Reader’s Letters – August 2026

Our readers regularly send us messages and emails regarding Lanzarote, here are some of your thoughts that we printed in the August edition.

Readers are reminded that views and comments expressed within the Ed’s Postbag page are those of the contributors and may not necessarily reflect the opinions or standpoint of our staff. It should also be noted that we are an independent publication free from political persuasion or governmental censorship.

WATER PRIORITIES

Dear Gazette,

I have just been re-reading a letter in July’s postbag, bemoaning the turning off of showers on some of the beaches. The writer goes on to say, ‘While I have sympathy for those in rural areas….’

Well, I have a house in a rural part of the North of the island, surrounded by smallholdings, and by what little agriculture remains on the island. We get mains water one day a week, which we store in tanks or aljibes. Over the past couple of years this supply – just the one day a week – has been intermittent, and sometimes we have had no water at all, absolutely zero, for weeks and at a time. My neighbours have a small child, I have had to band together twice with another neighbour to buy a tanker load of water, when we are legitimately connected to the mains, have our own water meters, pay our bills etc.

I am not a party to who is in the right and who is in the wrong in this whole sorry water business, but the fact that 54% of the drinking water on this island, which is presumably relatively wealthy, is lost in leakage, beggars belief to put it mildly. Water is, and should be everybody’s number one priority.

Regards, Nick

BLUEBERRY BILL

Dear Editor,

We come to Lanzarote three times a year and I love reading your magazine and doing the crossword. We’re used to prices going up, particularly with the cost of living crisis that is affecting everyone, but I was astounded when purchasing blueberries at our local HiperDino. When we arrived on the 16th of June we did a big shop. Blueberries were €2.85 euro for 250gm. A week later they had gone up to €5.15 euro for the same size. Can you cast some light on such a price increase please?

Cheers, Grahame

Ed: I can’t comment on the reasons for this price rise, but I suspect you may have arrived at the end of the main season for blueberries, which is May/June. Prices do vary a lot for this product depending on the weather, suppliers etc. HiperDino are currently selling them for €3.59 for 250g.

ROAD TRAGEDY

Dear Gazette,

I was shocked to read about the tragic death of two young people on the road to Playa Blanca. My heart goes out to their families and their poor child who survived.

I generally enjoy driving on Lanzarote and think the standard of driving is pretty good, but that road always seems to bring out the worst in some drivers. One slower vehicle can cause long tailbacks, and there are often drivers who take wild risks to get ahead, overtaking on the crest of rises, ducking in and out of oncoming traffic.

Widening the road seems like a priority, but speed controls should also be enforced. It’s just not worth it to get there a minute or two earlier.

If the road is widened, I’d like to see the Femés road re-opened to cyclists. It’s a scandal that they can’t use it while every truck and car on the island can.

Yours K. Roundtree

CAMEL CONTROVERSY

Dear Gazette,

Daniel Medina makes a good point about the camel rides at Timanfaya (last issue). The camels on Lanzarote are, and have always been working animals. They are a rare example of living history whose use has been cleverly adapted to tourism rather than agriculture.

The Franz Weber’s suggestions for converting the camels into a different type of attraction are vague and unconvincing. What is more likely to happen if the rides are banned is that the camels will be sold off, or maybe even slaughtered, and Lanzarote’s camels will gradually disappear, with only a few examples left.

I’m not a fan of the rides myself, and understand the objections, but Lanzarote without camels would be a sad prospect.

Yours, Jenny Ross

TOP SHOP

Dear Editor Thanks for featuring La Tienda de Lourdes in Soo. We stopped off there to buy soft drinks last year and ended up leaving with much, much more, as well as some great photos.

It’s an absolute treasure, everything that Lanzarote promises to be. Rob and Ann Gilbert