Sid and Doris are thinking about a different way to spend Christmas.Some time in the dim and distant past, possibly pre-Covid, Bespoke Rallies organised an 18 day tour around all the Canary Islands. We couldn’t make their dates, but kept the brochure as it sounded like such a good idea.
The original plan was to take a car from the UK, using ferries from Portsmouth to Santander/Bilbao, and then drive across Spain to get another long ferry from Huelva or Cadiz. You can arrive in Lanzarote and leave from Tenerife. However this takes 6-7 days each way, requires a long run through Spain, and the timing is difficult (although for a determined Doris, never impossible!) because the ferries only run a couple of times a week during the winter.
Then we had two flashes of inspiration. Doris spotted that there are flights from our new local airport, Bournemouth, to Tenerife, and Sid discovered that you can rent interesting cars in Tenerife. The route around the Canaries becomes a little more complicated, but the doughty duo believe it is possible to create a great three week holiday.
Here’s Fred Olsen’s map of their inter-island ferries. Our plan is: Tenerife – Gran Canaria – Fuerteventura – Lanzarote – Fuerteventura – Gran Canaria – Tenerife – La Palma – Tenerife – La Gomera – Tenerife – El Hierro – Tenerife. What could possibly go wrong?
