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The Canary Islands 2022The Canary Islands 2022
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The Canary Islands 2022

October - December 2022
A 36-day adventure by Alan Read more
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  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 36

    Return to London

    December 2, 2022 in Spain

    A taxi collected me at 9.00 for the 10 minute ride to the airport near Santa Cruz. The departure lounge was fairly basic. The Binter Canarias flight in an ATR turbo-prop left on time at 10.25 for the 30 minute flight to Tenerife Sur Airport. Tiede could be seen clearly.
    I was able to bag-drop early and proceed to the departure lounge was very large and busy with flights to many European destinations and separate sections for Jet2 and easyJet.
    For lunch, I had my final apple pie plus a baguette with Iberian ham.
    I went through the All Other Nationalities rather than EU Nationals for the first time since Brexit at the Border Control. desk.
    The easyJet flight left on time at 14.55 for the 4 hour flight to Gatwick. I got through the procedures quickly and bought a train ticket to Victoria. It was bitterly cold standing on the platform, the temperature being only 5 degrees compared to the 20 degrees in Tenerife.
    I had a snack at Victoria Station on the way to Westminster Station, arriving home at 21.00, 5 weeks after leaving for a great holiday.
    Putting on my boots, taking the walking pole, buying a picnic lunch and hiking on most days had become a habit.
    I did 21 organised hikes with Explore and, in La Palma, with other groups; two 5km walks plus other walks around Golf Sur and El Medano. In total, I walked about 300km. and probably took 500,000 steps.
    I would miss the fresh fruits at breakfast; mango, kiwi, melon, papaya, orange and pear. I'd eaten lots of fish at dinner, especially cod.
    Most 3-course dinners with wine or beer plus service had cost around 40 Euro,, in the high 30s in terms of Pounds. When with the groups and often having only one or two courses, the cost had been 20-25 Euro. There had been no problems using the contactless Travelex card.
    The weather had been great with only one drizzly day plus a few cloudy days, especially in La Palma. It had never rained whilst hiking.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 35

    Tajagaite

    December 1, 2022 in Spain

    The final hike of the trip organised by La Palma Treks & Tours was to see Tajagaite, the volcano which had erupted for three months from September to December 2021. A trail had been opened by the National Park authorities across the lava ash field at the rear of the volcano and the mixed group of nationalities had to stay on the trail rather than wandering off. The ash was 40cm deep on average although one metre in places.
    The volcano had erupted from the side of a hill with craters at the front and back. It was 400m high with steam, not sulpher fumes, still emerging.
    We drove to La Laguna to see the effect of the eruption. We stopped at a bar which was next door to an apartment where the lava, many metres thick, had become embedded in what used to be a bank on the ground floor. A road was being created across the lava field to provide access to the south. The lava flow had taken 10 days to reach the coast which was still closed to tourists, dangerous fumes still emerging. Whole communities had been submerged under the lava field. Orchards and vines had been destroyed but, although bananas had been blackened, the inside was OK.
    It was amazing to see the effect of natural forces so soon after the event.
    We stopped at the harbour of Puerto Tazacorte for our picnic lunch before returning to Santa Cruz.
    The travel agent had misunderstood the dates of my stay and failed to book the final night at the Hotel Holiday Time so I had to move to the Galeon Hotel with the large bedroom also having a kitchen.
    I had a final al fresco dinner at Placeta before watching Japan defeat Spain in the World Cup.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 34

    Roque de los Muchachos

    November 30, 2022 in Spain

    It was cloudy in Santa Cruz but it was sunny when another mixed group of hikers emerged through the clouds at 2400m at the Roque de los Muchachos. We could see Tiede and El Pilar above the wide soap-sud clouds.
    The downside of La Palma being a higher island is that it can take an hour to reach the starting point of a hike going around lots of bends.
    I walked for 2km on the trail along the rim of the Caldera de Taburiente but I stopped at the Mirador los Andenes. The coach took a couple of us to the Pico de la Cruz where the rest of the group walked to. I fed the tame ravens with seeded bread whilst having my lunch.
    I watched football either side of an early al fresco dinner at Placeta.
    Listening to some of the other hikers speaking Spanish non-stop and very fast, I realised how harsh it can sound. Maybe it was a Canarian dialect or the result of smoking.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 33

    Cubo de La Galga

    November 29, 2022 in Spain

    On a mainly cloudy day, I joined a group of mixed nationalities on a hike up the Barranco de La Galga through a laurel and chestnut forest to a mirador for a picnic lunch. We descended down a sometimes steep and slippery path to a bar in San Bartolome before continuing in the coach to the Mirador Astronomico, which I'd visited on the first coach tour, for a view over the coast.
    As on all the hikes on La Palma and the other islands, we had the trail almost entirely to ourselves apart from other occasional hikers.
    I saw and heard the most birds, including a chaffinch, which I'd seen on teh trip, the absence of birds, especially away from the seabirds at the coast, being noticeable.
    After returning to Santa Cruz, I walked along the black lava beach but the sun had gone in and the yellow warning flag was flying so I only paddled in the sea.
    After having a haircut, I dined at Placeta.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 32

    Caldera de Taburiente

    November 28, 2022 in Spain

    Another sunny and warm day with a complete contrast between the east of the island which was cloudy and, after emerging from the road tunnel through the Cumbre Vieja, the west of the island which was sunny.
    The coach picked up some Spanish and German tourists before continuing to the Caldera de Taburiente via a steep and narrow road which descended into the Barranco de las Angustias before ascending the other side to reach Los Brecitos, the starting point of the hike.
    The hike started in pine forests, following the contours of the side of the Caldera. Then the path descended to reach a stream where we stopped to have lunch.
    Rather than taking the easier path around Caldera to make a more gentle descent, we took a narrow and steep path straight down before reaching the valley floor and taking photos at a waterfall with multi-coloured rock.
    We carried on down the Barranco, criss-crossing a stream and clambering over rocks occasionally before rejoining the coach.
    The hike was 12km with 200m of ascent and 1000m of descent.
    After stopping for a beer in Los Llanos, we returned to Santa Cruz after a great day.
    I dined at Pizza Piccolo watching Portugal v Uruguay in the World Cup in Qatar.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 31

    Coach tour to the North West of La Palma

    November 27, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    On another sunny and warm day, I took a coach tour to the NW of the island due to the postponement of a hike.
    The first stop was near La Laguna looking at Tajagaite and its lava flow towards the coast. Tajagaite had erupted from nowhere on the side of a hill.
    The second stop was at the Mirador del Time, looking towards the Caldera de Taburiente, where I had a large mixed fruit juice.
    The next stop was at a farmers' market at Puntagorda where I bought some almond pastries for lunch at the Roque de Mulchados.
    The Roque is the highest point in La Palma at 2,400m. A raven joined me for lunch. On the hillsides below the Roque are the international astronomical observatories with lots of mirrors and telescopes to observe the very clear sky usually above the clouds.
    We stopped at another mirador on the road around the rim of the Caldera before driving to the Sanctuario de la Virgende las Nieves which I'd visited a few days before.
    The final stop was at a mirador overlooking Santa Cruz with a caldera below in which houses had been built safely because the caldera was extinct, Santa Cruz and the north of the island being much older than the still-active south.
    I had dinner at the Pizza Piccolo watching Germany v Spain in the World Cup.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 30

    Ruta de Los Volcanes

    November 26, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    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

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 29

    Santa Cruz de La Palma

    November 25, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    On the only drizzly day of the holiday, I began the day in Santa Cruz by walking up the steep roads out of town to the Sanctuario de la Virgen de las Nieves which had a musuem about the legend of the Virgen as well as the richly-decorated church. The barranco on the way up had caves, some used for storage and shelters.
    At a cafe in the plaza outside the church, I had a snack lunch of chorizo baradillo, bread and coffee before walking back into Santa Cruz to have a bienmesabe, a traditional dessert, and coffee.
    I walked through the Plazas de Espana, San Sebastian, and Santa Domingo, going inside the very ornate Iglesia del Salvador.
    The town was getting ready for Christmas with decorations and poinsettias.
    I bought a crepe bandage and anti-inflammatory lotion for my calf muscle which had begun to ache but, fortunately, the ache disappeared overnight.
    I had dinner at a restaurant named Enriiciai which I'd booked the previous evening because, besides being small with only five tables, it was also popular. I shared a table with a German tourist.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 28

    Coach tour of the North East of La Palma

    November 24, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    A partially sunny day with drizzle around noon but missed the nearby showers.
    A good breakfast of cereal, yogurt, orange juice, and pastries at the hotel.
    Due to the lack of a Palma Travel & Tours (the company used by Natour for the hikes) hiking guide who may be guiding cruise passengers, I took a coach tour to the north-east of La Palma. The coach was full, mainly of a noisy Spanish group, with a guide who translated from Spanish into German and English.
    The first stop was at a mirador overlooking the coast at San Bartolo.
    The next stop was at the Piscinas de la Fajana at the NE tip of the island. These were salt-water pools protected from the crashing waves.
    Then we stoped at the Mirador at La Tosca on the north coast followed by pools at Charco Azul. The latter were near the Aldea sugar cane rum distillery which had moved from Aldea in Gran Canaria, where I had been, because growing tomatoes had become more lucrative. After the tour of the distillery, we visited the shop with samples of flavoured rums such as caramel and banana.
    I had a tapas lunch at a bar in Los Sauces before the coach drove up the Baranco del Agua to one of the waterfalls in Los Tiles which was a biosphere in an ancient laurel forest with water channels similar to the levadas in Madeira.
    The countryside had been very green with lots of banana plantations on the hillside terraces, some under netting with the bunches in blue bags to force their growth. The netting is mainly to protect the bananas from the wind.
    La Palma had deep ravines similar to Masca on Tenerife. It was newer and steeper than the other islands more more tunnels and bridges.
    Back in Santa Cruz, I had an alfresco dinner at La Lonja.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Canary Islands 2022
    Day 27

    The afternoon in Santa Cruz de la Palma

    November 23, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    I visited the Castillo de la Virgen, the Iglesia Incarnacion, the Museo Naval in the recreation of Columbus's Santa Maria, and the Iglesia de San Francisco.
    There were two cruise boats in the port but the passengers from the boats didn't overwhelm the town, and I wondered how much they contributed to the local economy.
    I had dinner at Placeta which was a good restaurant on the first floor of one of the old houses.    Read more

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