I hope the passengers on the Independence Of The Seas cruise liner enjoyed their day in Santa Cruz, I certainly did. I arrived early afternoon, armed with my camera, and made for the docks to see the monster new ship that had arrived from Southampton on it’s maiden voyage. The port authority had taken a full page colour spread on the back of all the local Canarian papers to welcome the liner, and with a month of celebrations going on in the capital, the bunting and flags were out.

The roof of the Fred Olsen ferry terminal was the best vantage point, so I joined the rather small crowd to snap a few shots, at this point I suppose I better drop in some stats about the ship. Built in Finland, the Independence Of The Seas is the biggest european docked cruise ship at 339 metres long and 56 metres wide, it weighs 158,000 tons, has 18 storeys, 1,815 cabins – 844 of them with a balcony and 120 suites. The facillities are amazing, an ice rink, theatre, casino, an on deck surfing area and masses of shops, restaurants and bars. The 11 night cruise it is on now had already called at Funchal and was going on to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Vigo and back to Southampton. It was a little disconcerting to see someone welding low down on the bow of the ship, just below the cabin portholes, worrying if you have paid anything from 933 euros.

On to the football and hopes were not high with Sporting Gijon the visitors, needing points to help their promotion push, both Tenerife and Gijon had missed out to Madrid the day before in the contest to host the Davis Cup tennis in September, so at least they had something in common. The game was frustrating, Tenerife had loads of chances in the first half but couldnt score and Sporting took their only 2 chances well with 2 cracking strikes into the top of the Tenerife net after 27 and 40 minutes. There was no way back and the few hundred Sporting fans celebrated their move into second spot.

As the Armada Sur coach drove off I stayed on and met up with a mate of the General’s, Tony, and we took the short walk to the Palicio Municipal de los Deportes to see a tribute show to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The sports hall is tucked just behind the football stadium, this was my first visit, and I was impressed, bright and modern with raised seating on 2 sides and more seats put out down at floor level in the centre. The Wall is a pretty ambitious work to tackle, Pink Floyd only performed it a few times on stage, Gonzalo Valdivia and his 6 musicians did a great job of it though. When they came out, there was a small wall built at the front of the stage, which they duly kicked down, there was a big screen behind the band and one in front at each side that showed a mix of clips from the film version of The Wall, new images and the lyrics in Spanish, they sung in English.

It’s a shame the hall was barely half full, most were pushing middle aged, aren’t we all, and there was a nice mix of Spanish, Brits and some Germans. Beer was widely available, and due to a miss calculation over bus times , we had realised we would either have to leave before the end or kill time in Santa Cruz until the 2.30am bus to the south, so we started as we meant to go on with the beer.

For those who don’t know The Wall, it’s a dark epic about a rock star descending into madness, with themes of islolation and a bullying state. The bands excellent playing and singing skills managed to capture that, with Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell the highlights for me. As the story reached the climax, the band took a breather for The Trial, leaving the film clips running with the superb animation of Gerald Scarfe. They returned to  raptourous applause and launched into other Pink Floyd classics like Wish You Were Here, Time, Money and a soaring version of Shine On You Crazy Diamonds. After Echo and the Bunnymen 2 weeks ago, this underlined the great musical delights that the north of the island has to offer.

A slow crawl around Santa Cruz brought us to the vibrant bar area just by the Plaza de la Iglesia, it was packed with no sign of slowing down even at 2am, and several Sporting Gijon fans were still toasting their teams success. The bus ride to the south slipped by in a snooze and I headed home with Pink Floyd tracks replaying in my little happy brain. Just a small footnote, I checked my emails this morning and found I had won a ticket to the concert from La Gaceta de Canarias, the mail arrived just after I had set off yesterday – never mind, it was 12 euros well spent.

Tenerife is full of so many wonderful places, my biggest problem is deciding where to visit next. Granadilla drew the short straw this week, another of those towns that is just a pleasant memory from a visit some years ago.

Heading by the more familiar landmarks of the municipality of Granadilla de Abona, like Reina Sofia airport and El Medano, the bus veered up through San Isidro to Granadilla, about 20 minutes up hill. Leaving the bus station on the side of a very steep slope, the drop in temperature was noticable, but hardly anything to worry about.

First port of call was the Plaza Gonzalez Mena, the focal point of the town and setting for the Ayuntamiento(council) building. The Convent de San Luis Obispo was again being given a facelift, nothing new after many fires and accidents since it’s 1550 birth.

There was a small staue of Hermano Pedro in front of the building, he was born in nearby Villaflor and preached, taught and healed locally before emigrating to help the poor of Guatemala, eventually dying there in 1667. For several years he lived in a small cave near El Medano, it’s a bit of a tourist attraction now, and it is said miracles can happen there. When the Pope made him Tenerife’s first Saint in 2002, thousands went from Tenerife to the ceremony in Guatemala.

Religion is just one strong element of Granadilla, and for a better understanding, a visit to the History Museum of Granadilla (top) , just down the road, is just the thing. It’s free and open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 2 pm  and 4 pm to 8pm. Granadilla is also the gateway to the foothills of Teide and the pine forests of Villaflor, and a real walkers delight. The local council have made great strides to encourage rurul tourism with a leaflet featuring 10 converted farms and houses that are ideal for rural holidays, details are also on the council website.

One of the best walkers hotels is the Hotel Senderos de Abona, right in the centre of town and staff are very knowledgeable about the area.

This is just opposite the Church of Antonio de Padua, which boasted a terrific floral offering from the Day of the Cross , which is celebrated in the Canary Islands on May 3. The banner says “I am the good shepherd, and you are my sheep”. There were many other floral and adorned crosses around the town, and I saw some more later in El Medano.

I tried to find the famous spring, Fuente de Agua, Â up above the town but after puffing up ever steeper hills, I gave that one up and settled for the great views and a quick march down to a cold drink. It was fairly warm today in Granadilla, but last time I called in, it was decidedly nippy and a couple of winters ago, the snow on Mount Teide crept all the way down to the town plaza.

It was worth the effort to see Granadilla again, and it even stirred my desire to maybe do some more testing hill walks in the summer, but for now, a chilled Dorada will do nicely.

After 3 weeks of people asking me what that old ship is, moored up at Los Cristianos, I thought I better find out. No it’s not Roman Abramovich’s bath tub plaything, it’s the Lyubov Orlova, a Russian cruise ship, built in Yugoslavia in 1976, registered in Malta and specialising in trips from Argentina to Antarctica. Is that bizarre enough for you!

It may not look like much, but it has 4 decks and a bridge, and can carry 110 passengers at a top speed of 12 knots. Quite why it has stopped off here, I don’t know, the next cruise isn’t until November, when it will sail from Ushuaia, Argentina to Anvers Island in Antartica and back, a round trip of 1,700 nautical miles. The voyage lasts 11 days and the cost depends on what standard of accomodation you want, but starts at 3,500 dollars.

Maybe the crew came to Tenerife to get some sun and have now melted away, although I did see a few people working on deck through the lens of my camera. I didn’t think Russians liked Antartica, brings back memories of Lenin and that ice pick that did for him. Maybe they have come to liberate a few of the inmates at Planet Penquin in Loro Parque, but they always seem so happy there, so they would probably tell them to ppppp pick on someone else.

For the record, the name, Lyubov Orlova, refers to the first big screen star of Russia, she was a sort of early Marilyn Monroe, for the wild sex scenes she would undo one button on her trench coat – pretty risky stuff in Russia. An old Russian cruise ship, headed for the Antarctic,with lots of adventurous young people on board, sounds like the premise for a Ealing comedy – Carry On Comrade!

There’s no shock or shame in CD Tenerife losing 4-2 away to champions in waiting, Numancia, but it is annoying to see them showing the same faults that have dogged them all season.

Canal Plus showed the game live so it was an 11am kick off but within 10 minutes Tenerife fans were choking on their eggy soldiers as they went one down thanks to a blunder by Raul Navas in goal. A long shot from Quero went straight through him, brushing his chest on the way, even the Numancia coach Arconada, winced at that one, but then he was Spains top keeper in the early 1980’s.

Tenerife were at their sloppy passing, half hearted tackling worst, and Numancia showed them up with some crisp passing football. Thankfully Tenerife fans have found one reliable constant all season, and that’s small but gutsy forward Nino. One again he was battling for every ball, despite being isolated most of the time. Just before the Numancia goal, he had found it a stretch too far to reach a Iriome cross and on the half hour mark he latched on to a free kick but couldn’t quite convert it.

Into the second half, and another familiar piece of plot, coach Oltra realised he should add some more punch in attack, and added Longas and Arruabarrena (pic) . Â Moreno made it 2-0 though with a blast into the visitors net but Tenerife hit back, Nino putting the ball into the box for Iriome to tap in. It could have got even better as Arruabarrena was floored for a penalty but Ayoze shot just to the left of the goalie, who saved it.

With 70 minutes gone, Nagore hooked another goal in at the post and Del Pino headed another a little after to make it 4-1. Tenerife staged a late rally, a Bertran break set up a missed half chance for Nino and Arruabarrena pulled one back in the final minutes to end it at 4-2.

Las Palmas drew 1-1 at home yesterday with Castellon to keep them cheaping at out heels, just 2 points behind. Another tough one next weekend at home to Sporting, who need the points for their promotion challenge, hopefully we might blood a few more young players in the last games of the season.Â

Speak as you find, well I try to, but first you have to find, so after an extra early swim, I headed westward, with Guia de Isora, the village, as my first stop. Barely an hour on the 417 Titsa bus from Los Cristianos, and there I was up in the hills, at a village that hadn’t seen my knobbly knees in at least 5 years.

My prime target was the town hall, but following the main road along I didn’t recognise any tell tale landmarks. Â The view out to the sea in the distance and Playa San Juan just before it was impressive, but it took a coffee stop at a small bar to nudge me up one street level to the main church square, part shrouded in shade, and into the town hall.

I had hoped to view the plans for the proposed new port at Fonsalia, but even after being redirected to the technical office, I was told they were not on public display and the architect had popped out for 10 minutes (that’s Canarian for a couple of hours) so with not much time to spare, I headed back to the main road. The port has been suggested for about 10 years, and will probably drag on for at least as long again.

It’s clear the Socialist (PSOE party) council of Guia de Isora has splashed a bit of money, there is a new auditorium and cultural centre, although both were closed, and the footings of a new youth centre, but some of the narrow and patchwork pavements suggest more work ahead to bring it up to scratch. The bus station is new, and the 493 bus arrived spot on time for the 20 minute drop to the coast.

The tight winding road down through Tijina and Piedra Hincada passed fields of heavily loaded tomato plants and cacti in full bloom, thriving despite the less than half full resevoirs. Safely dropped in Playa San Juan, I headed for the new look beach, just nearing completion on my last trip (Posted March 20Â ) 6 weeks ago. Formerley covered in large stones, they were ground down to give a dark shingle type surface, which has caused an outcry from opponents who wanted a yellow sand beach. Also many sources have said that the covering has already been washed away by the tide, in fact, it is only a band along the shore line, and a similar thing happened on Las Galletas beach.Â

The promenade has been opened since my last visit and the striped changing huts are in use, all giving a vastly improved appearance. Beaches are a very contentious issue in Tenerife, black volcanic sand is the norm but there is always a clamour for smooth yellow sand and no rocks. In Los Cristianos they have just started work on cleaning the old beach, with suggestions that they will move tons of sand onto the wild and natural Los Tarajales beach. That seems unlikely with many bigger issues still not resolved (Posted March 24) Â on the wilder beach, such as drainage outlets and old shacks that go against the strict new outlook on the coastal law.

The wider area of Guia de Isora is undergoing big changes as tourism takes on a bigger role, and there is a delicate balance to be maintained. One thing is for sure, they wont be able to keep everyone happy.

Welcome to Film 84 – all right I admit it, i’m not Barry Norman (and why not!) although after a good night on the Dorada, I often have more bags under my eyes than they’ve lost at Heathrow. Film fever is about to hit the Canary Islands and the lookie lookie men are rubbing their hands at the prospect of knocking out loads of pristine copies of locally filmed releases.

Remember Papillon, the 1973 classic starring Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen? A 90 million dollar remake is being planned with much of the action set in the Canaries. Papillon, it’s French for butterfly, was based on the true story of Henri Charriere, who was sent to an African penal colony in French Guiana, for a crime he claims he did not commit. It’s a brutal but uplifting story of one mans refusal to let his spirit be broken, I have vague recollections of seeing it on television many years ago. Vicente Mora is being lined up as director by the Canarian company behind the film, more details are due out soon, watch this space.

For more immediate film action, look to Lanzarote, where Penelope Cruz is over in a few weeks to make her new movie Las Abrazos Rotos (the broken embraces) with director and mentor Pedro Almodovar. Last weekend auditions for extras were held in Costa Teguise and filming will take place in Famara, El Golfo volcanic bowl and at the hospital in Arrecife, the capital.

Everything has gone quiet recently over the plans to build a massive film studio in Guaza, in the south of Tenerife, but the company financing it have some serious money and hopefully there will be some lights, music and action fairly soon.

Don’t ask me too much about tennis, i’m no expert, but even I am excited at the thought of the Davis Cup semi final between Spain and the U.S.A being played in Playa de las Americas. It’s a long shot but Arona council have put in a bid to stage the event from September 19 to 21 at the Olympic stadium, between the golf course and the Green Clinic hospital.

The Spanish tennis federation are due to have a look at the Tenerife venue next week, the picture above is an old one, the left hand side seating is covered these days, and although it is a football stadium surrounded by an athletics track, plans have been drawn up to install a court and seating for 14,700 fans. It will have to be marked out but I believe it is fairly easy to sniff out some white lines in Las Americas.Â

Just imagine the likes of David Ferrer, Andy Roddick, and the best player in the world, Rafael Nadal gracing Tenerife with their skills. My mate Andy from football, has the Royal Oak bar just down the road, so he would have to stock up on Robinsons Barley Water to keep the players happy.

There are three other bids in to stage the Davis Cup, and they are from Madrid, Gijon and Benidorm, but maybe Tenerife has an ace up its sleeve. Emilio Sanchez Vicaro, the former doubles great, is now non playing Captain of the Spain team, and 2 weeks ago he played over here in the Abama Senior Cup for veteran players. Hopefully a few good words were whispered in his ear.

Fingers crossed for the bid, it would be quite a coup for Tenerife, and I can always cling to the hope that the BBC might send Sue Barker over to cover the event.

Phew, it’s going to be a hot weekend, a Calima has blown in and cranked up the temperatures. For the unfamiliar, a Calima is when the dust and sand from the African deserts blows across giving a greenhouse effect, it gets hot humid and sticky for a few days and the visibility is reduced.

This photo was taken of a previous Calima, the Canary Islands are to the bottom of the white swirl and just above on it’s own is Madeira, I think, but don’t bet your house on my poor geography. A few years ago we had an added bonus with a Calima, a swarm of locusts came across on the sand, they were fine, I reckon the bible gave them some bad press, most of them just sat around on balconies, well locusts need a holiday too.

I went to the beach this afternoon for my swim and the air temperature on the digital readouts was 36 centigrade. Going down to the sea felt like being sand papered, what do you mean how do I know what that feels like, Heather Mills told me. Walking back up the hill it was like standing in front of Sir Alex Ferguson as he has one of his half time rants. Even now at 7pm in the evening, if I walk out onto my balcony, it’s like walking into a wall of heat. And you think we have it easy out here!

Laying on the shingle beach at Las Galletas the other day when I heard a familiar sound that reminded me of something I wanted to mention on here. Have you ever heard a distinctive high pitched whistle here in Tenerife? It’s a long shrill sound that tapers off with a flourish and repeats several times, usually in the morning.

It’s not some rare breed of metal bird, just the sound of an old tradition that lives on. It’s a knife sharpening service sold by old men who travel round, usually on a pushbike but some now use a motorcycle,  sounding their whistle to attract custom. When they park up they either use the motor or the pedals to power a grinding machine fixed to the back of the bike.

They are often heard but seldom seen, I spotted this chap in the photo, in Puerto de la Cruz, there is also one operating near me in Los Cristianos. When I worked out of The Tenerife Sun office in Alcala, there was a sharpener there, how quaint I thought, this man of simple means, keping this old tradition alive in a cynical commercial world. Thinking it would make a nice little story, I asked him if I could take a photo for the paper and ask him a few questions, he said yes but it would cost 30 euros, obviously not quite as innocent in the ways of the world as I thought. I declined his offer and passed his number on to Hello magazine, they like to pay for exclusives.

Still, it is good to see these old crafts surviving, I should imagine a lot of small restaurants and bars find the service very useful, and a lot easier than a trip to the nearest ferreteria.

Sat at a beach bar with a cold drink, that’s the way to spend a hot Tenerife day, but for those seeking to push themselves to the limit, the triathlon was invented. Yesterday saw the first Costa Adeje triathlon and although the sun was red hot, the sea was very lively.

As the swimmers gathered on Chiringuito beach in La Caleta, the beach bar and sun loungers were full and to the east, kite surfers were colourful proof of the strong swirling wind. Small boats, jet skis and canoes took their positions out at sea just inside the inflatable marker bouys, as the triathletes filed through the shower arch and picked their way down the steep large stoned bank to the shore. Setting off in groups of around 50 at a time, the men, women and children, tried to time their entry into the sea between large rolling waves.

This 750 metre swim was just the start, and after clambering back out, the 200 competitors had to run up off the beach to the compound where the bikes were racked up. Peeling off the rubber wet suits, to reveal shorts and vests underneath, they had to negotiate their way into their trainers and scoot the bikes to the line before jumping on and peddling off for a 20 km ride.

By now the field was stretching out a little, sweeping up a hairpin hill turn, some were relaxed and smiling at the gathered crowds, some cut inside their rivals and some just focused straight ahead. A few laps later, they swept back into the compound, dismounted and started the last phase, the 5 km run. As they left the compound, children offered up cups of cold water, some gulped them down but many just tipped them over their sun drenched heads.

I was in the fortunate position to be able to admire the wonderful setting of La Caleta and the polished organisation of the race. Technology does help, with electronic tags on their ankles being read as they passed the start finish point. But all the technology in the world can’t compete with the sheer drive and determination these athletes have to show to keep themselves going. Back markers could be heard groaning, shouting and screaming out loud, mentally whipping themselves to find new reserves of energy.

A lack of pre event advertising , kept the watching crowds down to like minded enthusiasts, friends, family and local holiday makers. This is set to become an annual event so hopefully in future years the crowds will grow, these incredible athletes deserve to be appreciated, cajolled and cheered all the way to the finish line. As far as I am concerned all the entrants were winners but Mustapha Akoudad was first to finish after 1 hour 11 minutes and 35 seconds, with Patricia Diaz, twice Spañish under 23 triathlon champion, a close second on 1.22.23.

As the early finishers grabbed much needed cold drinks, handshakes and hugs, they spared time to encourage the other competitors who were simply trying to finish and beat their own demanding standards. Trophies weighed down the presentation table as glass awards were given in several categories. Many of the competitors will move on to more triathlons during the summer, and all of them will be nursing aching muscles today. Big respect to every last one of them, what a great addition to Tenerife’s summer sporting calender.Â