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

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.

Risco Blanco — Pico de Las Nieves — Cañadon del Jierro, Gran Canaria

Risco Blanco, The White Cliff, shining under the sun.

After we had been finally released into the wild post-quarantine, we successfully attempted several quite difficult hiking routes. The temporary (we continue to hope) closure of our favourite hiking company made us go where they’d probably never taken us, for the reason of it being too risky or too hard or both.

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.

North-West of Gran Canaria: Sardina del Norte, Faro Punta de Sardina and rock pools

Small development next to the lighthouse looks Santorini-esque under the hot Canarian sun

By now I walked most of Gran Canaria and liked most of it, too. However, there are still parts of the island of which I am aware mostly because of the photos seen in various social networks. Sometimes I have a feeling people want to keep the most beautiful places to themselves and that is why they don’t explain where they take their photos. If that is the case, they shouldn’t publish the pics in the first place. For me, it works as a challenge, and I imagine I am not the only one.

Beautiful water, isn’t it?

Third time’s the charm

Finally! A decent pic from the top. Shadow of Papa Teide on the morning mist and anticrepuscular rays

I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but I went up to the top of Teide twice this year. And my stupid persistence finally paid off. Although I am still to see all the other islands from the top, we had a beautiful and not very common view during our ascent at down — anticrepuscular rays. On the first ascent we saw very little because of the calima, on the second the wind was so strong that all we cared about was not to be blown away, and now, finally, a few good pictures, yay.

Honestly, I feel so ridiculously proud of the pic above, as if I have gone and painted the rays in the sky myself.

Tajinaste azul and other delights

Busy busy bees

When the year is just starting and everything goes green, it is time to check on some of our favourite plants on Gran Canaria.

First plants to start flowering are almonds, no question about that. Weather was fluctuating wildly from the norm (if there is such a thing) this winter: they started already in December, coming to the crescendo in mid-January and leaving practically no flowers for the Almonds in Bloom celebration in Tejeda, which was scheduled, as always, on the first weekend of February.

Second lot is the tajinaste (or taginaste) azul, blue bugloss of Gran Canaria.*

Again, the timing varies significantly. The first time I went to see them was in the beginning of May 2015, they were almost finished, but not quite; the second time, in 2016, it was in the first half of March and they were in bloom. Last year, we went in on a scheduled hike with Arawak in April and saw only two plants already in bloom, others still firmly in bud. This year, we went on the 14 March and found the whole Barranco de la Pasadera in bloom — and not just tajinaste plants. So. If you want to go, you might want to start checking social networks in the first half of March. Somebody from Gran Canaria is bound to publish some pics as soon as the first flowers appear.

There is very little to write really — just enjoy the pics :)

Cenobio and Tagoror, Montaña del Gallego

Wonderfully weird and organic

Cenobio de Valerón, “Valeron monastery”, is one of the iconic sights of Gran Canaria. It is not really a monastery, and by looking at it now, it is hard to imagine why would anybody think it was. If you consider that the capsule-style hotels were unknown in the West when is was first named “monastery”, it seems even more puzzling. The caves are small and rather shallow, so that even Diogenes would probably grow claustrophobic and wish to move to New York.

Anyway, for one reason or other, the cave complex of Valeron was thought to be a monastery, till somebody realized it looked very similar to granaries in North Africa. Now it is thought to have been a collective granary, with posted guards and doors closing each storage space, featuring a pintadera, i.e. the seal of the owner. It must have been a fascinating humanhill.

Cantabria, short coastal walk

A Nevermore moment (see the black object on the top of the chapel? It is a raven, doing his thing)

This year on our holidays I wanted to do a bit of the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James. As you can see from the Wikipedia map (if you didn't know it perfectly well already), there is not one path but many, all leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

I saw the scallop signs of the Camino on Santander's pavements last year and got curious, purely from the hiking point of view. A little research showed that the Santander route is not considered to be the "main" one, but that didn't deter me. What did though was the discovery that even the variation of the path that goes through Santander doesn't run along the coast. It is parallel, roughly, but not close.

So. What follows is not really a part of the Camino, it is just a possible way to go walk west from Santander. It (almost) links to the spectacular Costa Quebrada. Physically it links, you just carry on along the coast, it is just that I don't have the record for the linking bit. If you are looking for scenic, I reckon the coastal path is your best bet. And if you are intent on doing the "real" camino, it runs really close inland, so you can stamp your passport and  stay in pilgrims' refuges.

Ascent of Teide

The summit of Teide is small, so there is only a limited number of people who can fit.

This summer started well for me — I went up Teide, the tallest mountain of the Canary Islands, Spain, and the entire Atlantic basin. Sounds impressive, right? Though of course, as mountains go, it is not that huge — under 4 km. Still, I have never been anywhere over 2000 metres before, so... I am really quite pleased with myself and with the way it went.

It was all a bit sudden. I was studying the Arawak webpage for a while, thinking that maybe one day I should do it, while we live here on the Canaries. When on a walk with Arawak, I spoke to our guide about the indicated level of difficulty (3+/4 out of 5, that’s pretty high). He said that in his opinion I had nothing to worry about, level-wise, but that if I wanted to do it in June, I had to book immediately, because there were very few places left (like, two). I nodded along, still undecided. Later, on the bus back to Las Palmas, he fiddled with his phone, turned to me and said “You know what, I’ve booked you just in case. You can always cancel it”. That was a «волшебный пендель» (magical kick in the butt that speeds you along), and the end of my hesitations.

Playa de Güigüí, the secret beach

Impressive cliffs, right?

I suppose Guigui (pardon me for not going into all that umlaut nonsense from this point on*) is Gran Canaria's equivalent of Cofete beach on Fuerteventura. Although it is nowhere as large or as beautiful, it has one very important advantage - you can swim there reasonably safely without being swept into the ocean, never to be seen again.

One disadvantage (although it is debatable if this is indeed a disadvantage) is that Guigui is even less accessible than Cofete. There is no road at all; your choice is either walk or go by boat. Going by boat is expensive; plus, there is absolutely nothing at all on the beach, no bar, almost no shade in the second half of the day, zero, zilch, nada. And, if you decide to extract the maximum value out of the boat ride both ways and stay there for at least three hours you will end up severely sunburned and quite possibly really, really bored.

Inagua, the empty one

Some of the remaining old pines. Apparently, they grow in a very very uniform conical shape up to a certain age; after which they start to spread into an umbrella at the top.

I have refused to drive in the mountains on Gran Canaria ever since I got stuck on the pass of Degollada de las Yeguas on our way from Fataga to Ingenio. Having learned to drive in East Anglia, I prefer my roads straight, wide and flat; here I prefer to be driven. However, local public transport, although overall excellent, quite logically doesn't go where there are no people to carry. So some of the areas to the west of the island remained unexplored by me till this year, including some of the protected areas, such as Pilancones and Inagua.

Flora of Gran Canaria — Tanacetum ptarmiciflorum, silver lace plant

Silver Leaf, Silver Feather, silver tansy, Magarza Plateada — common names describe the silvery leaves of the plant.
Taken mid-May, in a relatively shady spot

I first noticed unusual-looking leaves of this plant in early spring last year. They were growing in compact round bushes, something between 40 cm and 80 cm in height. The color of the leaves was very distinct — light cyan. When you look closely at the leaves, you notice they are covered with short white fluff. The shape of each leave is very neat, Irish lace-like.

I made a note to myself to find out what the plants were. They turned out to be Tanacetum ptarmiciflorum, Gran Canaria endemic and endangered species according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. I like plants in general, but finding something endemic and rare is always more pleasing. Especially when something in question is beautiful.

Cruz de Tejeda — La Ventana del Nublo

Here it is. At least one version of "it"*

While winter lasts and walking conditions are favorable I try to do at least one hike a week. During the last two I tried to find an interesting rock formation, called La Ventana del Nublo (The Window to the Cloud Rock). The first time I failed, because I didn't allow myself enough time and had to go back before reaching it. Second time I succeeded, so here is a small report.

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.

Barranco de la Mina, Gran Canaria

For Tamara’s birthday, we went for a short walk from (more or less) Las Lagunetas to Cruz de Tejeda. We often heard that Barranco de la Mina is one of very few — maybe just three? — barrancos where there always is running water. The previous attempt to reach it had to be cancelled thanks to roadworks. The advantage of this route is that it’s almost pure ascent. So my knees did not complain this time.

Elephant tree

Pico de la Bandera — San Pedro

View into the Valle de Agaete from the trail. There is a whole chain of reservoirs down there, some at alarmingly different levels from each other

This was our first but hopefully not last experience with Mojo Picón Aventura, a small company dedicated to outdoor activities on our beautiful island. Apart from their regular weekday activities such as canyoning (barranquismo), coasteering and kayaking, they also organise walks on weekends. So the last Saturday of September we joined one. It was advertised as a medium-difficulty 9-km route "Pico de la Bandera — Berrazales" which was supposed to take about 6 hours. The price was 10 euro per person; considering that we would spend the same or more on public transport if we wanted to do the same route on our own, it looked like a great value for money.

We had to come by 8:30 am to Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, which appears to be a popular meeting place for weekend outings. There were at least two other groups assembling there at the same time.

La Gomera, Degollada de Peraza — San Sebastián

We spent almost all summer in Gran Canaria. Which was nice, but, for a bit of change, we went to La Gomera for five days. We took the early flight on Sunday morning, and were relaxing for the rest of the day.

La Iglesia de la Asunción, San Sebastián de La Gomera

On Monday, we did essentially the same walk as Tamara and kids did in April. For Tuesday, we had more ambitious plan: to walk from Degollada de Peraza all way down to San Sebastián.

Cruz de Tejeda — Artenara, summer version

Up and away

I am sure I said it a few times already, but let me say it once again — Caldera de Tejeda on Gran Canaria is the most spectacular place I’ve ever been. Whatever the weather (and it is usually much better there than in Las Palmas anyway) it never fails to deliver. Some sort of magic at work for sure.

I already did this trail, back in March, but I did it in the opposite direction, starting from Artenara. This time I embarked on the walk from Cruz de Tejeda.