The Night WatchIn June, the sun sets around nine, the light quickly fading. The villages below the Betancuria massif sink into the gloaming about an hour before, missing out on the glorious sunsets over the ocean that the west coast enjoys. Save for one or two notable exceptions there is not much along that west coast other than cliffs, rocky coves and caves, and the wild beaches of Cofete in the far south. Fuerteventura looks firmly at the sunrise, at Africa beyond the horizon, most inhabitants clustered in towns dotted along the eastern coast. Driving at night down the lonely backroads of Fuerteventura for the first time, with only the distant lights of the occasional farmhouse for company, brought home to me the seclusion of much of the island. Away from the inland villages with their h
