A Walk Through Tenerife's Past

El Roque at the start of the walk

The south of Tenerife is often dismissed by many walkers in preference for the more traditionally 'pretty' areas of the island. This walk however, despite rarely being far from towns and villages, has just about everything you could ask for in a walk, mountain views, impressive barrancos, ancient trails, miradors, and many historic examples of a past way of life. The walk begins from the stunning Mirador de La Centinela above Valle San Lorenzo and descends on the old camino real to San Miguel below the slopes of the imposing Roque de Jama.

Montaña Sámara & the Las Cuevas Negras

View from the summit of Montaña Sámara

This walk was a new route in an area that I had intended investigating for some time so I was pleased to find details on the web about a new path leading from Montaña Sámara to the Cuevas Negras, a series of lava tubes just off of the path in the volcanic landscape below the slopes of Pico Viejo. There is a convenient car park just below the Montaña Sámara cone and after parking the car I was soon climbing up the cinder path to the summit. The views from the top were simply stupendous and far-reaching to the summits of Pico Verde and Pico de Gala in the Teno range with the twin summits of the island of La Palma in the clouds beyond providing a fitting backdrop.