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.

La Graciosa in summer

Shallow lagoon Bahia de Salino filling with water in high tide

Ok, with all the excitement of the wildfire over, the academic year has started for real, and I feasted my (and, hopefully, your) eyes on the rare sight of freshwater stream on Gran Canaria, I would like to return to our short stay on Lanzarote.

Barranco de los Cernícalos — water!

A small waterfall a bit off the path

Finally, I’ve seen all three places where water always runs on Gran Canaria. Well, actually, there are just two left, poor Barranco de La Mina having been killed off by the owner of the water*. So, now on Gran Canaria you have just two places where freshwater runs all year round — Barranco de Azuaje and Barranco de los Cernícalos, Kestrels’ ravine.

Gran Canaria after forest fire 2019, Cruz de Tejeda — Artenara

These pines kept their needles, although they are dry and yellow. I think they have a good chance of recovery.

I was hoping to never write this kind of report again, but it was not to be.

Only two years after the fire which started inside Caldera de Tejeda and burned the Parador de Tejeda hotel, and despite the controlled burns in the central areas of Gran Canaria, another fire ran through the tops of the island, Las Cumbres. Several fires, to be precise, one of them, tagged in social media with #IFValleseco, especially big.

Lanzarote in summer, Playa de Papagayo

Beautiful water. Playa Mujeres

This year’s summer holidays were a bit scrambled for us, due to this and that. To punctuate the month of August we decided to go to Lanzarote, just for three days. We’ve already been to Lanzarote a few times of course. This time, the aim was to check out Playa de Papagayo, Parrot’s Beach, a small cove beach not far from Playa Blanca, and La Graciosa, the smallest inhabited Canary Island, “the eighth one”.

Controlled burn, silver tansy, and heat of May

An eruption? A wildfire? Nah...

After years living on Gran Canaria I have identified for myself the three main "hanami" events. I try to go and see all three of them each year, but sometimes it proves impossible.
One of them is the blooming of almonds. Another - the blooming of tajinaste azul, blue bugloss of Gran Canaria. And the third one is the blooming of silver tansy, much less obvious event. I guess my attachment to these rare plants is mostly due to the fact that I found and identified them myself, while both almonds and tajinaste are well known seasonal attractions.

Up we go

Alien tentacles! Cthulhu raising to the surface! Tremble, you feeble humans... etc

When I went up the Mount Teide two years ago I didn’t really have a plan. Well, I had the most basic of all plans — to go up and survive. People told me two things at once — first “it’s kinda easy, you just need to pace yourself” and the second “but the altitude sickness can strike even the most fit people”. With this mixed message in mind, I can tell you I was going up listening to myself and asking all the time “am I ok?”, “am I still ok?”. I was perfectly fine, but this type of self-monitoring is not conductive to enjoyment.

This time I knew it was doable, and my first concern was the weather. What if the (blasted) calima turns up again? We won’t be able to see anything!

I can say straight away that we were much luckier this time — there was almost no dust in the air and the visibility was a lot better. First day, we saw Gran Canaria, La Palma and La Gomera above the sea of clouds while still on the bus. Next day, only La Gomera was visible from the top of the mountain at dawn, but that was also fine — I personally didn’t even get the camera out of the backpack, see the explanation later.

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 :)

Spring equinox sunrise at the necropolis of Arteara

Somebody switched on an enormous spotlight behind Amurga massif.

On one of our very first visits to Gran Canaria we booked a stay in a village called Fataga. The reasoning was that the holiday house looked really nice and that it was “only” 45 km from the airport. We were thinking in terms of Fuerteventura or possible even East Anglia, where 45 km on the flat is no distance at all. What can I say. We were wrong. Between the airport and Fataga there is an enormous Amurga massif. You can either go through a steep and narrow pass called Degollada de las Yeguas or go a longer and somewhat less steep route through San Bartolome de Tirajana. The second option is easier, but you need to know that beforehand. We didn’t. The most difficult bit is going up to the pass from Fataga to airport (opposite direction being downwards and therefore easier). When I tried to do it the first time, I got stuck on the steepest curve. I kept stalling the motor and try though I did, couldn’t advance even an inch. If anything, I was going backwards with each stalling. A small queue of cars started to form behind me immediately, and eventually a giant tourist bus joined them. A guide from the bus, very nice and polite German guy, run up to us and asked what was going on. When he found out that nothing was wrong with the car itself, he suggested to drive us to the pass, and did. I was enormously grateful to him, still am.

That all happened in daytime (hence the queue and the help). We, however, were supposed to drive to the airport in the small hours, in the darkness, on the empty road. So. I chickened and we changed the booking for the last night to a guesthouse in Ingenio. I did have to drive the same road one more time of course, but not at night and I was mentally prepared to what was coming and managed ok this time.

Why am I telling you all that, all these years later?

Winter Solstice Sunrise on Mesa de Acusa

I liked this stage of the sunrise the most — the cone of shadow under Roque Bentayga was spectacular

An excursion to greet the first rays of the sun on the day of winter solstice is organized by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria every year. Well, this year there were two, on two consecutive days, coz, let’s face it, the difference in the position of the sun and timing is non-perceivable and we are no druids anyway.
We already tried to attend one of those three years ago. The bus picked us up later than it was promised, the driver took a long way to Acusa plus he seemed to be afraid of the dark or something. All these combined, we arrived to the Mesa de Acusa, a plateau in the upper part of the Acusa village, when the sun had already risen, to the general embarrassment of all.
This time was different. We started on time; the bus was small, so it could take a faster route via the smaller roads, and the driver was excellent. We arrived well before the sunrise and had a lot of time to freeze our bits off and to listen to a very good explanation from the Cabildo guide .
Of course, to observe the beautiful sunrise over the rock formations Roque Bentayga and iconic Roque Nublo you don’t need to be there on the day of solstice, but on that day and around it it’s well known where the Roques project their shadows (see map below). Plus, of course, I like a bit of ritual now and then.
Not overmuch, though.

Lensbaby, stars, fishes and hearts

Christmas tree decoration in the Barranco Guiniguada, between Triana and Vegueta

I want to have a break from all things hiking and show some of the experiments with Lensbaby. I took it out of its little bag where it was left undisturbed for a looong time because I thought I should sell off the stuff I never use.

My Lensbaby is a first primitive Composer, fully manual, move-it-as-you-like, no-one-knows-what-s-gonna-come-out type. I must say the focusing is really tricky, especially in the poor light.

Fuerteventura, traditional post of November

So far, this is probably my favorite kite ever. It was there all these years, I think. I even have it on the cover screen of my laptop. Looks alive, doesn’t it? Like a sandworm, except harmless and beautiful

This November, as every November over the last few years, I flew to Fuerteventura to see the kites flying. I am not sure if the magic of the event works on everybody, but is certainly works on me — the white sand of the dunes, the volcanoes, the proximity of the ocean, and huge colorful objects suspended in the air, casting their shadows — it is all very Dalí-esque, surreal and beautiful.

Lomo de San Pedro - Cuevas de Berbique - Puerto de Las Nieves

Impressive cliffs of Tamadaba.

After I went to see Cenobio de Valeron I've shown pics of it to my walking companions. One of them said that it looked similar to Cuevas de Berbique, a toponym which I had never heard before. Of course I had to find out where it was (close to Agaete) and how to get there. To my pleasure I discovered that it is possible to do a linear walk past the caves using the public transport. You have to start from San Pedro (there is more than one San Pedro, so careful, San Pedro of Agaete). Currently, there is a bus from Galdar to "Valle" (which is valley of Agaete). The end of the walk is in Puerto de las Nieves, and there are buses to Las Palmas every hour.

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.

Gran Canaria, Temisas — Aguimes, with a visit to Barranco de Las Vacas

Horizontal panorama

Some time ago I wrote that we would repeat the visit to the Barranco de Las Vacas following a linear route Temisas — Aguimes. Since then we have visited the area twice. First we did the linear route (find the map below), with a visit to the cave complex Cuevas de la Audiencia very close to Temisas. I don’t have any photos of the caves, partially because they are VERY dark (it’s almost like being blind!), but mainly because they were chock-full of people. To be fair, we went on a bank holiday, so the hikers were out in force, more on that later.

Second time we went from Aguimes (and back) with a specific purpose in mind — that is, to make a photosession with Timur playing his guitar there.

Noche de San Juan in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Wow. I'd never seen a firework blast like this before

Every Year, Saint John's Eve is celebrated in the beautiful city of Las Palmas. It has something to do with the foundation of the city, although the idea that it was founded precisely on Saint John's day seems unlikely to me.

Anyway, the celebration is a part of "Fiestas Fundacionales", associated strongly with Saint John (i.e. San Juan) and is most certainly of pagan origin. It is basically a Midsummer midnight madness, except it is shifted by a couple days.

Botanic Gardens - Triana walk

 Globularia sarcophylla, globe daisy endemic to Gran Canaria. Apparently it grows only in Tirajana. I've never seen it in the wild, have to look for it, it is sort of cute.

Couple of days ago, Timur and I decided to check out a relatively new walking path. It links one of the old areas of Las Palmas - Triana* to Canarian Botanic Garden in Tafira Baja (Jardin Canario).

I have no explanation as to why I have never written about Jardin Canario before, since we've visited it many times. As the name suggests, the emphasis in planting is on the native flora, but it is not exclusive - Canaries used to be a testing ground for plants from different parts of the world, mostly from the Americas**. There are some rare, vulnerable and endangered species, some of them beautiful, some less so. So, let's start with some pictures from the garden.

Barranco de las Vacas, Gran Canaria

Once again, Facebook brought me something useful — this time a reference to a place called Barranco de Las Vacas (Cows’ Ravine) between the hill town Aguimes and small hamlet Temisas. The place is characterized by beautiful striation on the walls of the ravine, not dissimilar to those of Barranco de los Enamorados on Fuerteventura.

The distance between them is about 9 km by hiking path and it is a relatively flat walk. The ravine is somewhat closer to Aguimes, so this time we decided to walk from there (see the route and additional notes below).

Las Fallas 2018

First published 27 March 2018 @ Listen, Learn, Read

According to my old Rough Guide to Spain (this book served me well but I left it to my flatmates three years ago), Las Fallas are one of the Spanish “Big Four”, together with Semana Santa, Feria de Abril and San Fermín. Strangely enough, the Carnival is not among them.

Now it so happened that I, quite intentionally, stopped in Valencia en route to Boston and back, being able to see some of the festival and even take some pictures of it. For the benefit of those who never heard of ​Las Fallas, I allow myself to explain what’s going on here.

La Falla Convent de Jerusalem-Matemàtic Marzal