Ireland day 1458. Thursday 25 September 2025- Gran Canaria 1

Today’s summary	A relaxing day in the hotel and around Maspalomas. Spent the morning, after a late breakfast, swimming, relaxing and tai-chiing (Val). Had a simple lunch then walked through the dunes to Playa de Ingles and back along the shore. Beers and snacks on our balcony then alfresco hotel dinner later on.
Today’s weather	Sunny till about 11:30 then clouded over. Moderate to strong easterly wind. Appx 25c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Maspalomas 1

Commentary

Hip Hip Hooray we are on Holiday!

Everything is lovely – especially once we had relocated our room to a quieter side of the hotel (the evening entertainment in the old room was a bit intrusive). So now we have a much quieter room overlooking the sea. Just the sound of the waves on the shore, which is very restful.

We started the day with a very leisurely breakfast down on the hotel patio. For once we could eat pretty much as much as we wanted because: a) we didn’t have to do the cooking and washing up and ; b) we weren’t going to have a major lunch, so could justifiably stoke up for the day.

After breakfast, we spent the morning relaxing. At first, the subtropical sun was fierce, but it clouded over at about 11:30 am which was actually quite a good thing, as it spared us the burning rays while still being bright and warm. So we relaxed in the warmth for a good few hours, which was a bit of a novelty for me. We did a bit of swimming, lazed around in the water-jets, read a bit and Val even did a Tai-Chi class. Very sophisticated!

Next, and despite the massive breakfast, we decided we needed something to eat. So we just snacked on some crisps we had bought at nearby mini-supermercado last night, with some biscuits we brought from London, and a bottle of water. Just what we needed. Then we thought it was time to pick up the pace a bit, so we changed out of our swimming gear and set off to explore the nearby Maspalomas dunes.

This is a large field of sand-dunes, allegedly deposited here during the last ice age. Nowadays, it’s a protected biosphere so you can only walk through it on designated paths. We stuck rigidly to the waymarks, though plenty didn’t, which was a bit disappointing. As we headed east, we had a strong wind in our faces, which blew sand into every nook and cranny – especially into eyes, which made them quite sore. So it was a relief to reach Playa del Ingles at the far side of the dunes, where we did an about-turn and headed for home.

Playa del Ingles, I should say, looked pretty unappealing as we passed through. But appearances can be deceptive. We spent a fabulous two weeks there in 2018 and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. You just have to work a little to find the nice parts, and to avoid the unpleasant.

Our walk back took us along the shoreline. Much easier going than the way out, as we had the wind on our backs and the warm sea washing over our feet. A real delight. I had hoped to swim on the way back, but the wind had whipped up the sea a bit and it didn’t look very safe. There were lifeguards about, and there was only a yellow flag flying, so I guess it must have been OK, provided you didn’t stray too far from the flag. Indeed we saw several people in the water and they seemed to be enjoying it.

Eventually we were back in Maspalomas, so we called into the mini-supermercardo to buy more crisps and beers, before heading back into the hotel. So now we are sitting on the balcony, being soothed by the gently crashing waves, enjoying our crisps and beer. Then it will be time to put our best feet forward and step down to the alfresco dining area for cena. I’m sure it will be delicious and offer the perfect full stop to our day. Especially as someone else has cooked it for us!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Information station, explaining everything you always wanted to know about the dune and nearby saltwater lagoon biosphere	Map of the dunes, showing the protected areas

Waymarked route through the arena	*Beetling about in the arena* [sand]**

Playa de Ingles. It’s much less horrible than it looks.	Enjoying a bracing walk along the beach (even though I do rather appear to be in pain!)

This morning’s view. Woo-hoo!