La Graciosa in summer — 2, Yellow Mountain and walking (a bit)

Amazing color of the Yellow Mountain, Montaña Amarilla

The last time me and Timur went to La Graciosa, the smallest of the inhabited Canary Islands, we only went as far as Playa Francesa, sheltered cove beach where many leaisure vessels anchor for an hour or so. We were not impressed: it was crowded, and there was a pink floating inflatable slide in the water, great way of spoiling beautiful landscape.

This time we wanted to walk a bit more, to get away from the masked crowds, and to try to see the other islands of Chinijo Archipelago from the north shore of La Graciosa. As mentioned in the first post, walking on La Graciosa is not a problem if you don’t mind sand and heat. Distances are ridiculously small and there is no vegetation, so you basically always see where you are and where to go.

Where three colors meet. The yellow is quite striking under hot african sun

When we set out from the port of Caleta de Sebo where the boats come from Lanzarote, we didn’t know that the biggest, possibly, visual treat of the island is even closer to the village. Montaña Amarilla, Yellow Montain, didn’t look yellow from Lanzarote; it doesn’t even look yellow from La Graciosa, up till the moment you are past Playa Francesa and crested a small sandstone outcrop hiding another cove — Playa de La Montaña Amarilla. Once you get a glimpse of that yellow, you realize that the name is not a joke, as toponyms could be sometimes.

We figure the big rock we see across the strait is Montaña Clara, Clear or Light Mountain

So. To get the Yellow Mountain, you go around the island clockwise, starting from Caleta de Sebo. The cove is about 4 km from the start of the walk, even less if you cut through the sandy dunes. From there, if you still wish to see the other islands, you start circling around the mountain counter-clockwise first, and then you can either circle it completely and start walking the coastal path on sea level or strike across the badlands, as we did, to shorten the distance.

I must say that the view towards the other island(s) wasn’t that impressive. Once again, we had a bit of calima, Saharan air layer laden with dust, which made the sky look dull. But they are there, so I guess mission accomplished — we saw one biggish lump of rock relatively close to the shore and one more further away.

Popular spot for photos. Yellow bikinis work the best.

We then returned to the Yellow Mountain for a swim. The day was uncomfortable for that — strong wind was blowing sand across the beach and across the cove, so we ended up with eyes, ears and mouth full of it. People were hiding from the sand the best they could in the crevices and outcrops of amazing yellow rock. I am sure there are much better days to have a swim there, it was just a spot of bad luck.

Texture of the volcanic rock is also beautiful

Here is a link to a longer (12 km) circular route of La Graciosa, in case you want to have a look. But really, you don’t need a route — just go where you fancy.

One last pic. I loved the visuals, as you probably noticed.

More pics of La Graciosa on Shutterstock — here