Lisa is one of our most adventurous and inspiring Belles.
In February, we received these two messages in our WhatsApp group summarising her solo trip to Lanzarote as it was happening. To find out more about why this trip was such an achievement, do also read Lisa’s Calendar Belle story from 2022.
February 4 2026
Hi. I’m in Lanzarote cycling for four days. Yesterday I went to the volcanoes. To get inland from where I’m staying on the coast involves cycling uphill a lot and I had to get off and walk a couple of times and almost threw up. This elevation profile cuts off 5km at the beginning but is symmetrical to the end.
It was great once I got up there though, apart from it being really windy and I was getting buffeted about and so trying not to go into oncoming trucks and it was quite scary.
I went to a nice cycling cafe in Yaiza. I didn’t really take any photos because I was too busy cycling and heavy breathing and trying not to die but here is the volcanic landscape.
Today I was very proud of my route planning as I managed to go up 400m without noticing hardly! When I got up near Teguise I could see the sea on the other side of the island. Teguise is an old place with cobbled streets and stuff. I just went to a cafe and then kept going. Again I didn’t take any photos because I was too busy cycling.
I have been using the Komoot app again and it has been really good. I did try going off the routes couple of times because it looked more interesting but it turned out there was a good reason it had chosen the way it had. Around Arrecife it took me on some dual carriageway and big roundabouts but it was all fine. Also the cycle route back down from Teguise to the coast was amazing. There is a whole separate massive cycle route parallel with the main road. The drivers have been good and there are lots of cyclists.
Tomorrow I’m going to cycle to Playa Blanca because the guy in the bike rental shop told me not to attempt that if there are NW winds because it will be horrible but tomorrow they are SW so I’ll see how horrible it is. On Friday it is meant to be worse NW winds so I need to think about where to go that day. Or I might just go to the beach.
Despite the wind it is lovely and warm and I am slightly sunburnt.
Needless to say many of us back in the UK voted for a beach day 😎. However Lisa chose to cycle – it was after all, a cycling holiday 🚴♀️
February 5
I almost turned back near the start of this ride today because of the horrible crosswind and uphill slog at the start with all the buses and lorries on the way out of town and because I could see this massive fast road ahead of me. But then I told myself the wind might be different by the afternoon and I would regret it if I didn’t go. A couple of other cyclists went ahead of me on the fast road so I thought it would probably be fine. And I looked at the elevation thing and could see I’d done the worst of it already.
And it was totally fine and I later realised I had had the chain on the big cog on the front all that time…..why do I always do that?……….
I had already decided not to go to Playa Blanca because it would mean cycling back up a big hill to get back so instead I went to El Golfo which I’d only initially intended as a detour.
The road between Yaiza and El Golfo blew my mind a little bit so I did actually stop to take some pictures. Also there were these amazing flower meadows of stocks that smelled totally incredible in the warm breeze. And when I got back to the scary crosswind road there wasn’t any wind at all…….
So it turned out to be my favourite ride of the week!
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