A Visual Feast - Las Cañadas & the Orotava Valley

Any walk in the Las Cañadas National Park guarantees spectacular scenery but when this is combined with aerial views across the Orotava Valley, the awesomeness factor increases significantly. Setting off from El Portillo Alto, I followed the well worn path towards La Forteleza, which I always think of as Tenerife's Ayers Rock in miniature, until I reached El Cabezòn. As I walked in the early morning sunshine, I enjoyed the stunning views of Teide completely dominating the view to my left, as it stood silently surveying the desert-like scenery I now passed through. As I reached a crossroads in the path below the summit of El Cabezòn, I turned off of the main path and descended into the forest, initially on a wide track then later on a narrower, more ill-defined path through the trees.Arriving on another broad, level forest track,

Hiking Tenerife's Wild Barrancos

The attractive Mirador de Chirche sits above the village of the same name and gives expansive views to the coast and inland to the mountains. The terrain in this area is characterised by very rugged volcanic lava fields and although there are few notable peaks, the countryside is riven with impressively deep and wild barrancos. Leaving the mirador car park required a fleece layer to keep out the cold as the early morning mist swirled around the hills and as I climbed through the lava-fields,  I was impressed by the huge amount of giant aeoniums growing in the harsh landscape as rays of sunshine shone through the mist illuminating the fine droplets and giving the whole scene a magical feel. Reaching the Galeria Tamuja, I admired the views into the Barranco Tamuja before returning to the main route and climbing to a junction with the TF-PR70 footpath. The remainder of my walk followed this path back to Chirche as I crossed the Barranco Tamuja and the Barranco del Cedro and pausing in the first of these, I enjoyed a break and sat absorbing the silence and admiring the wild and rugged scenery. Continuing, I crossed the barranco before arriving at the even more impressive Barranco del Cedro. After a steep descent and ascent, I arrived at a spectacular viewpoint looking down to the Galeria Tamuja that I had passed earlier in the walk, now far below me. Climbing out of the barranco, I reached a junction and turned downhill and followed the very steep, rocky path back to the Mirador.

Getting up Teide's nose - a hike to Las Narices

Earlier this year, I set off early morning for a hike to Las Narices del Teide, or the Nostrils of Teide. This is the site of the 1798 eruption on the flanks on Pico Viejo, the summit of which is the second highest point on the island. I was following a path that I had never walked before called Sendero 9 and it turned out to be quite an awful slog on a steep path of deep, loose picon and rubble. The views of the crater at Las Narices and the surrounding mountains were superb however and I even had the added bonus of spotting a flock of wild Mouflon mountain sheep off in the distance. The following is a video I made of my hike. 

Climbing Guajara, one of Tenerife's Highest Mountains

Montaña Guajara, at over 2,700 metres high, is one of Tenerife's highest peaks and is an exhilarating climb giving stunning views of the Las Cañadas National Park and Teide. In January 2020, I set off early on a freezing morning for a solo climb to the summit. Having set off at around 8am, I had the mountain to myself and enjoyed the peace and quiet as I ascended to the remains of the world's first ever astronomical observatory on the summit. This is a video I made of my climb.  The route can be downloaded from Wikiloc HERE

Download Trails to your device with Wikiloc

Many of my hikes are recorded using an app called Wikiloc. This is a useful tool that allows you to follow walks recorded by other walkers as well as recordng your own, all on your smartphone. You are also able to send files to a Garmin handheld GPS device as well as downloading GPX files to a laptop for free. A data signal is not required if you are using a phone, just make sure that your phone's GPS is switched on (usually called 'location', or similar) and put the phone into airplane mode to preserve battery for the duration of your walk. If you want to download walks directly to your phone from the app, a small subscription is required. It is possible to check your position on a walk by checking the blue dot on the map. When you have finished your walk, simply save it and select 'private'. Once back home, you can add a description and photos before changing the settings to 'public. The app can also be set to alert you if you stray off of the route you are following. Photos and waypoints can be added to a route as you walk. My Wikiloc hikes can be found on this link