Tenerife
2 to 9 December 2017

We were looking for an active winter break and Tenerife ticked every box: mountains, sun, cycling and walking routes, and a direct flight from Edinburgh. The choice was easy and we were not disappointed!



We booked an apartment in Puerto de la Cruz, which seemed well located for our objective to visit the main mountains in the island: Teide, Anaga and the Masca region. As soon as we landed we had our baptism of fire. We got our rented car (Fredina) and followed a very dark and busy TF5, getting a bit lost close to Santa Cruz and finally reaching our destination at 7.30pm. The shock came when we started looking for a parking spot...being Saturday evening it was crazy with cars everywhere and after 1h ½ of randomly looking for a spot we basically abandoned the car in this huge parking by the sea crammed with cars left everywhere. The surprise number 2 came in the block of apartments, Seguro de Sol, as the flat we had been given was already taken. It turned out that we were sent the wrong details and finally at 11pm we managed to enter in the flat. The flat itself was great, exactly what we were looking for: central, close to everything (bus station, shops, beach, centre) and, on the 7^th floor, with a balcony with a great view on the sea. Pity that Paul suffers from vertigo and couldn't step foot on it...

Mount Teide
Our first day in Tenerife started early, with the objective to climb Mount Teide, 3700m high. We were scared to go back to the car thinking we would find it in pieces, but there it was, now alone in this huge parking and waiting to explore the island. The navigator sent us vertically up absurd streets, so that it took us much longer to get to the starting point, the Montanya Blanca car park, which we finally reached at 10.30am getting the last parking spot of a very tiny parking (next car arrived 0.5 sec after us...).


With luck on our side we started the walk, which was first flattish and on a big track road, and then after a few km it turned in a vertical climb among vulcanic rocks. The day was cloudy and only occasionally we could grasp the sigh of the cone on the top, or anything below us, but this was actually good otherwise we would have burnt alive... Not used to the altitude we made sure not to walk too fast, but still we could feel a light head and a galopping heart.


Slowly slowly we made it first to the Refugio (the coldst place ever!) and then up to the hut were the cable car arrives, which is also the place where you need to show he permit (this is free but you need to get it online first). The guys asked us if we were planning to walk back or take the cable car, as it was about to close down due to poor visibility (we had the feeling they'd rather be somewhere else instead...). The last bit to the top was 650m and we reckoned we could reach it and walk down again, and still make it in decent time, so that up we went again and this time the thin air really forced us to slow down, one wee step at the time, to finally reach the top in about 3h, where ice and smell of sulfur were waiting for us. The clouds came and went, so that at times we were reworded with spectacular views.


The way down was much faster, and while walking back to the car on this desolate and peaceful landscape we finally realised where we were, and how lucky to have made the top on our first day! The day after we took it easy as the walk was more demanding than we though, glutes, calves and tendons were asking for a day off.

Anaga mountains
Originally we thought we would hire 2 bikes and explore those mountains with them, but in between the trauma of parking with hundreds of cars everywhere, and getting lost the day before in a maze of streets to go to Teide, we realised that we would not have enjoyed it, we would have just been stressed trying to avoid the heavy traffic and finding our way around (we are not 100% sure but we have the feeling that cycling to the Anaga mountains would imply cycling on the TF5, which is the highway...to me this is really a NO WAY!)
Instead of the bikes we took the car to the Pico del Inglés, and walked down to Valleseco, and then up again those 1000m. We based our walks on the Cicerone book guide “Walking on Tenerife” (this one was the number 1) and found that we would usually walk 1 to 2h faster than the given time in the book, had we known before we would have started in Punta del Idalgo, up to Cruz del Carmen and then down that path, but oh well, net time will be.

 
The day after we took the bus to Punta del Hidalgo and followed the walk 7 in the book up to Cruz del Carmen, beautiful and varied path, very well kept and signaled. The bus back was a bit of an adventure itself, as it seems that there is not really a timetable but they just turn up randomly, still, the service was fast and great, and with the warm sunshine we dind't mind waiting at the bus stop. If you are planning to get a bus try to get the bono de guaguas before, it's a pre-paid card that makes the fare much cheaper, and you can get it in any Tabacaría. 

 
Masca
I enjoyed this walk immensely, it started in an arid path, developed in a pine forest, and then laurasilva to finish in an ecosystem of cactuses and plants never seen before. We first followed the GR51 from Erjos, got to alk on top of a ridge from where we could see Masca and the background of ragged peaks, went down to this tiny beautiful village, and then kept going down and up the barranco, a gem of beauty, peace and desolation never seen before. This was definitely a top walk in the island. On the way back we waited 1/2h for a bus, and were never quite sure if it would turn up, and changed it twice, but the day walk was worth any waiting.

Teide National Park

We couldn't leave the island without saying goodbye to the Taide National Park. Since our flight was at 7pm, we decided to drive up to the Parador (we found parking straignt away!), go for a tiny walk around Los Roques de García (number 33 in the guide) and then went to the airport. The walk was beautiful indeed, another must see n the island.

Altogether we really enjoyed our stay in Tenerife. Way too many cars and traffic to my taste (maybe a cycling path around the islands?) but the walks, the beauty and variety of landscapes definitely made up for it... and we even got 1h at the beach and load of ice cream!