Ruta de Los Volcanes

On a sunny and warm day, I joined a 10-person group of Spanish, German and Dutch at the bus stop for the coach drive to the Refugio El Pilar at 2,000m for the start of the 17km Ruta de Los Volcanes hike, the GR131, with 700m of ascent and 1400m of descent taking 7 hours with an average speed of 4km per hour when walking. All this information was available on the devices which the guide and some of the group had on their watches or mobiles. Google Maps were used by the guides on La Palma and the previous islands.
It was a cold start at 2,000m in the pine forest but warmed up as we emerged into open country above the clouds. The walking had been made easier by the pine needles mixed with the ash from the 2021 eruption of Tajagaite covering the rocks and gravel. There was a lot of ash in my boots by the end of the walk.
We hiked to the edges and around the sides of dormant volcanic cones. The trail was one of the best-signposted of the holiday.
We had clear views of Tiede, La Gomera, Hierro, and the lava flows from Tajagaite in the plains towards the west coast.
The picnic lunch was in the pine forest from which we emerged in the afternoon to reach Fuelcaliente Los Canarias where we stopped at a bar before returning by coach to Santa Cruz. It had been a great walk.
The ash from the 3-month eruption of Tajagaite reached all parts of the island with cars left outdoors, for instance, having to be washed constantly. No-one was killed but some people left their houses because of the constant noise of the eruption.
The main holiday resort of Puerto Naos on the west coast was still closed due to gases still emerging. This meant that there was a shortage of holiday accommodation such as 4-star hotel which resulted in less tourists and, consequently, less flights with TUI having cancelled my direct flight home to London although I did hear that there were flights from Manchester and a number of German cities, La Palma being popular with the Germans due to the hiking.Read more