Yep, it had to be done... not at the run, this time, but walking back up the volcano with Guy - it didn't seem right that he hadn't been able to see the spectactular crater and, to be fair, it was his idea...
So off we went again - just the day after my run, so my knees were still whingeing a bit. The day was much cooler, and with gale force winds - we were in danger of being blown off the ridge at the top.
As we were going at a more sedate pace (although, fairly honestly, not actually a lot slower than my running) we were able to take more pics...
This one shows the extraordinary Lanzarote custom of building towers out of stones - no glue, no props, just stones balanced on top of each other. These are all over Lanzarote, and some are better than others. I guess there's just nothing else to do in this landscape...
And we did make it to the top again, despite the wind - you can't really tell from this but Guy was frantically hanging on to the water bottle as it would have blown away otherwise. I had, for the same reason, stuffed my funky hat down my shorts... Yep, even on a volcano I can do elegant...
And this is what the crater looks like. Big. Very big. And surprisingly green inside, given the brownness of the outside. There was a couple posing for photos at the bottom of the crater - they were there when we arrived at the edge, there while we walked all the way round and still there when we left. We couldn't really see them clearly but either the lichen on the rock they were standing next to was way too exciting to leave or they were taking enough pictures of each other's woolly jumpers to illustrate an entire pamphlet of knitting patterns...
And then we had to go back down again... still slippy. I whirled my arms like a helicopter a few times, and we both slid a bit, but we made it without breaking anything. The down bit really isn't as much fun as going up, so much so that I said I wasn't going to run up the volcano again. This year. By next year I'll have forgotten how tricky coming down was... and I might be able to improve on my time... Or, better yet, I'll have won the lottery and be able to hire a helicopter to pluck me off the top once I've arrived there. Sorted!
Just to keep up the exercise regime, we also swam in the Atlantic (warmer than the hotel swimming pool and good 'open water' training for upcoming triathlons) and swam a mile a day in the freezing pool...
And ate too much.
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