Force Ten from Fuerteventura

OOOH! Time I caught up with my blog I think....I have just been rather remiss lately in posting and my excuse is piffling. I have been away on a week's holiday on the wonderfully hot Canary Island of Fuerteventura which was a really great break.

I have a passion for things volcanic and so I'm a big fan of the Canaries.

'Fuerte' as it is known locally is probably the most desert-like and windswept of the archipelago, but it has the advantage of a small (easy to get in and out of airport) and some fantastic hotels.

It is said that the best thing about travelling is arriving and I think I would agree which is why I hate spending valuable leisure time hanging around in airports.

Fuerteventura is Spanish for 'strong wind' and the island majestically lives up to its reputation providing a wonderful environment for surfers, wind surfers, boogie boarders, kite surfers and people who just love the sea like myself.

The landscape (as many have visited will know)comprises of rolling sand dunes and very little vegetation, so much so that it is almost a wall-to-wall Ynys Las.

The roads are improving on the island all the time, but there is still an abundance of dirt roads so it's quite good fun to hire a jeep and explore 'off road'.
However, be warned, if you visit and decide to do this, make sure you have a lot of water, enough petrol and a mobile phone. Indeed, a compass might just come in handy - the trouble with volcanic terrain is that it tends to all look the same !
Speaking of which,
NB..... A word of caution about the dunes. They tend to provide 'free rein', if that is the right expression, for naturalists.

They seem to be mostly Skandiwegian types who seem to get a big kick out of doing absolutely everything in the buff. I have no problem with this at all and I think the locals have long got over 'falling off their donkeys/ camels/ vespas with shock',
however, those who do go 'au natch' as it were simply cannot expect the more juvenile among us not to fall about laughing at the sight of them undertaking activities such as tennis or volleyball.

I returned to UK yesterday landing at Bristol airport (where thankfully everything is back to normal following runway problems). The westerly gales meant that our flying time was reduced by 45 minutes which was also welcome - probably the only welcome thing about gales.

I reckon I'm lucky I got back at all following an altercation with an over zealous security officer controlling the x ray scanner at Fuerteventura Departures who confiscated a litre of Gordons gin and a tube of toothpaste from my hand luggage as these are now apparently classed as terrorist weapons.

I appreciate that I had 'sinned' and that the confiscation was for my own protection and that of fellow passengers but this guy was rude in the extreme. I am robust enough to put up with most sorts of arrogance, but this jumped up 'Pocket Hitler' was positively hostile and nothing makes my blood boil more than seeing senior citizens, the hard of hearing and fraught parents with tired todlers being verbally admonished and herded around like cattle. These people are not terrorists.
Perish the thought that this guy was actually a policeman. Whoever he was he should not be working with members of the public. At one stage he became so excitable that the contents of an elderly lady's handbag ended up on the floor.

I could not stand by and witness this and voiced a few opinions of my thoughts about his behaviour in my elementary and possibly unsavoury Spanish.
I'm not sure, but I think I may have been cautioned.....anyway I'm safely back to tell the tale, but I shall be writing to the airport authorities to complain.

I have travelled to some outlandish and politically sensitive parts of the world in my time, but I have never come across such a rotten attitude. I am pleased to say that it is not a feature of the island so don't be put off going there.