Yesterday's walk took me from the lower cable-car station to the summit of Montaña Blanca, which is a hill on the flanks of Teide reaching just over 9,000ft in altitude. The path is signposted from the roadside below the cable-car station and is easy follow as it passes through the awesome, other-wordly landscape of the Las Cañadas National Park. Crossing the road at the small Montaña Blanca parking area, I joined the crowds of people heading up towards the start of the Teide path. The initial trail is a fairly easy, steady climb on a wide track in incredible scenery with views across to La Foretleza and the bulk of Teide looming above. Soon, the path passes the Huevos del Teide or Teide Eggs. These huge boulders are giant accretion balls, formed as they rolled downhill on slow moving lava flows and gaining in size like huge snowballs. Soon, I reached the split in the path where the path to Teide turned right and I watched the line of people heading up into the cloud that had now formed on the volcano as I headed left to the top of Montaña Blanca. The views from the top were superb but there was a very cold wind blowing so I didn't linger long before turning and heading back.
