnels, the longest being 3.17K. I read afterwards that drivers safety has been vastly improved, travel times drastically cut and they bypass some hazardous landslide stretches of road between Taurito and Playa del Mogan. By the time we got to the port at Agaete I felt queasy, we’ve now been all around the circumference of the island. We will have to save the route through the middle for another visit.
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Back at Duquesa we met up with the rest of the gang in El Rinconcillo. We were greeted by “Did you enjoy Little Venice”. I said we weren’t overly impressed but the scenery around there was good, didn’t see any canals though. We obviously hadn’t made to Puerto de Mogan. Rick denied ever having heard of it, oh well there is always next time. After supper we went back to the Wild Geese, there were Sambuca shots involved which meant I wrote off the next day. Great trip.