Title: Tenerife & La Gomera Golf Circuit
Location: Golf del Sur
Link out: Click here
Description: The final round of the 2011 circuit welcomes all players. Five categories, three for men and two for women, with prizes for winners. Inscriptions can be made at www.isladegolf.com or circuito@isladegolf.com .
Date: 2011-10-01

Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.

Back to the Future
It was announced that the Tenerife government are considering a revolutionary piece of German engineering as the model for the north and south train. The Transrapid would be able to travel at a top speed of 385 kph on a magnetic monorail. It’s so advanced that it doesn’t need a driver and doesn’t have any wheels or even an engine, plus there would be no need for any landscape-ruining power lines. This train of the future would only cost 3.000 million euros – a bargain. The German government have apparently even offered to provide some funding for the project.
The Transrapid does have a lot of plus points; it’s environmentally sound and should cause less of an upheaval to the landscape. It would also be one of the most modern trains in the world; something that the government claim would be a big tourist draw.

It’s good to see Tenerife waking up to the new technology that exists in the outside world. Maybe after the train, they might start looking at this new fangled way of communicating that everybody else raves about. What’s it called again? Oh yes…the internet.

A Right Old Chestnut
November is chestnut month on Tenerife with a whole load of events timed to coincide with the lighting of the braziers. Soon plazas across north Tenerife will be filled with the aroma of roasting chestnuts – here they eat them instead of smacking each other across the knuckles with them. But local chestnut vendors have warned that the hotter than usual weather this year on Tenerife hasn’t been good for chestnut harvesting. Subsequently there aren’t as many chestnuts ready for collecting as is usual for this time of year. Ironically, whilst visitors are lapping up the hot weather, the chestnut sellers are praying for the nights to get cooler. The cooler the night, the more roasted chestnuts they sell.

Por Fin CD Tenerife
It was starting to look as though Christmas would arrive first, but CD Tenerife finally managed to huff and puff their way to their first win of the season against what the Spanish press called a commendable and tenacious Elche in an encounter described by Tenerife Magazine’s Colin Kirby as ‘a  real minger’. Still it moves them from the bottom of the league to the giddy heights of second bottom, so congratulations are in order. Maybe a chink of light is breaking through the gloomy skies above the Heliodoro stadium – figuratively speaking of course.

The Saga of the Adeje Botellon
The Adeje botellon (impromptu street party) is possibly one of the few topics that bridge the gap between Spanish language press and English language Tenerife forums. Further rhetoric is coming out of Adeje council about clamping down strongly on this weekend tradition. This time the reason is about as tenuous as you can get; the authorities don’t want the tragedy that occurred at the Berlin Love Parade to happen on Tenerife. At a botellon? Come on, get serious.
What’s more worrying is that there appears to be a sub-agenda about restricting nightly entertainment in Tenerife’s main southern resorts, with some bars seemingly being targeted for playing music after a certain hour. One website even suggested that bars should be forced to close at 1am.
The explanation for a lot of this is that it adversely affects Adeje’s reputation as a tourist resort. Interesting concept, but here’s a question. Don’t a lot of people come to Adeje and Playa de las Américas precisely because the nightlife is lively? Who exactly is it that these party poopers are representing?

They Seek Him Here, They Seek Him There…
The south west of Tenerife is generally considered a tranquil part of the island; not this week when the combined might of the Guardia Civil, local police forces and even the army took part in a high speed pursuit through the area. The fugitive they were after, an habitual traffic offender amusingly known as the ‘mouflon’ because of his ability to evade his pursuers, led the island’s security forces on a merry chase through the streets. Roadblocks were set up at strategic points in Puerto Santiago, Alcalá, Playa San Juan and even on the TF1, but the mouflon evaded them all. He was eventually apprehended, but only after he abandoned his stolen Mercedes in La Hoya in Adeje, and is safely behind bars…for now.

Tourism is Up
The first nine months of the year has seen 3,598,574 visitors to Tenerife; an increase of 1.35% on the same period last year. Okay it’s not much but it is a step in the right direction and when you look at trends it’s a bigger step than it at first seems. During summer, mainland Spanish visitors fell by 3.08%, unsurprisingly as their economic crisis is a bit behind everybody else’s (no jokes please). However in the same period Brit visitors were up nearly 7%, Germans 9%, French 5%, Belgians 21% and Italians a whopping great 25%. Good news all round.

And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… the owners of a restaurant in San Miguel de Abona
We all know that Tenerife suffers from more than its fair share of cowboy employers but the owners of a restaurant in Golf del Sur really plumbed new depths of exploitation. Employing illegal immigrants on the black market is hardly going to shock anyone on Tenerife. However, these guys apparently lured illegal immigrants by saying that they would pay them good money and arrange residency. Once in their employ they forced the illegal aliens to work non-stop and often without pay by threatening to turn them over to the police for deportation if they didn’t.
The perpetrators are now also doing long hours for no pay…in prison.

Transrapid photo © Fritz Stoiber courtesy of Transrapid International GmbH & Co. K

From volcanic wonderland to lush palm groves and rainforests that date back to before the Ice Age to a village tucked into the folds of seven million year old mountains – Tenerife has a mirador for every one of its stunning vistas.

Here is TM’s pick of the panoramic best – the ten must-see views on the island.

1. Pico Del Inglés – La Laguna
Getting to the Anaga Mountains from just about anywhere on Tenerife is a journey of epic proportions but the scenic rewards outweigh the effort. On roads that provide breathless views on every turn, the vanguard vista is at the mirador overlooking the English-esque green tapestry of Aguere Valley, the north airport, La Laguna and Mount Teide dominating the island.

2. Pico Viejo – Teide National Park
Taking the cable car to within 200 metres of the summit of Mount Teide and walking around the rim to the mirador overlooking the Pico Viejo (old peak) gives you the sort of screen shot normally reserved for dinosaur movie makers and astronauts.
3. Valle de Arriba – Santiago del Teide
Climbing the TF82 out of Santiago del Teide towards Icod de los Vinos, the Valle de Arriba mirador does what it says – it looks out across the beautiful Valle de Arriba towards Santiago del Teide and beyond, to the coast of Puerto Santiago. But for the bonus ball Mount Teide and Pico Viejo guard the heavens at the horizon.
4. El Lance – Los Realejos
El Lance is land marked by the magnificent sculpture of Mencey Bentor who, rather than be captured by the Spanish, threw himself to his death from the spot. From the north westerly point of Punta del Sol, all across the La Orotava Valley, to the dorsal mountains, Bentor now looks permanently out over the lands he fought so hard to protect
5. Cherfe – Masca
On the palm-sweating TF46 drive from Santiago del Teide to the hamlet of Masca, the Cherfe Mirador is part viewpoint, part nerve tester. From here, the clusters of Masca’s white buildings cling precariously to their rocky foothold, surrounded on three sides by towering peaks and teetering above the plunging ravine. It’s not a view for the faint hearted…or the clumsy footed.
6. Centinela – San Miguel de Abona
Providing a grandstand view of the volcanic cones of the south east and showing what existed before the rise of tourism, is the pretty mirador set into the hillside above the town of the same name. Today the arid scrubland is tattooed by the runways of the south airport, the incongruous greens of Golf Del Sur and the coastal developments of the south and east coast.
7. Archipenque – Los Gigantes
There’s no denying the WOW factor of the eponymous ‘giants’ of Los Gigantes and the best place to get their full perspective is at the mirador on the TF47 that climbs from the resort towards Tamaimo. Not only are the views over the cliffs, the village and the marina nothing short of awesome, but you can get an ice cream or a beer to go with them.

8. Parque Los Lavaderos – El Sauzal
The former open air laundry which is cut into the steep sides of the cliff is now the setting for quirky, scented gardens with a bohemian café selling speciality teas and brownies. It’s the perfect setting for drinking in the beauty of Tenerife’s most stunning coastline and arguably the best perspective of Teide’s gargantuan size.
9. Chimague and Chipeque – La Orotava
Just off the TF24 which runs along the spine of the island from La Laguna to Teide National Park are these ‘seat of the Gods’ twin miradors. From Chimegue you get the whole of the east coast laid before you with Gran Canaria on the horizon and from Chipeque you get the entire west coast and the island of La Palma.
10. Roques de Garcia – Teide National Park
From the gravity-defying Roque Chinchado and the up close and personal profile of the peak; to the desolation of the Llano de Ucanca lava fields, views don’t get much more out of this world than these.

Golf Del Sur and Buenavista golf courses are holding seven sponsored golf days specifically for lady golfers throughout the golfing season.

The second of these was held on Saturday 13th February 2010 on Golf del Sur’s emerald greens. To fit in with the madness taking place in other parts of the island at this time of year, there was a special theme for the day – carnival.
With prizes being awarded to competitors who turned up in the most eye-catching fancy dress costumes, some golfers went out of their way to win. As a result there were some fabulous costumes on show which added a lot of fun to the ladies’ golf day.

Overall, around 60 competitors enjoyed 18 holes of stableford golf with a special green fee rate for the day. The competition was followed by a delicious dinner and a prize-giving ceremony which included a sponsored raffle with some fabulous prizes which meant most competitors didn’t go home empty handed.

For anyone interested in joining in the fun, the next golf day in the series will be held on March 13th at Golf Del Sur when all lady golfers are welcome .

Contact Golf Del Sur reception on 0034 922 738170 for more details and to register.

See more pictures from the day from tee-off to prize-giving here.