Chimirique - Around Roque Nublo - Tejeda

From the foot of Roque Nublo towards Altavista

This time round, I and a few other people were let down by the local public transport system. Normally, it is reasonably reliable. Buses are occasionally late, of course, but so far I don't remember the delays forcing me to change my plans. Well, there is always a first.

This time, the very infrequent bus number 18 which links Tejeda with Maspalomas was almost one hour late, so I had to change the plan. The route I did links Chimirique, a steep rock formation close to Juncal de Tejeda, to Roque Nublo, then going down to Tejeda. It is a classic ascent to Nublo, and forms a part of many possible routes around the centre of the island. 

I still haven't managed to get to the top of Chimirique massif. I am sure one day I will

The route is all ascent first couple of kilometers and all descent in the end, with a flat bit going around Roque Nublo. It's very well signposted, but still may be confusing, because where several different paths lead you to a same place, each one gets its own distance marker, but not an indication of the difficulty. So you might be seduced by a shorter distance and find yourself facing a sharp ascent or a slippery descent. As a general rule, and if you are not in the mood for adventures, I suggest you follow short local paths, marked by yellow indicators. 

View back from the beginning of the walk

Btw, there is a short, although steep, deviation from this path close to its beginning which brings you to Ventana del Bentayga rock arch. If you are not pressed for time, go ahead and check it out. 

The rock tooth, Roque Elba, that sticks over the small reservoir Presa de Don Gregorio, currently completely dry

The branch that goes to Ventana del Bantayga starts close to the small reservoir Presa de Don Gregorio or Presa de Elba, which catches water coming down a short valley starting at the Roque Nublo plateau. There has been no considerable rain for almost a year now, so the reservoir was completely empty when I walked by.

Canary Pines

After the reservoir a small forest of Canary Pine trees starts on the right. They all look the same age and have a uniform conical Christmas Tree shape. They come from early reforestation efforts, and are still young by tree standards, a few decades at most. Old Canary Pines lose the uniformity, open up at the top and acquire personality and, occasionally, names.

Pine of Casandra, a print from a zinc etched plate

 

And here we have one of the examples of old pines, Pino de Casandra. There is a legend associated with it, a story of love, death, and dark magic, but let´s not get into it now. It is estimated to be about 385 years old and is 20 meters tall. And no, you wouldn't see it on this particular walk, it´s growing close to one of the freshwater reservoirs, Presa de las Niñas, more to the south. But I just finished working on this particular plate and like the results, so wanted to show off.

Because of the way the landscape was lit, I noticed that there is another rock formation visible over a crest. I think it is one of the less known and less visited rocks, Roque Palmes

Once the ascent is finished, a flat(ish) circular path that goes around Roque Nublo starts. That is to say, there are two possible ways to get to a little plateau on which Nublo sits - going clockwise or counterclockwise around it. It wasn´t in my plans to come up to Roque Nublo though, it looked quite crowded even from a distance, so I chose clockwise, the left branch of the path, as it has the best views. 

Roque Nublo, appropriately for the name, got a little cloud drifting down from its top

I think at this point the distance marker to Tejeda was 7 km, and I sped up because I wanted to catch a three o'clock bus from Tejeda to San Mateo. As it later turned out I didn't need to, as I was at the bus station at half past two already, but it did mean I didn't do go on a side excursion to Fogalera. Once again, if not pressed for time, it´s worth checking it out, it gives you a somewhat different view into the Caldera de Tejeda. 

Low winter light is so beautiful.

The distance between the bus stop in front of Chimirique, called "Degollada del Aserrador", and the one in Tejeda was nine kilometers, which I covered in less than two hours, quite a reasonable speed in the mountains. The route, together with the side branches I didn't do this time -Ventana del Bentayga and Fogalera, can be found here - https://tamara-kulikova.blogspot.com/2020/10/ventana-del-bentayga-stone-arch.html, the part in pale lilac. 

I do hope next time the bus will be on time though. 

Sardina del Norte - Puerto de Las Nieves

Cave house at the end of the promenade, Sardina del Norte

I did this easy hike several times already, sometimes alone, sometimes in a small group. It is not very long, less than 11 kilometers, and doesn't have that much ascent and descent, below 500 meters of both. Both villages are reasonably well connected by public transport, so you can do the hike in either direction. Just keep in mind that Sardina has a nice sandy beach, but fewer places to eat versus the pebble beach, rocky natural pools and disproportionate number of restaurants per square head of population of Puerto de Las Nieves.

Beautiful water over rocky seabed

When we first came to have a look around Sardina del Norte, many years ago, it failed to impress, very likely due to massive roadworks which were happening along the short promenade. Over these years, the works were advancing very slowly, but now they finally seem to have been finished, sometime over last year. You can now walk till the end of the promenade without squeezing past piles of pavement blocks and plastic walling. So this time round I did just that, and discovered that there is a small white cave house at the end of the promenade, and a rocky outcrop which is used by fishermen. Apart from the sandy beach, there are a couple of stone steps leading from the piers to the water in rocky areas. It is something to be grateful about, rocky seabed makes for beautifully clean water, but is absolute torture to get in and out.

There is also a small free museum of sorts inside the cliff bordering the promenade, but it is open Thursday to Sunday in the morning, so I didn't have a chance to inspect it.

Parking for rowboats at the end of the promenade

This time round, I found Sardina del Norte a very agreeable place, and I recommend a walk around it.

After checking out the village, I started towards Puerto de Las Nieves. It is not an "official" walk, so there are no signposts and no single established path, but there is no getting lost either. Note: the ocean is the obvious thing to guide you. Apart from that, you need to be aware that there is a lot of livestock movement close to Sardina, so look for human paths and not the ones used by goats, of which later.

The path starts from low railings of a ground parking plot at the south edge of Sardina village. There is no gap in the railing, I needed to go over it. Once you look over the edge of the plot, the path is obvious. You first go down to a smaller, practically unused, beach, Playa de Juan Delgado, and then up again on the other side. 

View back towards Sardina, once you are past the small beach (to the right, invisible). You can just about see the path going down to it, just below the blue house.

 Next landmark is Farallon, or Roque Partido. The Broken Rock. It is a quite impressive vertical chunk of rock sticking out at the end of a small cape. I know there are some "active holidays" companies that take you there to climb and abseil, keep it in mind if that's your thing.

It stays visible for a goodish long while. You can come to the edge of the cliff to admire it without your climbing gear.

After passing close to the Broken Rock, the path carries on along the edge of the cliff, coming closer to a vast farm where they keep large quantities of animals, mostly goats and sheep. Here the path is separated into multiple ones, mostly made by animals, so this is the stage when you need to look out to humanly passable ones. You are still moving along the coast, of course. The paths go up and then descent towards a cobble beach, Playa del Lagarto, passing a small rocky inlet, Playa Arrastradero. 

This zone, I am told, used to be one giant rubbish field. Quite successful attempts to recondition it were made, plus some wind generators installed. Overall, it is a huge improvement, but what used to be one, very obvious, coastal path, was lost in the process.

Look back at Farallon and the caves and grottoes of the cliffs

The rock is quite beautiful at this point. It is not as spectacular as the sandstone of Punta de Las Arenas Blancas, but it is a lot more accessible, so there is that.

And it is at this point where I saw an absolutely YUGE group of goats and sheep moving between, I assume, two grounds belonging to the same farm. They go without shepherds or dogs, so there are probably some goats that are leading the way.

See what I mean when I say use humanly passable paths?

And I must add I saw this at least the three last times I was there. Because I use public transport, I find myself around this point at roughly the same time, soon past midday. Since there are no sheperds, there is nobody to ask what is the point of the exercise. Maybe they need just that - the physical exercise? If anybody knows, drop me a comment, I am curious. 

My pics fail to show the number, but there are easily a few hundred of them

After coming down to a cobble beach called Playa del Lagarto, the human path and the paths of the animals split again. The livestock path goes inland, and the route continues along the coast, along a mixture of dirt tracks and paths. On the other size of Playa del Lagarto there is an archeological site called Costa Botija, a dry shadeless patch on the top of the cliff, protected from the animals by a low wall with a gate. There are two of three ruins of aboriginal houses, but without an explanation they are not really interesting to look at. Views are nice though. 

Another look at Farallon from Costa Botija

After Costa Botija there follows a relatively short stretch, maybe kilometer and a half, of just trudging along. The views don't change and it seems to me that the people who used to dump rubbish in the now-recovered area now dump it closer to Puerto de Las Nieves. There are certainly a few places where building materials were disposed of, and there were more such places than just a few months ago. I hope this trend doesn't continue.

Soon enough the path comes to a deep inlet with a cobble and boulder beach called Playa del Juncal. The water is beautifully clean, but being cobble and boulder, it is a tricky place to enter and exit the water and spread your towel. There is a dirt track leading to it, so it is possible to arrive by car, and I never saw this beach completely empty. Still, in comparison to the teeming "natural swimming pools" of Puerto de Las Nieves, this is a lot quieter, and the swimmable area is a lot bigger. 

Playa del Juncal from the side closer to Puerto de Las Nieves

After Playa del Juncal, there is just a short walk left till Puerto de Las Nieves and/or Agaete. The path splits a few times, but here all the paths are passable by humans and all you are risking by taking a wrong branch is lengthening your walk a bit. 

The most obvious path will take you past a cave, Cueva del Moro.

The cave is natural, but quite obviously enlarged, the floor and the walls smoothened etc.

Apparently, there is a couple of aboriginal petroglyphs in the second chamber of the cave. Maybe for this reason, some rocks were used to form a low barrier at the entrance, not barring it completely, but preventing you from just casually wandering in. I only found out about the petroglyphs right now, so I didn't enter to check them out. Next time I am there, I will definitely enter.

There are a number of routes on wikiloc, for example - https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-senderismo/sardina-puerto-de-las-nieves-22162485 

That's all. Just one more pic of my walking companions this time.

The Guardian of Bentayga, The Dog of Bentayga, etc.

Here is is. Who’s a good boy? Sit! Good boy!

Last year, when we were on our way back, and rather steeply up, from Cuevas Del Rey, a young couple graciously gave us a little lift, thus saving a bit of walking up on a wide zigzag. They themselves were looking for a rather curious rock formation, which they called El Guardián del Bentayga, The Guardian of Bentayga. Roque Bentayga is a prominent volcanic formation in the middle the Caldera de Tejeda, and the dog-shaped rock in the photo was looking at it, with Tejeda village in the background.

Roque Bentayga, as seen from around Cruz de Timagada

The couple did have the location on their phone and the photos of the formation itself, but they somehow hadn’t found it.

La Palma, Volcano Route, Ruta de Los Volcanes

Absolutely spectacular and very, very black ashes on Cráter del Duraznero, formed in 1949

The Volcano Route, Ruta de los Volcanes, on beautiful La Palma, is one of the most famous hiking routes of the Canary Islands, the other equally famous one being the ascent of Teide. The latter can be done in various ways (1, 2) though, whereas the Volcano Route is singular, running along the crest of the island north to south. The path forks a little sometimes, but the signs always and unambiguously point to the main path.

I was planning to do it for a while, and decided to go now-now, while the weather is not too hot. Let it be said right away that it is very beautiful, very worth going, but needs reasonable physical form and some preparation.

Spectacular Caldera de Taburiente, the morning clouds are still floating inside

South of Gran Canaria, Andén del Zurrado in Barranco de Arguineguin ravine, circular route

If this pic gives you vertigo, don’t go

Well, I would like to start by expanding on the caption above. The main point of this hike, at least for me, was to see and walk a spectacular “Andén del Zurrado”, andén* being a pass or a path in a precipitous place, in this case with a strong emphasis on precipitous. There is no real danger, of which later, but if you have a fear of heights, it can get really tricky for you.

OK, warning done, back to the walk. A pic of Andén del Zurrado came up in Facebook and we started planning the walk immediately. The main problem of this walk is logistics, not the difficulty, once you are sure that everybody in your group can handle heights.

So, first problem, the transport. There is no public transport that come close to the start of the walk, at least I can’t find any. The nearest stop of Global is about 7 km out, so not a viable option.

Altavista, or Azaenegue

View west from the viewpoint, La Aldea de San Nicolás to the left

A walk along the crest of Altavista, or Azaenegue in aboriginal language, towards a viewpoint on the end closer to La Aldea is one of the easy and beautiful linear walks in the vicinity of Artenara village, on the edge of Tamadaba nature park. It does have some ascents, with the corresponding descents, but they are as light as they go on the island. There is no getting lost either. The only problem here is the transport to the start of the walk, the same as in nearly all of the walks to the west of Artenara. Once again, driving, or being driven, is the most realistic option for a one-day trip. But, unlike Faneque, you can do it if you stay in Artenara village; you can even do the longer version of the walk starting in Artenara and using the public transport, but you will have yourself a very tiresome day.

Faneque behind the solitary pine. The pine was burnt partially in the Valleseco wildfire in 2019

Faneque, the first attempt

Faneque, as seen from Tamadaba campsite viewpoints. Teide floating serenely on his cushion of clouds

Faneque, the tallest above-sea cliff in Europe, is always very prominent when you are in the northwest of Gran Canaria. It looks infinitely majestic and quite, quite forbidding. The side view gives you an impression of a series of three plateaus, separated by sharp V-shaped drops. Plus, people always talk about “the last platform” or “the last point”, which contributes to the same impression. It’s not really true, of which later.