It's not just us in the UK who are experiencing this unseasonably miserable weather - many parts of Europe have been suffering too. Bad weather is always compared to the average for the area and on the scale of things our January might have been the wettest on record but if, for example, you compare that to what America faced with its snow storms then it puts things into perspective. On a scale insignificant to the aforementioned Lanzarote has apparently also been suffering. Having come here for sailing and cycling I haven't been overly concerned that I didn’t experience perfect sunbathing conditions everyday. As a Brit I've been more than impressed with blue skies and just the very odd spattering of rain. The locals however don't agree and are constantly complaining about the cold; to put this into perspective the temperature is in the late teens to early twenties degrees Celsius.
One weather problem Lanzarote could complain about if it so chose is the wind. I've honestly never experienced anything like it. On a boat this is actually a positive and as long as you're adequately prepared it guarantees exciting sailing. With the knowledge that the wind never disappears we were able to make a significant trip further down the island and after half a day of sailing we reached our new destination feeling satisfied at the distance covered down wind. A couple of days later we found coming home took a little more effort as we sailed into the wind for five hours however this did make it feel more of an achievement. It wasn't until the next day when I hired a bike and cycled over the mountain to the seaside town where we'd been staying that I discovered it only takes fifty minutes to peddle; although someone did point out it's not the destination, it's the journey that counts.
