Club la Santa, Lanzarote
We were up in time for morning gymnastics and then headed straight out to collect our mountain bikes. Claire ended up with the same bike she'd had the other day, but mine was a different one, so more tinkering and lubing was required. The sky was a bit overcast but we soon warmed up as the route turned out to be quite hilly, which shouldn't have come as a surprise to us as we knew there were a load of volcanoes over there.
It soon became apparent that Claire wasn't really in the mood for cycling, as she was lagging behind, and not to take selfies this time. In fact, I don't know how she was managing to cycle so slowly without overbalancing! However, I don't think she could stand the shame of turning back so we carried on along gravelly tracks to a small village called Tenesar by the coast behind a volcano. This involved dropping right back down to sea level down what felt like a very long steep road that was very bumpy and shook our bingo wings quite unpleasantly. Unfortunately, there was no ice cream shop in the village, so we watched the waves breaking over the rocks for a while before steeling ourselves for the climb back up.
It turned out that getting back up the hill wasn't too bad after all, and we decided to head inland to pick up the tarmaced road for our return route. I experimented with making a time lapse video on my GoPro once we got onto a better road. It isn't a particularly good video, but I know what to do to make better ones in the future.
We stopped to eat the sandwiches I'd been carrying round all morning on a bench in a children's playground of all places. Fortunately there weren't any children in it at the time. I was looking forward to the ride back, as I knew it was all downhill on smooth roads. What I hadn't considered was the wind we had to cycle into, which had picked up and made it feel like we were cycling up a slight incline the whole way back, which was upsetting.
We finally had an ice cream back at Club la Santa, sitting in the sun by the pool until the sun went behind a big cloud. At that point we stomped off back to our apartment grumpily to pack our things ready for our return home. We spent the evening having a few drinks and an all you can eat buffet, and then feeling sorry for ourselves about going home.
I'm writing this on the plane on the way home. Our transition from apartment to aeroplane was the quickest and most straightforward I've ever known, and I even managed to have a laugh and a joke with the man scanning our hand luggage, who thought my sports massage balls were some apples, and then wanted a demonstration! The only downside is the group of women sitting directly behind us, who appear to be in their 20s or 30s, but if I hadn't looked for myself I would have assumed they were all hyperactive 7 year olds. Never mind, it's only a 4 hour flight and I've got my earphones in.
Our holiday has been one of the best we've had for a long time, and I feel like we've both relaxed much more than we normally manage to. Must be the yoga. We have already talked about returning early next year.
So for anyone thinking they might like to try Club la Santa themselves, here's a few pearls of wisdom that might help you.
Club la Santa is a sports resort, not a beach or party resort. If you want to lie in the sun on the beach or party into the night then you'll be disappointed. However, if you want a sports holiday then you'll love it. There are over 30 sports you can do, with all facilities and equipment included in the accommodation price, with coached or guided sessions for most sports. Athletics, swimming, ball games, cycling, yoga/pilates... - everything you could imagine. There are fancy bikes available to pay extra to hire, although the free ones are fine for recreational cycling, albeit a bit creaky and clunky sometimes, mainly due to insufficient lubing in my opinion. There is also a watersports centre on site on the sea water lagoon with kayaks, stand up paddle boards and windsurfing. The only things we have done this trip that weren't included in the price were the scuba diving and the sea kayaking excursion. There are other paid for excursions available from the resort, like volcano tours, a catamaran trip, surfing lessons etc but we didn't do any of them so can't comment on them.
There is a huge mix of nationalities working and staying at Club la Santa - mainly Europeans. Everyone seemed to get on well and English is the common language. For once we didn't feel bad about not being able to speak the local language, because there isn't really one on the resort.
Club la Santa is on the west coast of Lanzarote, which tends to have a lower temperature and stronger winds all year round in comparison to the rest of the island. We've come at probably the coldest time of year, and it has been like cool British summertime without the rain. It's pretty self contained, with all the apartments and suites being self catering, and there are several restaurants on site plus a supermarket. The restaurants and supermarket are fairly expensive compared with the ones in tourist destinations like Playa Blanca or Puerto del Carmen. The nearest town is La Santa, which is about half an hour's walk (there are taxis available too). This is a small town with a few restaurants and a small supermarket, all of which are a bit cheaper than on the resort.
The apartments are quite basic by most people's standards, although we found ours to be just fine. There's no TV in the apartments but there are plenty in the bars, so long as you like watching sport. The self catering facilities are fairly basic - a 2 burner hob, microwave, kettle and toaster, plus a decent size under counter fridge and a good range of pots and pans etc.
We stayed in a 2 bed "comfort" apartment which was the cheapest option for us. It was modern and looked like it had been renovated within the last few years. I've read a few reviews of people complaining their apartments were very basic and dated, so I don't know if we're just easily pleased, or whether the larger apartments are not as good or haven't been renovated yet.
There's no dress code in the evenings, and people just wander around in sports wear. Next time we come we won't bother with any casual clothes, and will just bring more sports stuff instead. It was a bit chilly in the evenings, and most of the time in the apartment (they're designed to keep cool, and there's no heating or air conditioning) and we wished we'd brought some snuggly tracksuit bottoms.
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