You can’t please everyone, do you let nature take its course, or give it a little nudge in the direction you want? Councils all around the coast of Tenerife constantly face this problem, some 18 months ago Guia de Isora council revamped Playa San Juan beach, adding new sand, walkway, seating and kiosks. The sand at the shore was soon eroded and various recriminations were made, so on a trip to Los Gigantes, I broke the journey to see how things had settled.

The hourly 477 direct bus to Los Gigantes makes the west coast much quicker and easier to reach, hopping off in Playa San Juan I headed for the beach and was pleasantly surprised. Like a stubborn receeding hairline, the exposed shingle had not spread back any further than the crescent closest to the water, and the more recent stylish wooden beach chairs, and the candy striped changing booths gave it a nice overall look. The walkway at the back of the beach is wide and sturdy, leading to the rebuilt kiln and a winding concrete pathway up to a nice coastal walk. Retreating back to boardwalk and the restaurants and bars, it was pretty quiet, so I pulled up a coffee and paper facing the open sea on the other side of the quayside. Playa San Juan has a nice mix of ex pats and Canarians, not a wild night out resort, but always nice to visit.

 Back on the bus, I was soon in Los Gigantes, sedate at the best of times, but very quiet now the tourists have taken their children back to school. My visiting friends Martin and Vicki were waiting in Offshore 44 at the marina front, a nice place to pass a few hours as the boats bobbed up and down in the harbour. We took off for a walk through Crab Island and up over the mirador into lower Puerto Santiago, a lot of recent development there has revitalised it commercially, just need some visitors in numbers now. Coastal paths are very much in these days in Tenerife, full marks to the councils for improving them, this one led around to Playa Santiago, decked out nicely from the weekends Fiesta Chica. The Virgen del Carmen now resides in an old boat house just near the small black beach, she is always at the centre of the fireworks and other celebrations.

Emerging at the top of the steep ramp, we popped into El Patio bar, recently demolished and rebuilt, I spent quite a few hours glued to the bar there when I lived just up the road. It was good to see a few old friends, many waving as they drove by, even the old Canarian gents on the benches greeted me with their usual good natured banter about CD Tenerife. The Fishermans Museum opposite still makes heads turn with it’s fishing mural all over the facade, complete with statues on the roof, local based French artist Bernard Romain must be proud to see his work stand the test of time and weather so well. Soon it was time to head back south on the trusty TITSA, I’m sure I will be back soon, hopefully to see more visitors enjoying western charms.