Cruz de Tejeda — Teror, the route of the Crosses

As I suspected, when you start walking down from Cruz de Tejeda, you can see Roque Nublo. You just need a clear day for that

A few weeks ago I did another nice walk with the Mojo Picon Aventura. We already did the Cruz de Tejeda - Teror route a couple of times on our own, but that time we were promised "The Route of the Crosses", something new to me.
What it means is that you start at one of the many crosses that are placed at various points on the island, mostly at mountaintops, and you pass at least three more on your way to Teror, the first cross being Cruz de Tejeda and the last one Cruz de Hoya Alta. Apart from Cruz de Tejeda with its macabre designs, the crosses seem to be markers for high grounds and are not particularly interesting in themselves.

A view over Barranco de Las Lagunetas

The walk is practically all downhill - so expect he usual "downhill" problem (slipperiness, knee pain, what have you). I am happy to report that it is not too slippery, at least when it is dry, which is something to be thankful for. The most significant ascent is at the very beginning of the walk, but it is nothing major on the scale of things.

Panza de Burro, Donkey's belly, the cloud cover of the north-east

This route is not spectacularly different from our other attempts, but it has a certain advantage - you follow the same range of descending hills, so you stay above the surroundings most of the time. It gives better views, although on the day the north-east of the island had it usual cloud cover.

View from "our" crest towards its neighbour

As one of our guides noted, "goats always go up". Which is weird, considering it was almost all descent.

And up

We had our sandwiches around one of the crosses - Cruz de Talayon. According to our guide, it is on the border of three municipalities (San Mateo, Teror and Valleseco, as far as I remember), so you can eat your food in whichever one takes your fancy.

(Mostly) white Lego bricks of Teror. You can see Las Palmas in far distance

It took me a few goes to realise why I feel vaguely disappointed by the end of those routes. Finally it dawned at me that I expect some sort of culmination at the end of a long walk (even when I know both the beginning and the end). Teror is a pretty town of course, but it sits at the bottom of a deep valley, so you don't see much. So if you arrive to Cruz de Tejeda, then turn your back on its spectacular views and go down, the whole walk seems somewhat back to front.
So... it all depends what you prefer. Doing the same walk in the opposite direction would probably feel much more satisfying, but then you have to tackle more than a kilometer of ascent. Your choice :)
Distance: 4.91 km
↑ 323 m
↓ 1247 m
Pictures of inland Gran Canaria on Shutterstock — here
Photos and text by Tamara