Santa Cruz, Tenerife

Today's lesson - do not assume a hiking route will be over and down...some of them just go up, and up, and up.

We arrived early into Tenerife, and seeing the beautiful scenery of Santa Cruz, plotted a hike up the mountains to the tram of San Cristobal. The weather was warm and overcast, perfect for hiking. So we breakfasted, and headed out of the port and began our ascent. The first few kilometres were well paved and surrounded by flats and schools, following an empty river bed. We passed a herd of goats including some fabulous little baby goats which did distract me for a while before contining upward. We soon found the paved road narrowing and the cactus-covered hillside looming over us. We were aiming for a reservoir half way up the mountain before deciding what to do next. En route, we met a number of terrifyingly large and loud dogs who clearly were not happy to have us passing by their mountain retreat. The reservoir was about 90 minutes walk up the mountain and by the time we arrived the city felt miles away, replaced only by sharply cut hills and valleys, birdsong and bees. Here the paved road ended.Read more