Monday, June 11, 2012

Calderon Hondo


On Saturday I went on excursion to Calderon Hondo next to Lajares with a small group of people none of whom I've seen before. Once again Facebook proves to be useful tool for a surprising variety of things.
The walk was easy and went along well paved paths. It is a section of a much longer walk that joins the two ends of the island together (Corralejo-Morro Jable). I knew about its existence; but for a potential tourist attraction it is quite surprisingly badly advertised. Up till very recently I believed that the walk runs through the dunes, and only stumbling upon the signpost at the foot of Bayuyo made me realise that it is not the case. The first leg of the path is Corralejo - Lajares; and the Calderon Hondo is just off the path. I am not sure why it is called "Calderon", and not "Caldera"; the difference that I can see between, say, caldera of Isla de Lobos and this one is that Calderon Hondo kept all the walls of the volcanic cone, and caldera of Lobos lost a section facing the sea. Here you can see just a part of the opening; one of my companions took a great picture of the whole; but I can't figure how to place a link to a photo in facebook, they've seem to have changed something again.


That's the view toward a group of mountains which Bayuyo is a part of. Corralejo is just behind; as you can see it's pretty close. I am thinking next time when we go for a walk we can try walk this section of the trans-island path, and then get back to Corralejo from Lajares by public transport. One of the mountains, I am reasonably sure it's one of the closer ones, on the right, is called Motana Encantada; Charmed Mountain. Isn't it sweet?
Once again, lots of cairns on the top; this one was particularly neat. I also noticed that someone built low circular walls around small tabaiba plants; presumably to protect them from the wind. I must say that even with the protection, they are not doing that great.
The wind up there was amazing, almost enough to send you flying. It is a very low mountain, so that must be one of those freaky aerodynamic things (Going on a tangent somewhat, there used to be a passage to one side of the hotel "Cosmos" in Moscow, where there was always wind. I used to walk there to and from work, and wind never failed to meet me there; don't know if it still exists or some new buildings or landscaping managed to cancel that effect)
Lajares below. The red mountain to the right is "montana colorada", colorful mountain. Apparently one of the translations of "colorada" is "red", but it doesn't look red from all the angles, plus there is already one "montana roja" nearby, so my bet is on "colorful".

This is just to show how those paths look like. I don't know at what stage they were paved neatly like this; but it is a real shame that they are not used more.
And here is the route. You can go around Montana Colorada and Calderon Hondo, or you can take the same route back. We went back the same way we came

View walk from Lajares to Calderon Hondo in a larger map

I am told there will be another walk in two weeks time; all being well I will be there.
pics of inland Fuerteventura on shutterstock

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