2016 Hike Gran Canaria, San Andres to Firgas

 0745hrs Sunday 9 October 2016 left Dutch Link and walked with Christer to Telmo Bus Staion to catch the 0830 hrs nr 105 bus to San Andres on the northern coast of Gran Canaria. 

Got off the bus around 0900 hrs 

 

And together with Pia, Ulf and Lars walked along the coastlal path

 

 Mosaic map of the Canaries

 

to the start of the Barranco Azuajes

 

Our hike would take us up the Barranco Azuajes, then the Barranco de la Virgen to Firgas where we would take the bus back to Las Palmas

 

 

A break

 

 

 

 

Looking down at the ruins of the Balneario de Azuajes Spa

 

The trail took us past some cave houses

 

Looking up the Barranco de la Virgen

 

 

As by this time it was getting a bit late and the route description was not too clear, so we decided to take the most straight forward route from here and walked along the GC305 road to Firgas

 

 

The road took us past the Firgas Drinking Water Plant

 

 

Arrived in Firgas at around 1615 hrs - next shuttle bus to Arucas was not until 1700 so we enjoyed a very welcome beer and Tapas in a bar close to the bus station. Had to change in Arucas to the 1740 hrs nr 210 bus back to Las Palmas - got off at El Corte Ingles and walked back to the Marina.

A very enjoyable hike of around 19 km which climbed from sea level to an altitude of  over 700 m.

2016 Hike Gran Canaria CV Firgas

0830 1st October 2016 joined the Las Palmas Club Varadero hike up the Barranco Azuaje near Firgas. 

The coach left the club at 0850 hrs and drove us to Arucas for breakfast.

After which it took us to Firgas, arriving at the start of the street with the famous cascades at 1015 hrs

 

The hike would take us up this street and then steeply down into the Barranco Azuaje

The map is from the ViewRanger App

 

 

 

 

Looking down into the Barranco Azuaje

 

 

 

Looking down at the ruins of the old Balneario de Aguajes Spa Hotel

 

 

The trail then went along the barranco floor through the jungle following the stream

 

One of several stream crossings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit of rock climbing

 

Temporary repairs!

 

The trail brought us steeply back up the side of the Barranco to this Levada which we followed to the cascade street at the bottom of which was our restuarant where we had lunch

 

Casa Conchi

 

 

 

 

After an excellent filling lunch, our coach picked us up at 1640 hrs and drove us back to the marina - a very pleasant sociable hike

 

2016 Sail La Palma to Las Palmas

At 0745hrs 29th September 2016 we saw off our friends Tom & Annie who left Santa Cruz marina heading for La Gomera. 

We then downloaded yet another set of Grib Files and decided that, after all, this was the best day to leave for the coming 10 days if we wanted to have a chance of sailing back to Las Palmas the most direct route north of Tenerife. 

 

So, Mike returned the hire car to Orlando in Los Cancajos, taxied back for €8, and we cast off our lines at 1215 hrs and headed eastwards for the northern tip of Tenerife,  90 nmiles away, course 084 degrees

 

Leaving Santa Cruz

 

 

The wind was a gentle NE 3 occassionally 4 and the seas quite calm. We tried sailing a few times but the angle was too tight for us to be able to safely clear the northern coast of Tenerife. So we ended up motor sailing most of the afternoon and night. In contrast to our trip to La Palma under a Full Moon two weeks previously, we were now at New Moon and the night was very dark.

We rounded the NEastern tip of Tenerife at 0700 hrs 30/9 and were able to sail more south. At 0740 we were able to sail at 60 degrees to the NNE 4Bft wind 

By 1030 hrs we had cleared the Traffic Separation Zone and could set course 117degrees for La Isletta, Gran Canaria and free off further, sailing with full rig on a beam to broad reach.

 

 

 

 

Around 1600 hrs the wind dropped to a NNE 3 Bft and with quite a swell running, our sails started to flog and progress was slow.  So,  genny furled and motor on .

 

At 1930 hrs we were moored back in our berth in Club Varadero, Las Palmas

Total distance 146 nautical miles in 29.25 hrs average speed 5 Kts. Motored 21 hrs, sailed 8.25 hrs