Monday 10 May 2010

Walking Above the Clouds on Tenerife

One of our computers has been in hospital for the last three weeks  where it was being lovingly brought back to life by the guys at SITEL in Puerto de la Cruz (if you need work on your computer, these are the guys to go to).

The reason I mention this is that when we were putting the finishing touches to our new 'Hiking Highs – Walking Routes in Teide National Park' I realised that I couldn't find the most up to date photos from the last time we walked up to the summit of Montaña Guajara.

Adding the finishing touches to our Island Walks routes really means slotting the photos into place – it's one of those lovely little jobs which basically involves going through my library of photos to see which ones fit best.

One of the ones I wanted to use was a shot of Andy standing above the clouds. Looking down from above the clouds is one of Tenerife's true 'WOW' experiences. If anyone out there hasn't enjoyed the privilege, emerging above a sea of clouds is like being on a plane when it breaks through a thick bank of clouds to emerge in an intense blue, cloudless sky above a cotton wool landscape.

It's one of those moments that remind you that Tenerife is a very special place with a seemingly endless stock of magical experiences that, ironically, the vast majority of its millions of visitors never, ever witness.

Anyway I searched and searched for the image, but couldn't find it. Although I regularly back up my photos, there was one set that I had missed and which I realised lay, possibly gone forever, in the computer that was ill. This situation was a right bugger. There are some shots where it doesn't matter (towns etc), where I can just go out and get them again, but the summit of Guajara isn't one of those places where you can just nip out to to replace lost photos.

However, the computer was returned last week, pulled back from death's door Lazarus-like by the miracle workers at SITEL and lo and behold my Guajara photos were saved.

In the end I used an image from a previous walk, which I probably like better, but this is the one I was going to use.


Isn't that an incredible vista?

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