The Skipping Verger
When travelling to the Canary Islands was a more leisurely affair!
Following my last, very amateur recording of The Banana Lorry, I thought I would tease you with another.
This particular tale is set in the year 1932, when travel and tourism was a little less hectic, more adventurous and certainly done at a more gentle pace.
It begins when one of the wonderful Union Castle Line ships docks in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Union Castle ships always stopped at either Las Palmas or Tenerife on their way to and from Cape Town and Southampton.
The traveller in my story was one of so many who, in my humble opinion, were at the real origins of the tourism which islanders depend upon to such an extent today.
Indeed, it was travelling artists like Marianne North, travel writers like Elizabeth Murray, medical students like William Wilde, or astronomers like Charles Piazzi Smyth, who really put the island on the map for those wealthy British tourists of the past.
Charles Piazzi Smyth’s expedition first set up camp on the summit of Mount Guajara, with splendid views across to Mount Teide, the island’s famous volcano.
One of the protagonists in this story is a grumpy geologist, Dr Hugo Simpson. He is forced to spend a few nights in the historic town of La Laguna, as a reult of his feeling unwell after stepping off the Union Castle’s Carnarvon Castle.
The historic town of San Cristobal de La laguna was once a sleepy Spanish town whose huge town mansions and convents still betray huge wealth from the early days of sugar cane plantations and vineyards. Today, it is a large city with a population of 160,000, and its historic heart is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hugo Simpson and his young assistant took rooms at the Aguerre Hotel in La Laguna. Other travellers made a halt in their journey at the Camacho Hotel, in the agricultural town of Tacoronte.
However, they were in fact destined to use the Monopole Hotel in the town of Puerto de la Cruz as their base for exploring the volcanic landscapes around Mt. Teide.
This old advertisement found in the1932 edition of Brown’s Guide to Madeira and the Canary Islands may well have persuaded Dr Simpson to have booked rooms at The Monopole.
Anyway, have a listen to this audio. It’s very short!
I hope you enjoyed the story as much as Angus, the young assistant did!
If so, please subscribe to John’s Travel Stories. It’s FREE!
Please also click on the link below for more of my articles, and links to my books.
I wouldn't say La Laguna is a large city but it is a nice place to visit.
Hi, John!
Although I had already read the story of The Skipping Verger in your book, I still enjoyed listening to the podcast.
As a non-native English speaker, listening to someone read helps me improve my pronunciation and acquire new vocabulary in context .
Keep it up!