The increasingly popular Tenerife Walking Festival showcases a variety of hikes around a surprisingly diverse island
BY BEN WEST
A Tenerife walking holiday? Surely that means a pub crawl round the Playa de las Américas, or a stroll from the hotel breakfast bar to the beach?
Actually, no. Although Tenerife is known for its package holidays and large holiday resorts, being the largest of the Canary Islands it enjoys a surprising degree of diversity. Its north and south are distinctly different, the north being wetter, greener, less warm, notably less built up and more tranquil.
It has a number of microclimates throughout the island, which promote remarkable ecological diversity, and its geography varies widely too, from lush green mountains and stunning seascapes to harsh desert landscapes. It’s ideal, then, for an annual walking festival – especially as it has more than 1,500 km of trails.
The festival, which this year is from 19-23 May, offers daily coastal, volcanic and forest hikes to suit all ages, levels of fitness and experience. Professional guides and first aiders are provided on each hike.
All walks start in the square, Plaza de Europa, at Puerto de la Cruz, on the north coast of the island. My first hike, at the Teno Rural Park, encompassed the ponds and wetlands of Erjos, the Cruz de Gala mountain and the small mountain village of Masca. There were 30 of us on the 10km, four-and-a-half hour hike, and after an hour’s coach drive into the misty hills, the temperature dropped noticeably. We were separated into an English-speaking group and another speaking Spanish and German.
Starting in the town, within minutes we were well away from the houses, walking along a track lined with colourful wild flowers, into the park. We gradually climbed 200m to the top of a hill and were rewarded with views of the deep blue sea beyond. One side of the hill was hot and sunny, but where we were was pleasantly cool, with mists cascading by. The vegetation changed to expanses of pine trees, and the landscape became more and more barren, until there were just a few hardy trees and mountain plants fighting their way through the rocks. At the top it was blustery and windy, the weather had changed radically from the sun and heat below at the start of the walk. As we walked down the other side of the hill in just a matter of metres we were enclosed by closely packed trees. By now it had become really cold and made me realise you had to pack for a wide range of temperatures here: in the coach the aircon was on full blast it was so hot, yet now those without a coat were shivering.
On reaching a deep valley we could see Masca village in the distance, its terracotta tiled roofs nestled in the rocks, with the roads towards it twisting around the hill like ribbons. Tenerife expert, writer and resident Jack Montgomery reckons that Masca is not only the most beautiful village in Tenerife, but the most beautiful in the Canary Islands.
Until the 1970s, this area of Tenerife had little contact with the rest of the island, the local population moving only when necessary, and on foot. It meant that the locality has very much retained the traditional way of life based on agriculture and cattle, and that is adapted to the biodiversity and the climate of the territory.
The walk continued through a little avenue of purple thistle and for a moment I felt like I was in Scotland. But before long I was walking past palm trees and cacti. The variety, despite short distances, was surprising.
On my second day I tried a descent of Mount Teide, the huge volcano in the centre of the island. Mount Teide is active but, thankfully, dormant and last erupted in 1909. With an elevation of 3,718m, it is the third highest volcanic structure in the world. Okay, so this walk didn’t cover the whole extent of the volcano, we started about halfway up, at 2200m, and hiked down. However, for hardier hikers there was another walk available offering the option of reaching the top of Mount Teide, staying overnight in a hostel.
This walk could not have been more different from the day before, the landscape was almost lunar. Indeed, robots bound for the Moon and Mars have been tested in this barren, harsh landscape. Under a scorching hot sun and deep blue sky, the grey, brown and black lava rock around us was peppered with some hardy grey and pastel green mountain plants. It was exhilarating to walk here, although in places the air was thin and some of us got slightly out of breath. The 13.8km walk lasted from 10am until 3pm but seemed to shoot by far more quickly.
Further walks offered included one following in the footsteps of pirates, starting at a secluded beach with impressive rock formations and volcanic black sand, the route following a path that used to connect plantations in the Anaga area. Another walk ended with a midnight star-gazing session in the shadow of Mount Teide. Tenerife is considered one of the best places to look at the night sky, and is home to the Canarian Institute of Astrophysics, which is one of the world’s leading observatories.
The variety of walks and landscapes Tenerife offers really is out of this world.
The 2020 Tenerife Walking Festival has unfortunately been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 Festival is likely to be held in late May 2021.
Further information: tenerifewalkingfestival.com
walkingtenerife.co.uk has lots of walks and tips
