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We're taking a virtual trip to another sunny island, with another dog, dear readers... A few years ago, John Searancke and his wife Sally
retired to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, taking Freddie the dog with them – hence the title of his first book, DOG
DAYS IN THE FORTUNATE ISLANDS. John and Sally had met in Lancashire, where they
ran a business together for ten years.
John, how did you choose ‘The Fortunate Islands’ (an old name for the Canary Islands) as your new home?
The decision was mostly made for
us in advance, because we had bought a holiday apartment years before we moved
over there permanently. We had chosen the quieter, greener, northern part of
the island, that less populated by mass tourism. The pressure of our business
meant that we took more and more short breaks over there, and we realised that
we did not want or need to look further. Our valley is just perfect for us, and
we fell in love with it.
What things do you love best about your island home?
Well, we love the climate. Here
in the north, there is not the unremitting sunshine that the holidaymakers so
enjoy in the south. Between us lies El Teide, a dormant volcano, and the
highest mountain in Spain. With its peak capped by winter snow, it creates a
micro-climate here in the Orotava valley, giving sufficient cloud and rain to
grow vines and bananas, so everywhere is green.
We love the people too. Perhaps
because they are islanders, they have been so friendly and welcoming to us. Any
tensions have been allayed as our grasp of the language has improved, such that
we can now even dare to communicate with tortuous officialdom in government
departments.
I was asked a couple of years
ago, by Island Connections, the main
English language newspaper for the Canary Islands, to become their restaurant
reviewer (poshly titled “critico gastronomico” on my business card!) and this
has led Sally and I to superb meals in out of the way restaurants that no
casual visitor to the island would discover on their holiday. Wonderful
seafood, in particular, is here in abundance: the combination of a sub-tropical
island, the warm Atlantic ocean and the proximity of the coast of Africa less
than 100 miles away, provides a rainbow of different coloured fish for our
dinners.
You say it’s a book about ‘hidden Tenerife’. Can you explain?
We are hidden away from the mass
tourism that the southern part of this island is so well known for by the
majority of tourists in Europe who come here each year. Most never leave their
hotel and beach complex in the south, and so therefore never discover the
hidden north of the island.
We live in the quaintly named San
Fernando area, our apartment surrounded by old whitewashed villas with
terracotta roofs, and larger fincas, the centres of banana cultivation for this
valley. We think that we have world class views – and so did the explorer
Humboldt when he came here over a century ago.
Should I really be revealing the
secrets of our valley?
How did Freddie take to the move?
Freddie is a RSPCA rescue dog.
Born in Lancashire, from eight weeks old he lived the first six years of his
life in our Victorian family home with the seaside on one side and a large wood
on the other. It must have been doggy heaven, and perfect for socialising.
To be, then, one cold and frosty
morning, crated into a travel box, hoisted onto a JCB before being dumped into
the hold of an aircraft, must have given him some pause for thought! But no, at
the other end, where I was anxiously awaiting him, he took to Canary Island
life like the proverbial duck to water. So much so that he unwittingly became
almost the central character in my book, in which his exploits and friendships
with new canine friends are fully detailed. He has an amazing social life, and
we love him to bits. I have had wonderful dogs all my life, but, if I had to
choose a favourite…
What did you do before you moved to Tenerife? Did moving there help you
adjust to retirement?
Sally and I married a little
later in life. For the last ten years of our time in England, we started and
built up a commercial legal services company, introducing professionals in the
north-west to new opportunities and supporting them as they took our products
on board. The company grew too large by 2009 to handle without taking on extra
staff and premises, so we sold out.
We have never been so busy since
we retired. I know, I know, everyone that we have met has said it to us, but it is so true! We have had to learn
a new language, integrate into the Spanish way of life, take on a role for the
local newspaper, and a hundred other things, not least of which was to take a
month travelling down from the English Midlands to this corner of our Atlantic
island, in our 24 year old Mercedes 300 SL – the trip of a lifetime, and with
the exploits included in my book!
Is it a typically Spanish way of life?
It could be if we let it. But we
are just so busy with the things that we do. I think that our young next-door
neighbours (just the ideal Spanish couple) think that we are the reincarnation
of whirling Dervishes. But sometimes, it is the perfect relaxation to put our
activities behind us and soak back into the wonderful Spanish way of life,
where everything is “mañana.”
How have you integrated into the local community and made new friends?
Well, it started with a Swede! A
lovely lady became our professora de
idiomas and also took us under her wing to meet others locally. We have
centred our new life around the Spanish community and have perhaps
unfortunately ignored the British ex-pats, but that is the way that it is – we
came to integrate, not just to be seen as another couple of English
holidaymakers. Now, we are not short of
friends, and most days we take a morning coffee in one of the many cafés in the
villages around our valley.
In the book, you take us to many of your favourite places to eat out in
North Tenerife. Have you had any memorable meals lately? What is your favourite
local dish?
I research the restaurants that I
think will be suitable for entry into the newspaper. I very seldom include ones
that are on a tourist trail or those that will be found by a casual visitor
just by walking round the next corner whilst on their holiday. Often people
will come to me and tell me of a favourite.
I am particularly taken by Guachinches, and make no apology for
that despite the local furores created by traditional Spanish restaurants in
the main towns. Guachinches – a
completely new phenomenon to us, are small family run restaurants up in the
hills, often in what can best be described as large garages. Spotlessly clean
and ridiculously inexpensive, they are required by law to limit their choice of
menu, and their wine too. The wine must be from their own harvest, and when it
runs out, the Guachinche must close
until the next harvest is ready to drink. I have had some of the best pork
chops ever, anywhere in the world, in those Guachinches.
Sublime!
What else should I single out?
Well, paella is a hugely overblown dish in any tourist restaurant, and never
worthy of the money. But, in a place that knows how to cook it properly, just
so, it can reach extraordinary culinary heights. Look in my book for a perfect
example at Los Silos.
Oh, and lastly, I am going to
highlight the humble limpet. Scorned, derided and ignored because of its chewy
consistency, much like trying to eat your old school eraser, it again can reach
for the stars when prepared by one who knows. A good fish restaurant will have
one of those small white sacks of fresh limpets, alive, alive-oh, ready for you
to savour. Either local, or flown in on the plane every day from Galicia.
Has life there changed you?
We just love it here. Our lives
have changed immeasurably. It is warm every day of the year, and the tourist
beaches are busy. It rains, of course it does, but mostly in showers, soon
passed over. The food is superb, the people friendly, the service outstanding,
and we have no need for central heating. All those years ago, when we bought
our apartment, we really did make the right choice. All three of us would agree
with that!
You can find out more (and buy his delightful book!) on John’s website, www.johnsearancke.com.
