For years I’ve taken bus-loads of tourists to the viewpoint at San Bartolome and every time I’d see the signpost for the “Mirador de la somada alta” (Viewpoint of the High Lookout) on the other side of the main road, pointing up a steep track. On Thursday I took a day off writing and finally went.
Did I mention that it looked steep? It didn’t feel any less steep walking up it. I soon found that, like a lot of steep tracks on La Palma, there’s also a road which zigzags up the same hillside, constantly crossing the narrow, old lane. I wondered if I could have parked anywhere on it, so start a little higher up, but these country lanes tend to be narrow, so it seemed unlikely.
It was an intersting pista, but steep , as I think I mentioned. Eventually I left the houses behind and came out onto the road again. Then about a kilometer above the last house, 200 vertical metres above my starting point, I found a bus stop.
A bus stop in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think it can have a regular bus service, but it turns out to be a great place to drop off hikers. It’s halfway up to the high viewpoint and close to the point where the path turns off to Cubo de la Galga. I was already quite tired so I didn’t get much further up, but I know where to park next time!
Writing progress has been unspectacular this week. I edited a story and send it off to the Roswell SF competition and sent another one off as a regular submission. I’ve read 10 chapters of “Murder by Starlight” aloud and my friend’s quite right: it does help you spot little mistakes you’d previously sailed past.
