Rubber suits and a hot-sheet motel (2012) - Canary Islands

This is a report about a trip we did eight years ago – sorry, no more recent trips currently. The title is click bait, obviously it’s about flying again, but it’s not completely unrelated as you will see

When we bought our Mooney in 2012, we intended to cross the Atlantic one day, but as we had never done such a trip before, we were looking for some sort of training, Atlantic light if you will. As we have family living on La Palma part of the year, this was an obvious destination. We had been there before in a rented Cessna via Agadir but this time we wanted to have a little more water under the wings to find out how that feels. Therefore we chose to fly Mannheim (EDFM) – Valladolid (LEVD) – Madeira (LPMA) – La Palma (GCLA) – Cascais (LPCS) – Mannheim.

Route to La Palma and back

We departed December 23rd and had an uneventful flight down to Valladolid which we reached by early afternoon.

On the way to Valladolid

Days are short in December, so we looked for accommodation close to the airport after we had refueled. When leaving the terminal, we saw the security guys outside, smoking. I approached them and asked if there was a hotel in the vicinity. Reluctantly one of them replied yes, there was but it was somewhat special. We already knew this from our internet research, it was Motel Venus I asked if they thought it was open and we could get a room there. None of the guys wanted to confess to be a customer there, but they said, yes, why not.

We reached the property after five minutes on foot. It was enclosed by a high wall with an iron gate. We rang the bell, and the gate opened electrically. A lady was sitting at a drive-by counter and asked where our car was. We said we were on foot and if she had vacancy. She said yes, how long we would needed the room for. We said the whole night what apparently bewildered her a bit, but if we paid 60€ in advance she was fine with it. It turned out that the rooms were on the first floor and each had a garage underneath with a private staircase. One can reach the room without being seen at all – very well designed!

Room in the hot-sheet motel

There even was WiFi, I don’t think it gets used much. We checked the TAF for Madeira and learned that we wouldn’t fly there the next day. We checked our options, but it was a bit difficult. Neither was there a suitable hotel in Valladolid, nor public transport on Christmas day. Even if we could find another hotel, it would be hard to get to the airport as town is quite a bit away.

We left our room through our private garage in the morning of December 24th and approached the lady behind the counter. We wanted to stay one more night, we said. She stared at us in disbelief. After a while, however, she replied OK, but we had to pay 80€ this time. Why I asked. Christmas Eve was more expensive she said. Given the lack of alternatives we paid. We were probably the only married couple (married to each other I mean) that ever stayed at this place.

We walked over to the airport and took the shuttle bus to town. It turned out to be a nice and busy place. We had typical late lunch in a packed tapas bar and took the last bus back. Interestingly, Motel Venus was really very busy in the late afternoon.

Valladolid on Christmas Eve

Back in our room, we ordered a bottle of Cava which was passed to us through a kind of a miniature revolving door installed in one corner of the room. Again without any interaction – I was deeply impressed.

Christmas was rubber suite day because we had to tackle our first long over-water leg.

Leg to Madeira

Rubber suits

Coasting out near Lisbon

Our survival suits were brand new and not too unpleasant to wear. The flight over water wasn’t that much of an event. What scared us much more, was the landing.

Approaching Madeira

Madeira has quite a reputation of being difficult with crosswinds from the mountain side of the runway.

Procedure in LPMA

Runway 05 was in use when we arrived, and the wind was blowing from the problematic sector but only at eight knots.

Right downwind 05 LPMA

Final 05 LPMA

It was a bit bumpy on final, but nothing frightening and landing was smooth. We topped off the tanks as there is no Avgas in La Palma.

We had a few days to explore the island and do the usual tourist stuff.

Funchal

Madeira tasting

Curral das Freiras in the interior of Madeira

The leg to La Palma was not that long, but of course again there was quite a bit of water to cross.

Leg to La Palma

Lined up 23 in LPMA

La Palma in sight

Right base 36 GCLA

What could possibly go wrong with this T-shirt on?

We spent a week with our family and hiked the island. As on Madeira, hiking is the number one tourist activity on La Palma.

On top of Mt. Bejenado

Caldera de Taburiente filling up with clouds

The longest over-water leg was from La Palma to Cascais. In fact, it remained the longest one until we flew St. Johns – Horta five years later.

Leg to Cascais

Again, there was a lot of water to cross, but we really had the best of conditions.

Over the Atlantic

Approaching Cascais

We spent one more night near Lisbon before we flew home to Mannheim.

Beach in Cascais

Back home

After our return we discussed how we felt about it and were satisfied. None of us panicked or felt uncomfortable, so we could continue with our plans for the Atlantic crossing.

Of course, practical information about the flights and the airports is close to worthless after eight years. Madeira was rather expensive, but they have Avgas (also expensive). La Palma was cheap but no Avgas there.

Landscapes on the islands of Madeira and La Palma are quite similar. Madeira is a bit greener, La Palma a bit more barren, but not much. Madeira is more developed, overdeveloped one might say. However, Funchal on Madeira is a proper city in comparison to the towns on La Palma.

Flying to Madeira always involves long over-water legs while one could island-hop the Canaries from Agadir and almost stay in gliding range.

I can really highly recommend both islands and of course Motel Venus, all an adventure in their own peculiar way.