Wonderful week in Fuerteventura

[OldTodger]

We are back in the UK   after a wonderful week exploring Fuerteventura from one end to the other, we had a fantastic time on this beautiful island.

There are certainly a lot more places we could go and experience if we had a 4x4, especially on the South West coast, but in the North we have now seen Popcorn beach which we missed when in Corralejo and El Cotillo last December.  This time, we explored a lot of the South, right to Faro de Jandia, and Cofete (an interesting experience in a motor home).

We now certainly have some off grid favourites.  For us, the center of Corralejo and Moro Jable are a bit too commercialised but still enjoyable for a bit of civilization and a restaurant meal.

It was a lovely sunny week, but also a blustery one, which meant we turned around after experiencing Cofete, an amazing place, but on the day far too windy and the clouds over the mountains were blocking the sun, making it far too cold to enjoy naked for any time, we went back on the unmade road and made it back to playa Butihondo via a sight seeing trip to the Faro Punta de Jandia.

We found a wonderful location to park the van which I will not detail here, so it doesn't get too well known (PM me for details), but it is a great location, 24h public toilets and showers on a nudist beach with a small parking area, close to a supermarket, step out of the van onto the beach, absolutely perfect.

We even managed to top up the water tank of the van from the shower using a 5L water bottle.

We were almost totally alone at night (apart from the people paying £150 a night in the hotel on the cliff  ).  We noticed that there was a female European 30 something backpacker living in the castles on the beach, also using the toilets and shower, as well as the foot wash to wash her dishes, might try that next time  .

We walked from there into Moro Jable along the beach one of the days, totally naked from the point of leaving the van, until the Faro, then put clothes on to go shopping and have a meal, before walking back to the van again naked, it was about 45 mins each way, and I will be posting the videos on my channel in the next few days.

We travelled around the South and then back up North. We visited El Cotillo again, its a great place not just for the beaches but if in a camper van on Fuerteventura, one of the most difficult things to get rid of is black water (toilet waste), you can generally get fresh water at petrol stations after buying a token, 1 Euro for around 50L and get rid of grey water (sink and shower) in the car wash drain, but black water is a different matter.

At El Cotillo there is a service point at the back of the Football pitch where you can dump, black and grey water, and reload with fresh water. Currently its free, (just press the green button), so obviously its popular.  Be prepared to wait in the designated spot, which is not very obvious, especially if you don't understand Spanish and the sign  .

We went to Popcorn beach as its one of the tourist attractions via the unmade road, and to be honest, I wouldn't bother, there are signs saying you cant take the "Popcorn" away, which is no wonder as there is hardly any there, and probably due to the number of tourists, what is there has been crushed under foot.  Now I know what I'm looking for I have seen larger pieces on other remote beaches.

Playa Sotavento de Jandia is a real experience, we parked overnight in the car park there, and it was a joy to step out of the van in the morning, naked, straight onto the dunes and the immense beach.

On our way back North, we tried to go to Playa Negro, but the way the sat nav wanted to take us, through a river bed, and ended up in a dead end, at the entrance to a military base.  We gave up on that idea and had to reverse up an off road hill as the van wouldn't go up forwards as it was too steep.....

We stopped off in Ajay, but didn't bother with the tourist attraction of the caves. The contrast of the white foaming waves crashing against the black sand of the beach was amazing.  This is according to the Spanish naturist federation a nudist beach and there was one naked person on the beach sunbathing. As accustomed as I am to being naked among clothed people, I didn't feel comfortable being naked here, due to the number of "TUI Bus" tourists on a very enclosed beach, and the close proximity of the restaurants.

On our last night we parked just off the main road along with a few other vans at Caleta de Fuste, just 10 mins South of the Airport as we were handing the van back at 8am. 

This was another experience, and I really cant understand why people would go there for a holiday, its in the direct (noisy) flight path of the airport, and with a man made beach.

It is however very accessible if you have a wheel chair or mobility scooter, but otherwise it could be any manufactured place in the world, totally devoid of nature and the beauty we have seen and loved of this island.

Videos of our journey will be on my YouTube channel in the next few days, as I get time to edit them.


Fuerteventura!  We will be back

[Magoo]

Hi Todger

Looks like you had a great time exploring, don't think that I would have had the bottle to take a camper van down to Cofete. Nice vids by the way, the main lagoon at El Cotillo is looking good, there was a big seaweed problem the last time that we were there.
Had to smile at your description of Caleta, i am surprised that no one has flamed you yet, Caleta fans can be a bit touchy. The place is good for a cheap full English but nothing much else.
On you next visit, you may find Playa de Garcey, on the West coast interesting. Its where the American Star ship wreck was located and is about 12 klicks down a dirt road. There is absolutely nothing there apart from a dark sand beach, surf and your own company, but it is wild. Most folk might see it as a waste of petrol, but I like it. Also on the West coast is Los Molinos, which is good for a fish lunch and wildlife spotting due to the wet barranco that runs nearby.

[Johnrgby]

This a personal opinion of course? to which everyone is entitled, I live in Caleta and love it here; I would also like to make comment that " Caleta fans " spend far less time wingeing about the damage being done to the environment by just about everyone and everything that is done in Cotillo, I rented a place in Cotilo while we were property hunting, and yes it is a nice little place to live, our issue was you either bought an apartment or a house on a fairly large plot which was not what we were looking for, so IMHO each to is own.

[bedouin]

Had to smile at your description of Caleta, i am surprised that no one has flamed you yet, Caleta fans can be a bit touchy. The place is good for a cheap full English but nothing much else.  

Caleta is surely the very last place on the island for naturists!

[Magoo]

This a personal opinion of course? to which everyone is entitled, I

Quite so. I speak from the view of a tourist, not a resident. While Cotillo has a lot of my personal requirements for a visit, i would go mad with cabin fever if i lived there. I am sure that Caleta is a nice place to live, but it holds no attraction to me as a visitor to the island. Have they sorted out the problem of fat boozed up Brits, bombing around on giant electric scooters?

[OldTodger]

Had to smile at your description of Caleta, i am surprised that no one has flamed you yet, Caleta fans can be a bit touchy. The place is good for a cheap full English but nothing much else.  

I certainly didn't intend to insult or upset the residents, I was simply making an observation that there are so many wonderful places to have a break from life on this wonderful island 

[OldTodger]

Had to smile at your description of Caleta, i am surprised that no one has flamed you yet, Caleta fans can be a bit touchy. The place is good for a cheap full English but nothing much else.  

Caleta is surely the very last place on the island for naturists!

As I said, we simply stopped overnight as it is close to the airport and we had an early start. My comment was simply what a huge contrast it is to the nature and beauty of all the other places we had visited.

[OldTodger]

This a personal opinion of course? to which everyone is entitled, I live in Caleta and love it here; I would also like to make comment that " Caleta fans " spend far less time wingeing about the damage being done to the environment by just about everyone and everything that is done in Cotillo, I rented a place in Cotilo while we were property hunting, and yes it is a nice little place to live, our issue was you either bought an apartment or a house on a fairly large plot which was not what we were looking for, so IMHO each to is own.

Thanks for not flaming me  , I am actually very jealous of anyone who has the ability to live anywhere in the Canaries, especially since that option has been taken away from me by our government and Brexit.

[OldTodger]

Hi Todger

Looks like you had a great time exploring, don't think that I would have had the bottle to take a camper van down to Cofete. 

I drive a large delivery van for work, and so am used to negotiating tight Victorian terraces with inconsiderately parked vehicles, so it wasn't that different, luckily the bus appeared behind us, early on in the journey and I pulled over to let it pass, and as we were approaching the beach it was coming back to the other way, I wouldn't have liked to have met it face to face on one of the blind corners with sheer drops over the top!!.

[OldTodger]

On you next visit, you may find Playa de Garcey, on the West coast interesting. Its where the American Star ship wreck was located and is about 12 klicks down a dirt road. There is absolutely nothing there apart from a dark sand beach, surf and your own company, but it is wild. Most folk might see it as a waste of petrol, but I like it. Also on the West coast is Los Molinos, which is good for a fish lunch and wildlife spotting due to the wet barranco that runs nearby.

Cheers  Will be sure to check those out.