IT'S A GREAT WAY TO PLAYA IN THE SUN

The heady scent of suntan lotion wafted around as I lay like a beached whale in the beating sun.

There was a pounding inside my head as though Phil Collins and Cozy Powell were playing a drum duet.

And my tongue felt like a six-month-old pot scourer.

But I couldn't have been happier. I'd been in Tenerife just 24 hours and was already into the swing of things.

The previous night was the welcoming Sunset Holidays bar crawl around Veronicas in the centre of Playa De Las Americas. We visited six of the best bars, leaving just another 144 to try during my week- long stay.

The morning after - as I lay beside the pool at the Compostela Apartments with the temperature nudging 80F - the London drizzle (and the office) seemed a world away.

With the clock heading toward midday I decided it was time to make a move.

Not far...the glorious sandy beach was only 100 yards away. But first stop was the promenade joining Las Americas with its quieter neighbour Los Christianos.

I slumped into a chair at one of the many cafe bars and tucked into a full English breakfast, fruit juice, coffee and toast. The bill...pounds 2.

Then, sunglasses on and baseball cap turned back to front - everyone wears their hat this way on Tenerife - a short shuffle to the beach ... and crash- out time.

If lying on the beach isn't your idea of fun, there was plenty to do with Sunset.

While I lay roasting on the beach like a suckling pig the more adventurous joined in the jeep safari, taking in the 12,000ft high Mt Teide for 5,500 pesetas (about pounds 25). Others went dolphin and whale-watching on the company's luxury pounds 4million catamaran for pounds 20.

Me...it was all I could do to take off the shades, remove the cap and go for a wallow in the clear blue water.

After a hectic day on the beach it was time to return to my apartment for a shower, snooze and then food.

Los Christianos and Las Americas are packed with restaurants. Every taste is catered for and many include live entertainment in the evenings. Laurence "More Whisky" singing his version of Sinatra and Louis Armstrong classics at Linares II in Los Christianos is a must.

And Los Abrigos, with its handful of fish restaurants overlooking a rocky bay, is a foodies' delight. As the sun sinks below the horizon it's quite romantic too...if you can take your eyes off the food!

Organised entertainment with Sunset came in the form of a Caribbean Night, Medieval Night and Soul Night (all costing less than pounds 25 - or pounds 53 the lot).

Great fun all three of them, if you aren't planning on doing much the next day.

But who cares anyway? After all, you can't beat lying on a beach with the sun beating down and the only thing on your mind a hazy memory of the night before.

HOW TO

GET THERE

SUNSET Holidays (tel: 01204 701000) 1wk self-catering at Compostela Beach apts in Playa de las Americas, pounds 341 p.p. (July), pounds 311 (Sep), based on 3-adults sharing a 1-bed apt.

Further information: Spanish Tourist Office, 57/58 St James's St, London SW1 (tel: 0891-669920, premium rates).

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