2016 Car Trip Gran Canaria 19 October

0845 hrs Wednesday 19 October, rented Opel Zafira from Dolar Rent a Car Las Palmas and drove with Manuel, Leticia, Pedro and Rita via San Mateo to the Central Caldera, our first stop being the Degollada de las Palomas viewpoint , where Jeannette dropped us off.

 

 

We then walked along the trail to Cruz de Tejeda - Roque Nublo clearly visible

 

We rejoined Jeannette at the Parador for 11'ses 

 

Then we all drove to the car park at the start of the short hike to Roque Nublo

 

Roque Nublo seemed to be on everybody's programme - never seen it so crowded.

 

Roque Nublo ( left) and "The Monk" (middle) clearly in view

 

The Monk

 

 

 

 

Roque Nublo

 

 

Looking down to Tejeda

 

 

Artenara, the highest village on Gran Canaria on the opposite side of the Caldera

 

Roque Bentayga

 

After returning to the car we drove to Fataga for lunch

 

 

 

After which we continued driving south 

 

 

On reaching Maspalomas we then took the motorway back to Las Palmas

 

2016 Hike Gran Canaria, Teror to Firgas

0745hrs Sunday 23 October left marina and walked with Christer, Siv, Per, Bitte & Elizabeth to the Telmo Bus Station. 

 

Beautiful sunrise

 

Caught the 0830 nr 229 (slow)  bus arriving in Teror at 0920 hrs

 

The hike we had planned to do would take us through the Finca de Osorio and via the La Laguna picnic area to Firgas

( Below map is from the ViewRanger App - very handy app as one's GPS position is always being displayed on the offline map and plots one's track as one walks).

 

However, we found the main entrance gates to the Finca de Osorio closed.

 

We met a kind lady Julia who was walking her dog who was also surprised but showed us an alternative entrance to the Finca

 

This route had good views towards the north coast, but on arriving at the 2nd entrance we were stopped from entering by a warden who told us that the Finca was closed to the public on Sundays.

 

So our very friendly guide walked back with us and showed us another route which climbed steeply up the hill behind the Finca. Close to the top we said goobdye 

 

And not long afterwards, we stopped for a picnic lunch

 

 

We were now on our originally planned route which took us past the popular La Laguna picnic area

 

 

Views of the North Coast

 

At this point we were following a signposted route which was not marked on the ViewRanger map

 

Which way?

 

 

 

Shortly after this sign, the route came to a dead end!

 

So we retraced our steps

 

and with the aid of the ViewRanger app, found our way to Firgas (arrived around 1430 hrs) where we had a welcome beer whilst waiting for the bus.

 

Caught the 1500 hrs nr 211 bus to Arucas then the 1540hrs nr 210 bus to Las Palmas, getting out at El Corte Ingles

 

2016,Hike Gran Canaria San Mateo to Tenteniguada

0715hrs Thursday 13 October 2016, left Las Palmas Marina with Christer, Pia, Ulf, Cynthia, Bitte and Per and walked to the San Telmo Bus station where we caught the 0800 hrs 303 bus to San Mateo, arriving there at around 0900 hrs. 

The centre of the red circle on the below map from the ViewRanger App is where the bus dropped us off. The red line with arrows is our planned route, and the black line with arrows is our track ( on the bus to this point!).

 

After coffee at the El Mercado restaurante

 

We started our uphill hike

 

The weather looked a bit ominous and we had a few spots of rain, but soon cleared up. amazingly the clouds stayed on the otherside ( to the West) of the spur we were climbing up.

 

Wonderful blue skies

 

The red circle is where we were when this photo was taken

 

Up, up, up!

 

Through the pine forest

 

A welcome break for lunch

 

The red circle marks our lunch spot

 

After lunch, the track joined joined this dirt road (white road on map) for a while, still climbing steeply

 

 

This is the highest point on the route (around 1420 m) which we reached just after 1200 hrs. If one looks closely at the tree one can see a sign board pointing to Rincon, our next destination. 

 

Some of us missed this sign and continued climbing up the "white" road till we were called back. 

 

Our correct route turns left here and started our long steep descent to El Rincon via a narrow track

 

On the way we passed the remains of an unfortunate goat - who presumeably had died caught in the thicket

 

 

 

Wonderful scenery

 

Our trail now went steeply down over a slippery bed of pine needles - hiking sticks invaluable to help keep one's balance

 

Looking down towards Tenteniguada

 

 

In spring, the Blue Tajinastes must give a beautiful floral display on this route - only the dried flower heads left now

 

Per & Bitte found a stunning spot for a rest

 

Pia thought it was a good place for some yoga

 

The maintainers of the hiking trails have provided a long rope handhold to help one down this particularly steep section which is covered with the treacherous pine needles

 

 

Difficult to avoid the nasty hairs from the prickly pears

 

 

Super views

 

Looking back up to the rock we stopped at on the way down

 

At 1440 hrs arrive at the bus stop in Tenteniguada and decide to take the 1600 hrs nr 13 bus to Telde instead of the 1504 hrs bus

 

This would give us time for a welcome beer and Tapas at the very friendly Las Canas Grill

 

The complete hike

 

The 1600 hrs nr 13 bus got us to the Telde bus station by 1643, just in time to catch the 1650 hrs  nr 80 express bus to Las Palmas, dropping some of us off at the Avinida de Juan XXIII bus stop close to the Marina.

Statistics:-

Distance walked 8.93 km in 5 hrs 39 mins

Height gain 761 m,  Height loss 796 m

Max altitude reached 1446 m

 

Another extremely enjoyable hike.