Day 1,
Well! As I am now relaxing on the ¨TXC994L¨ Tenerife to East Midlands / Nottingham, I can start my day by day account of our once in a lifetime adventure to Kilimanjaro Africa.

11am
A very emotionally charged moment, as I had to say bon voyage, or should I say Ana Maria and Rafael (aged 6 months) had to say Bon Voyage to their husband & Papa! I am trying to put a brave face on, but every time I think back to saying Goodbye I start filling up. Rafa who had just woken from his mid morning snooze was as always smiling from ear to ear. I gave him a big kiss in his Chicco pushchair. I turned to my beautiful wife who was already in floods of tears, I gave her a big hug and kiss & a few words of comfort. The weather in Las Moraditas was once again stunning as I climbed into Kims car to head to the airport.

I love my family with every cell I have!

11.20am Las Chafiras (close to the airport)

No sign of Troy!!
We should have checked in by now!

Kim, Callum & I are awaiting Troys presence at the Las Chafiras turn off. I am trying to put a ¨chilled, not panicky face on¨ As the minutes tick by, I had to slope off to the nearest bar to have a quick beer (Cobra).
Finally Troy turns up then heads into the bank, after a couple of minutes we are on our way to the airport, Late!!
We quickly located our check in desk to find hundreds of Thomas Cook fellow travelers. Kim grabbed the nearest badge carrying employee & after a couple of blurbed sentences we were whisked off to a last minute check in desk only to find we were not on the list!!!
So not only are we late we were missing in action. Ok chill now Douglas, do not panic I repeat… Eventually we sorted everything out at the Thomas Cook desk! A man mountain of a guy, signed a couple of documents and away we sprinted to the security check point, not forgetting time to say goodbye to Kim (Troys wife) & Callum (Troys boy).

1.30pm
I had earlier in the day had visions of having a nice chilled cerveza in the Bill Bentley pub in Departures, but as soon as we passed security, the plane had already started to board. This of course was no deterrent, we ran to the pub to find massive queue to get to the bar. We ran to the nearest coffee bar & grabbed a couple of ¨cañas¨, we quickly downed our ¨halfs¨ and headed off to our bus with wings.

4.20 pm
Now I have to say well done Troy ¨why I hear you ask?¨ well do you know them exit seats that cost a small fortune, we are at this very moment stretching our soon to be very tired legs & having a glass of vino in our free exit seats.

Tuesday 8th December 2009

8.41pm Marangogate
Ok where do I start? Since the last entry, we have stayed at Troys mums house (brilliant). We had complementary drinks in First Class on our Virgin flight to Kenya (bliss), thanks to Drea & Ward.
We all checked into a dodgy ¨Meriden¨ hotel, had a fabulous curry, followed by a nine hour journey on a rickety bus to the Springlands hotel in Moshi Tanzania (no roads almost), that’s where we met up with James & Karen. Oh yes and also started to walk the worlds largest free standing mountain!
We walked through the forest today about 8.5k. We met our guide & mentor ¨the teacher himself¨ a local legend who as walked Kilimanjaro 495 times!! He is also a teacher to 145 very poor kids & he is opening an orphanage for 32 kids, a great man.
The walk today was not difficult, none of our six showed any sign of altitude sickness. The forest was so lush so green.

The day started at our local hotel Springlands, we had a fantastic breakfast of omlette and sausage, then we gathered our kit together paid our $150 goverment fees and proceeded to our second rickety bus. Two hours later we arrived at the Marango gate to start our adventure , after a briefing from our friend ¨Teacher¨ we headed off up the track in good spirit. I soon struck up a DMC (deep, meaningful conversation) with our teacher. What an amazing human being he is. He is only 32 & he has set up a school on his own & is opening an orphanage. A completely Selfless man.

We are climbing this mountain to raise funds and awareness for our ´INGANE YAMI¨ orphanage protect in South Africa, that we are so proud of. When you see the conditions people live in over here it is shocking. We in the west spend Zillions on the arms race and think nothing of what our fellow human beings must be going through. We can live with dignity, free health care, they cannot!
I do not want to get on my soap box.

As I write now in the pitch black, with my headlamp on, I have mixed emotions. I miss my wife & Family. My beautiful Ana Maria & my beam of love Rafael so much, but also realizing what a great moment in time this is. We have not seen the majestic peak of Kilimanjaro as yet but this is due to it being very cloudy. But I have been told on good authority by Teacher, that when we get woken up at 6.10am she should be cloud free and beautiful, I cannot wait.

We are all sleeping in an area of less than ten square meters of each other. Troy is already starting to snore, it is so dark outside you cannot see your hand. Also it is so quiet, apart from some very strange animal noises. These huts are minus five star believe me.
I really need to pump due to all the carbs we have consumed today, but cannot bring myself to do it with everyone listening. So if I do not blow up through the night, I will hopefully make an entry tomorrow evening!!

Goodnight Ana & Rafa xxxxxxxxx

6.10am Wednesday 9th December
Bad night of sleep due to sleeping on what felt like concrete, Troy snoring & Ward also, I definitely snored too as I woke myself up a few times! The porters have just brought us some hot black tea, Kenyan style in Tanszania. Nobody has let rip as of yet!!!

Walking to 3.720 meters today, just a bit higher than the peak of our magnificent ¨Mount Teide¨

8.12pm
Just had our supper consisting of white rice cabbage & pea sauce!! James, Karen, Ward & Drea have gone to bed in our six sleep hut about the size of a mini van! Troy & I are sat in the mess room after a long days walking.
We left our camp at 8am, we headed straight into the dense lush forest. Teacher pointed out the ¨Impatient Kilimanjaro Flower¨ this magnificent flower only grows on Kilimanjaro, he also pointed out some more exclusive to kill vegetation.
The weather was perfect for walking. Unfortunately we have still not seen the peak of Kilimanjaro due to some high cloud covering her beauty.

Teacher our guide was setting the pace today, we were a little over excited on our first day. Especially Troy, who had to be reined in a couple of times. The pace was so slow, he wants us not to dispel too much of our stored energy. We will definitely need it on ¨Summit Day¨ in a couple of days time that is for sure.

We were chatting to a lot of people who had or had not reached the Uhuru Peak that morning. They were on their way down, some looking very ill or very elated. Most people seem to make it, so as a group we are starting to feel confident. Our inexperience showed a couple of times today. It is very showery at this height and the weather can change in a second. So as soon as a shower appeared, off came our day packs out with the ponchos and other waterproof hats, trousers, bag covers, head covers & covers for covers…. As soon as we, well I say we but because I am traveling very light to say the least, Troy & I were not involved with the Melee. So as soon as they were water, wind snow & frost tight the sun popped out. Then here we go again, wet gear had to come off sun hats, sun creams, shorts & sunglasses came out. I am not joking here, five minutes later it started raining again! And yes you are correct off came the sun clothes etc, etc, etc… This went on for about 2 hours, you had to just laugh & be positive. Being positive is definitely thee most important goal you need here in Africa. We are so used to hot water, clean toilets, good food etc. This is a third world Country and you either adapt & accept or you will soon get negative. Especially with the hygiene & food you have to live with day in, day out.
I believe over & above everything, that you have to tune yourself into the mountains way of life, respect mother earth. Accepting that we humans are the guests and it is not the other way round!

I eat the food, drink the water directly from the mountain, totally respect my surroundings, my western ways of no use up here. I cannot wait until we summit on Saturday. The peak has had a lot of snow this week so it will be a truly great sight.

Troy has now given up trying to play patience with Spanish cards, it is time to go to bed. Goodnight. Oh one more thing during the walk today I found a big basket in the bush, I was at the back of the group, so I decided to do a porter impression. All day the porters are carrying supplies up & down the mountain on their heads, So I popped it on my head & shouted ¨Traffic¨ and pushed myself through are group, when they all realized it was me, we all laughed our heads off, a good moment.

9.31pm 10th December 22, 2009
Happy day for me
Horombo Camp. My second anniversary!!!
We started the day as usual, the porters always bring us hot sugary tea at 6am. The sunrise was incredible, the view over Africa was breath taking. Then they bring three hot bowles of water to wash in . After washing you head for breakfast, today was a lovely porridge, followed by eggs & Vienna sausages & tea or coffee. We all call the Vienna sausage the all day breakfast because it repeats on you all day!
After Breakfast we got our day kit together & trekked just under 6k to zebra rock & then a viewing point of Kili in all her glory.

Today was acclimatization day. We walked up to 4300 meters to see how all the group handled 20 to 30% less oxygen. Glad to say we were all ok. Without doubt the best moment happened when we arrived at the viewing point. There was not a cloud in the sky, Kilimanjaro looked unbelievable. No clouds, blue sky awesome. We got back down to camp for a day of chillaxing as we were going to need all our energy walking to the kibo camp 4709 meters tomorrow. We should get there around 13.00, eat & then hopefully sleep as we walk to the summit from midnight the same day. This without doubt is going to be the biggest challenge to date, temperatures have dropped to minus 20 up there this week.

We have finally sussed out Dreas Spanish cards she brought over. We played jim rummy at lunch I took the honours. We played just now & Troy was triumphant.
The last word today goes to my wife, she made me the happiest man in the world two years ago today! Sorry I cannot be there my darling, I love you with all that I am. Home soon xxx

Goodnight.

Friday 11th December after another restless night in our 5 star luxury cabin, we were once again woken by our porters laden with fresh hot tea. It is 6am (3am uk time) and we are all packing our kit to walk 10k to base camp. Kibo sits at 4709 meters. We hurried along to porridge and pancakes, New York Delis watch out for this break through. Lots of tea & our egg omlette, with yet another Vienna sausage.
We set off 7am sharp to Kibo. We all definately had a spring in our step as this was the day that we started our ascent of the worlds largest free standing mountain Kilimanjaro 5895m.
On arrival at Kibo we checked in, in the usual shack / office and were allocated room 5. Ok now where is room 5? There was a big building / shack, we followed the hard working porters to room 5. we have stayed in some grotty places on this trip but I think Kibo takes the biscuit. Other walkers guests were already in their bunks, we quickly arranged who was sleeping where etc… At this point the porters had arranged our popcorn & biscuits with a flask of hot water. I thought I would brave the toilets. Let me tell you right now, the term toilet bares no resemblance to the ones we see at home or in our workplaces. I saw them in the distance one block for tourist and one for the staff etc.. there were three holes in the floor that’s it! No mens, no ladies just three holes in the floor separated by a bit of plywood. Well the stink was bad enough, it nearly knocked you out, but crowning glory was the hole it all landed in. The hole was about two meters deep & it was already about half full! No flush, no loo paper, basically hell on earth.
Anyway that aside we were all ready for our 11pm wake up call. The plan is to leave at 12 midnight. So my next entry we have either reached the Uhura peak, the highest point in Africa or we have been affected by altitude sickness that up to 40% of walkers experience

Wish us all luck, Goodnight.

5pm Sat night
WOW, WOW, WOW
5 out of six of us reached the summit. It was so difficult we have been awake for 18 plus hours walked 32k including a mountain up & down. What an incredible experience , unbelievable. It all started at midnight, the temperature outside was minus fifteen, snow had covered everywhere. We all had our headlamps on I felt like a miner!

The group atmosphere had definitely changed. Some were feeling a bit anxious, not surprisingly really, as we had never tested ourselves at this altitude before. The air has a massive 50% less oxygen at this height.
After a short while we were making a good pace. Unfortunately Karen was then first to feel nausea, a classic symptom of altitude sickness. She soldiered on up to 5300 meters and sadly for the group had to turn back for base camp.
We trundled on up the very, very steep peak, we have to take a criss cross route so not to fall down.
Drea was the next to get affected, sheer exhaustion took hold & she had to slow down & take many breaks to get her breath back.
Teacher our guide had climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro so many times. His experience was priceless. He kept our spirits up by singing & leading from the front. It was now 6am the sun was slowly rising above the majestic horizon. We had not reached Gilmans point yet, the third highest peak in Africa.
Teacher decided to have a break, we drank tea & I ate my kendall mint cake to give me an extra energy boost (thanks Julie & Gary). As the sun rose, what an incredible view, I will never forget the sheer jaw dropping beauty of Africa at dawn. I could not stop thinking about how lucky I am to have a beautiful family waiting for me at home in good ole Tenerife. I love them both so much.

Anyway we had to get up & get on , Drea was really struggling by now, she found some reserve energy from somewhere & carried on regardless. After a couple of hours we finally reached Gilmans (5861 meters).
We took another well needed break & some more tea & cake. It was then it hit me what a once in a lifetime moment this was. We were sat on the rim of the crater unbelievable views at every turn. The glazier was indescribable in its magnificence. The sun shone & the feeling that I was experiencing was out of this world . I was at one with mother earth!
Again we headed off this time for Uhuru peak 5895 meters, this walk was not so steep, but still very testing. The snow was very thick up here & we walked on a foot wide path with a sheer 150m drop into the crater on our right hand side. This was not a walk in the park I was expecting. I really was focused at this point as I making sure I got home in one piece. Once again the views were just indescribable as Uhuru peak finally came into view.
Drea, to her credit managed to keep going despite sheer exhaustion.
We all finally reached Uhuru peak at 10am Sunday 13th December, all very tired but very proud to make it. Well done guys, thanks to Teacher & his crew for making this moment happen. The days of slow walking had finally come to an end. We took the obligatory photos hugged & kissed and started our descent to the Horombo camp all feeling elated.

In no time at all we were all back at the Hormbo camp we sprinted and skied down that mountain so quick as it was time to get back home to hot water flushing toilets and a clean bed!
That’s it now folks I am now back home getting ready for Xmas. The memories will live with me forever. I am so happy to be home & back to Pearly Grey. There is so much goodwill here, we have a unique resort, with honest happy people at every turn.

Merry Xmas & I hope we all have a prosperous New Year.

Love to all
Douglas

Yesterday afternoon was Dougie’s final day at Pearly Grey before he & Troy travel to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro sits on the northern border of Tanzania, overlooking Kenya, and just over 200 miles south of the Equator. The area is not particularly mountainous; indeed, the nearest mountain to Kilimanjaro is Mount Meru, over 60km away to the south-west.

Rising 4800m above the East African plains, 270km from the Indian Ocean and measuring up to 40km across, Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, formed, shaped and eroded by the natural elements of fire and ice.
Kilimanjaro is actually a volcano, a trait it shares with Tenerife’s own majestic Mount Teide.
Dougie & Troy have been training on Mount Teide as part of their preparation for the Kilimanjaro climb, helping them to get used to climbing and also acclimatising their lungs to the high altitude and the resulting lack of oxygen.
Today (Friday 4th December 2009) they set off on this adventure to meet up with James & Karen Beckley before beginning their ascent of the mountain. They leave Tenerife with the support and admiration of all the owners & staff at Pearly Grey, returning in around 10 days time to what will be a heroes welcome.
We salute you!!

Hi folks
We have just got back form an amazing Managers outing. We stayed at the one of the most luxurious hotels known to man. Erm……before you start visualizing grandiose palace style accommodations with butlers on hand etc. I have to stop you right there! We spent the night CAMPING!!!
Ryszard had travelled the length and breadth of our beautiful island, his mission was to find a suitable campsite to cater for South Africans, British, South Americans, Canarian and Spanish Managers all expecting a bit of the Gold Crown luxury. Well all I can say is he did a top job! He found a site with no electricity, no hot water, and no phone signal, at least it had toilet facilities and somewhere to put your rubbish! When we finally arrived at the site it was so beautiful, slap bang in the middle of a pine forest close to the Orotava Valley in the north west of the island.
The magnificent Mount Teide was looking as majestic as ever as the sun slowly began to set. One problem though! A setting sun, no electricity and we had not yet set up camp. I don’t know about you, but erecting a tent should be a simple process, right? WRONG!! Think again, set the scene, the Girls were all collecting wood for the BBQ, planned for later in the evening. So it was left to us Men to erect the tents! Again all I can say is imagine when you have purchased a piece of furniture from IKEA, with it comes the little instruction sheet, the pieces never ever seem to make any sense! Well it is exactly the same with tents! We eventually got them to stand after a lot of head scratching, and a few grunts and groans!
After the krypton factor like task, we headed off to the BBQ area, where the girls had done a fantastic job of getting the fire going and food on the go! Ryszard had arranged all the food and beverages, also Darryl our head chef was on hand to help the girls. We ate, we drank, we laughed and we shivered. Above all we enjoyed getting to know one another more as a bunch of friends, as opposed to a bunch of managers scurrying around PG. We all had funny stories to tell, especially how we ended up working at our gorgeous resort in the Canary Islands. So after the fifth? Bottle of wine we headed off to our make shift accommodation by torch light. The boys thought it would be good idea to jump out from behind the trees and give the girls a fright as it was so dark. We eventually settled down in our tents, I had to share with Ryszard in a two man tent. James, Adrian, Serge and Darryl had a four man tent. Mariana, Nati, Lilly & Ana all shared, leaving Gemma and Justine to share the two berth tent.

The next morning Darryl and I were the first to rise (6.15am!!). We set about lighting the fire to start breakfast by phone light as we could not figure out how to get the gas one up and running. Slowly but surely the guys joined us for a bit of welcome breakfast. We would have been having a bit of steak but it had gone missing during the night! This was probably down to wild dogs that roam the forests.
After our fill, James presented his vision regarding PG for 2010. Most of us have had a challenging year and I am sure next year we will also go through some challenges. But we all believe it will be a better year all round, we all appreciate how much support our owners have given us over the last twenty two years.
With owners like you we have every chance of standing tall. Thank you guys!

So thirteen inspired human beings headed off back to Callao Salvaje. I was driving a small car down from the forest. There was no road to the camp as it had already been washed away, how I navigated that small car down a ravine I will never know!

So folks, that’s it for now.
I am leaving Tenerife on the 5th of December to walk Kilimanjaro! Thank you to all who have donated to the INGAME YAMI project already, for those of you who haven’t yet donated there is still time, a pound will be good enough, so please donate and become part of something very special!

Talk soon my friends
Dougie

Hi folks

Check out the photos of our walk on Sunday morning, James Beckley, Troy Gerrity and I walked to 3,200 meters above sea level. We are so lucky to have the majestic mount Teide on our doorstep. The main reason for the walk was to see how we acclimatised to an environment with 20% less oxygen. I can gladly say none of us showed any signs of altitude sickness, especially as we knocked back the hot chocolate mixed with Brandy or Whisky or both at 3,200 meters!!! It is so beautiful our mountain, an incredible experience was had by all. Thank you to all the people who have sponsored me, I do need a lot more though so please click on the link below.
Ingane Yami Donations

On a personal note my beautiful wife and Rafa are doing so well, he is always laughing, I am going to miss them so much when I travel to Kilimanjaro.

Talk soon my friends

Hi folks
Wow, I have never been as excited over a diary entry since the birth of Rafael!

Firstly I would like to tell you he and my gorgeous wife Ana-MariA are doing so well. He sleeps throughout the night and is always smiling and happy.

Secondly, Troy, James and Karen Beckley and I are representing Pearly Grey in December, climbing Kilimanjaro for an amazing cause. We are blessed with so many kind owners who travel to PG year in year out. The amount of goodwill generated from you guys is phenomenal! As a resort we are hoping to raise a minimum of 17,000€ for the “Restoration of Hope” charity that James Beckley is hugely involved with. Basically, they have invested in 28 acres of land in Kwazula/Natal, and the plan is to build 25 houses for orphaned kids.

There will be 6 kids per house, with a foster Mum. PG would like to build and run one of those houses, we are going to call it the “ Pearly Grey, Help Our People Evolve (HOPE) house “. This will not be a project were you simply give your hard earned monies, you will be able to meet, contribute and support the kids by the means of various social networking sites like Facebook etc. We will have a direct link from our website updating us on all the six unique lives we have touched. We will also be able to send messages of hope to each individual. We cannot change all the poverty/hardship in Africa, what we can do though is spread some hope to 6 kids who were born with none!

The Pearly Grey goodwill vibe cannot be under estimated; we cannot change the world in a day, but give us a Friday to Friday!! So come on guys, I am so up for our walk to the summit of Africa’s highest peak with our PG team. Please donate and become part of something very special. Rafael was born with hope! Millions are not, let us start with the walk and see where it takes us!

Donate on the following link Ingane Yami and check daily for updates.

BRING IT ON!!!

Dougie

Hi, folks!

Sorry it’s been so long since I updated my diary. But as you can see Ana-Maria and I have been very busy looking after our beautiful baby boy, Rafael Kirkwood Todd. He came a little earlier than expected. We, as first time parents, didn’t even know Ana-Maria was in labour! We just thought she had an upset tummy, little did we know. By the time we had driven up to Santa Cruz to the hospital, we even had to jump in a cab! Ana-Maria was really huffing and puffing at this stage with the “upset tummy.” The face of the taxi driver will remain with me for a long time. When we finally arrived at the hospital they whisked her off straight to the dilation room. Then we endured another ten hours of huffing and puffin before he introduced himself to us! What an experience, I am so glad us men are not responsible for childbirth! “Oh my word” is all I can say…………….

I had a wonderful time wetting the babies head. I stayed in our “buzzing” capital Santa Cruz for a couple of nights. I went to see the mighty Tenerife in action. What a great game as Tenerife went top of the league and gained promotion to La Liga. So more celebrating had to be done unfortunately!! The streets of Santa Cruz were full of revellers hooting horns waving flags and singing. I was on cloud nine, I was showing everyone from street people to waiters pictures from my phone of Rafael! So proud of Ana-Maria, what a trooper she was. No pain relief! Oh my word again!!!

So I am now back at the beautifully refurbished bar and restaurant of PG. It looks absolutely incredible, awesome. Well done to all who contributed.

Just to let you know we have slightly squeaked the Saturday night pink shirt phenomena. We have also introduced a “LOUD AS POSSIBLE” shirt to the mix. Pink and loud wins every time!!!

So folks I am finished for now, I cannot wait for you all to meet our little boy. So pack your bags and see you all soon.

Dougie

P.S. Come on Simon come back and do a proper job!
P.P.S. Can we please get to twenty people acknowledging you have read this post?

Hi Everyone.

This is Sarah and I’m the latest person to hijack Dougies Diary as he still has the hump !!!

Sunday 17th May 2009, a group from Pearly Grey set sail for 3 hours in search of the Whales and Dolphins off the coast of Tenerife. The atmosphere was electric, couples and families alike wondering what the next few hours would bring. Once on board, the crew were amazing, giving loads of information about the local marine life in a multitude of languages.

After being at sea for only a short time the boat erupted with activity, and the first whales had been spotted. A group of about five Short Finned Pilot Whales just lazing around without a care in the world. It almost felt like they were posing for the cameras and once everyone had the perfect shot they dove down and vanished. They were not the only whales to be seen, shortly after another pod of seven appeared, some coming right up to the boat. The sight of these amazing mammals was breathtaking, looking into the crystal clear Atlantic Ocean and seeing them swimming freely with no constraints could warm any heart.

After a couple of hours at sea the coast line started to look rather familiar, and out of almost nowhere a small voice shouted, “There’s Pearly Grey! “ and as we all looked to the right, there she was appearing out of the cliff face.

As we sailed past the fish farms off the coast of Pearly Grey, four fins cut through the water at quite a speed stopping for only a moment for us to see they were Bottle Nosed Dolphins. This was truly amazing.

We headed back along the coast and dropped anchor off Spaghetti Bay, where we were given the chance to cool off with a dip in the ocean. The crew informed us that the temperature was in the region of 19 degrees, so three of our group chose to jump off the boat, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.

David Easterbrook, daughter, and ME!

What better way to finish a perfect day than a gentle sail back to Puerto Colon?

PG Owners Peter & Catherine Spiers

The whole day from start to finish was filled with the sound of laughter and wonder, in the company of amazing people on a great boat.

Dougie continues on his quest to become Pearly Grey´s number one filmmaker and photographer, and as always, makes sure that no one is left out.

Nicola’s Diary

My name is Nicola, and I’m one of the new reps over here at Pearly Grey! I’ve taken over Dougie’s Diary as he has the hump that no one makes any comments on his blogs! Plus he is extremely busy at the moment, taking care of his heavily pregnant wife!!

We had a fantastic night on Saturday, Laszlo´s final BBQ! All the guys were there and we sent him off in real style, with plenty of singing, from Laz himself, and the newest act here at Pearly Grey, The Diva’s, better known as Clare and Linda! And plenty of dancing to the funky tunes from Jazzy Jeff!!! Sadly, Heather has parted ways with us, but our resident compere Jazzy Jeff is doing a grand job and is a huge success with all the owners and guests!

Following Saturday’s antics, myself, Paul and Karin went off on Sandy’s cultural trip with some of the guests. We left the resort at about 10am and headed straight up into the mountains. Sandy’s knowledge about Tenerife and the culture here was truly amazing, as I’ve been holidaying here for over 10 years and lived here for 8 months it was great to learn all about the real Tenerife! We visited Vilaflor, the highest village in Spanish territory, where we got chance to wander around the lovely churches and sample some of the local delicacies! We took particular delight to some homemade honey and almond cake, mmmmm!!

Following this we then went to visit a Bodega, or a winery. It was truly fascinating learning all about how wine goes from grape to a bottle, and being talked through all the stages. We were then given a lesson in wine tasting and chance to sample some of their gorgeous wines!!
Finally we headed down to the most beautiful restaurant, situated just above Valle San Lorenzo with the most spectacular views of the south of Tenerife. A fine lunch and yet more wine was a great finish to a fantastic day!! The reps and the guests truly enjoyed the day and would 100% recommend it to everyone who is visiting Pearly Grey.

I hope to see all you fantastic owners out here in sunny Tenerife very soon.

Nicola