Walking the GR131 El Bastón

At last, a chance to write about walking the GR131, El Bastón, one of the two long-distance trekking routes on La Palma. I will hasten to add straight away though that this is not about me taking on this megga-route but about Steve Hughes, an experienced long-distance trekker.

For those who are not familiar with the La Palma GR131 trekking route as opposed to the other long-distance trek of the GR130 Camino Real , let me just give you some background information.

 The GR131 route spans between Tazacorte at sea level in the west and the Fuencaliente lighthouse at sea level in the extreme south, a distance of roughly 70km. In between the two, it rises to the highest point of the island, the Roque de Muchachos, at 2426m above sea level in something like a walking stick shape, hence the name, El Bastón.

To add to the fun, for almost all of the three to four day route (apart from near the beginning and end) there is simply no habitation. That means no accommodation (apart from one refuge hut, the Punta de Los Roques) and nowhere to buy food or drink. And for even more added interest there is no guaranteed water on the 26km section between Roque de Muchachos and El Pilar which is at an average height of around 2000m above sea level.  And let's just say that the terrain for much of the route is, well, challenging.
So. You're tempted, huh?

But of course, this doesn't put some people off, far from it. Steve contacted us to see if we had any input regarding the walk and we had an exchange of ideas about the best way to tackle the route. Unfortunately ... (shame, shame) we still haven't completed the middle section of the GR131 route ourselves so I can hardly call us experts - although we have walked from El Pilar to Fuencaliente lighthouse and from Andenes to Tazacorte.  However, Steve has kindly sent us his notes from the walk along with some conclusions and some great photos (those within his text). So here you are - enjoy - and I think you will find the information on walking the GR131 and accommodation logistics extremely useful.
* We completed the GR131 in 2015, yay!
Saturday 8th Dec. – Arrived at La Palma airport from Tenerife late afternoon. Bus to SC de La Palma, staying at Pension La Cubana.

Sunday 9th Dec. – Bus to Fuencaliente in morning where I booked into Pension Los Volcanes. Left rucksack behind as I walked down to Faro (lighthouse) and back in afternoon to get my walking legs working again. 

Noted that the marked path took me West of Volcan de San Antonio whereas route marked on Kompass 232 map was to the East. Wandered around rim of Volcan Teneguia before getting down to lighthouse and beach. Rained steadily on way back as I found the ‘old’ path to the East of Volcan de San Antonio. This came out into the car park of the volcano visitor centre, passing signs which, on looking behind me, instructed me not to go this way!
Monday 10th Dec. – Headed North from Pension on steady upward slope. Path easy to follow. Weather dry but cloudy at times. Diverted from GR131 to cross Volcan de San Martin, summited Volcan de la Deseada, then diverted again onto minor path crossing Montana de los Charcos to reach Pico Birigoyo before descending to Refugio de El Pilar where I camped. No warden to be seen which was handy since I didn’t have a camping permit anyway.

 Tuesday 11th Dec. – Still no warden. Filled water bottles from taps saying it was non-potable, then added chlorine tablet just to be safe. Continued North in dry and warm but often misty weather. Path easy until Reventon, then fairly relentless upward climb across Pico Ovejas and Pico Corralejo until I arrived at Refugio Punta de los Roques where I met German guy. Down to 1 litre of water so refilled from ‘rain collection’ tank, but didn’t like the look of it as it had bits of paper floating about in it. Decided to carry it but only use it only if I really had too (after further filtering and chlorination).

 I continued North as German guy headed South. Quite slow progress around caldera. Had intended to reach Roque de los Muchachos, but light fading by the time I reached Pico de la Cruz, so pitched tent on flat area by summit, using marker post and rocks to secure tent as I couldn’t stick pegs far into the rocky ground.

Wednesday 12th Dec. – Ice on inside and outside of tent after cold night. Finished remaining litre of ‘clean’ water and still feeling thirsty, but resisted drinking stuff collected from Refugio Punta de los Roques. Lucky to enjoy glorious sunrise and see telescopes across caldera to the East. Mist creeps in as I walk so that visibility is down to several metres by the time I get to los Muchachos.

Still cold, but tap by visitor centre is not frozen, so I can flush away unwanted water and refill with nice fresh stuff. Had a good drink to rehydrate. Continued onward toward Tazacorte. The downhill walk was relatively easy, but slowed at times by the need to take care with foot placement. It was around 4.00pm when I reached the road at El Time and I had not made any sleeping arrangements yet. However, a Dutch couple I met on the way down had their car parked at El Time and offered me a lift to Los Llanos de Aridane, which I accepted. Stayed in Hotel Eden, who charged me just 25 Euros for an en-suite room with a bath (a welcome luxury).

Thursday 13th Dec. – Caught bus from Los Llanos to El Time to walk final part of route down steep slopes to Puerto de Tazacorte and then on to Tazacorte. Gloriously sunny day and I was able to leave my rucksack at Hotel Eden, so no load to carry.  Had I walked this part the previous day I wouldn’t have had this much pleasure.  Returned to Los Llanos to collect rucksack then caught bus back to Pension La Cubana in Santa Cruz.
Friday 14th Dec. – Morning flight back to Tenerife.      

Conclusions about the walk.
1.       Firstly, on a multi-day walk it is much easier to be precise about your start time than your finish time. Thus, where one is using public transport, it works well to start from a place visited by relatively few buses (such as Fuencaliente and Faro) to a place where there are plenty (such as Tazacorte and Los Llanos).
2.       Next, there is a lot more to see and do in Tazacorte and Los Llanos than Fuencaliente, so this is a better place to finish.
3.       Walking North and then West means that the sun is behind you most of the time rather than in your eyes.
4.       I would suggest that for someone carrying a heavy rucksack (like me) the slightly gentler slopes encountered by walking North from Fuencaliente are preferable to the more punishing slopes that rise out of Puerto Tazacorte.
 5.       The views walking the last few kilometres down into Tazacorte are far more spectacular than those walking down to Faro.
6.       Although it is practical to complete the walk in three days, doing the very end sections (Faro to Fuencaliente and El Time to Puerto Tazacorte) as separate short walks without the hefty rucksack greatly increases the enjoyment factor.
7.       Refugio El Pilar is a good place to camp, but take on plenty of water there before proceeding North as you might not fancy what water is available at Refugio Punta de los Roques and the next replenishment might not be until the following day.
8.       Whilst it may be possible to camp discreetly at Roque de los Muchachos, it clearly gets busy with tourists early. Thus, in retrospect, it was probably a good thing that I wild camped on the summit Pico de la Cruz instead. Had the weather turned unfriendly, there were plenty of rocks on the summit to provide shelter and the road was very close.

Hope this provides some useful ideas and advice for others considering doing the walk in one go.   Steve

Our sincere thanks to Steve for his work in compiling this information and allowing us to use it here. And of course congratulations on completing the GR131 El Bastón, La Palma.

Ruta del Bastón - GR131 group walk

If you have a passion to walk the GR131 but not the inclination to do it on your own or without backup, now is your chance.  

Next weekend, the 4th and 5th June, the walking group Caminantes las Breñas will be setting off from Tazacorte on what is often called  la Ruta del Bastón (The Walking Stick route).  For those who are rather more keen on using route numbers, it is the GR131 La Palma route.

In the context of the 'bastón,' Tazacorte is at the end of the handle of the walking stick with the Caldera de Taburiente being represented by the inside area of the handle.  The Roque de Muchachos is the uppermost part of the handle itself and the volcano route the long, straight stick part.  So it's a case of up ... over ... round ... and down right from sea level at Tazacorte in the west of La Palma, to 2426m at the Roque de Muchachos and back down to sea level at Fuencaliente in the extreme south.  

The route starts at Tazacorte

Day one will get you (with a little luck and some stern walking) to Refugio Punta de las Roques where you will overnight.  Day two will take you from there, to El Pilar, the volcano route and eventually Fuencaliente lighthouse.
In fact, it is the Transvulcania route in reverse.  Whichever way you do it, it's not for the faint hearted. 

You will need to put your name down for this walk by 2pm on Monday 30th May - details are here.
Incidently, if you are looking for holiday accommodation in Tazacorte in conjunction with walking and or sightseeing, we are now able to offer, on behalf of the owners, a one-bedroomed apartment right by the beach.  The GR131 is literally right around the corner, the GR130 not far away and it's just a short bus ride to the town of Los Llanos.  It is also handy for the volcano route, Cumbrecita and Caldera - plus it is right by the beach.
So if you are looking for a self-catering holiday apartment on La Palma with all of those things, click here or just ask.
Happy walking folks!

Club walks this weekend.

Here is notice of a couple of walks for you.
Tomorrow, Saturday the 21st May, the Atajo Walking Group are doing a section of the GR130 from Fuencaliente to Los Llanos.  We did this walk ourselves last year, although in the opposite direction, and really enjoyed it.  You can expect lots of contrasts from the pine forests above Fuencaliente, walking over lava fields, country lanes and finally into the city of Los Llanos via cute little cottages.  I can highly recommend it.  

On Sunday the 22nd May the Brena Alta Walking Group are heading off from Las Tricias, then Lomanda Grande and back to Las Tricas whch they estimate will take 6 hours.  I can't say we have done this particular route although have walked around the area of Las Tricias quite a few times as it is roughly in our home area.
Although the time to officially join in with these walks has passed, you are more than welcome to contact me to find out more details of these La Palma walking routes.
Happy walking!

GR 130 - Los Canarios to Santa Cruz 27km

At last!  A chance to complete the GR130.
In eager anticipation of our walk from Los Canarios in the extreme south towards Santa Cruz in the mid-east, we were up and out of bed fifteen minutes before the alarm was even dreaming about ringing.  However, despite being on the road for 6 am, it was 9 am before we started walking.  Having driven to Mazo, left the car there, put our boots and rucksacks on and taken the bus to Los Canarios which waited at an intersection for another smaller bus some of whose occupants got off that bus and on to ours, a coffee seemed obligatory.
We headed up the steep path of the GR131 where we joined the GR130 around 25 minutes later. What a shame to have missed the sunrise - it must be beautiful from here!  Never mind, the view was still excellent and the track reasonably level so we adopted a recently-tried walking style - fast!  Well, it wasn't hot or difficult and we were interested to find out if we could walk all the way to Santa Cruz, so there was nothing to stop us.  Of course, it wasn't very fast, not compared to proper speed walkers, though I am sure we cut an odd couple of figures dashing along the pine-needle covered paths.

The signpost told us that it was 15.7 km to Montana de Las Toscas which, to be honest, we didn't know exactly where it was but didn't relish the thought of any type of 'mountain' anywhere.   In fact, the path was almost boring at the start being wide and used for vehicular access but soon it narrowed and we were really enjoying it. The kilometres quickly dropped away helped by the fact that I wasn't constantly stopping to take photos as our camera was in for repair.  We did however have a new mobile phone but I was going to limit myself to taking ten photos with it, well maybe fifteen or possibly twenty because we wanted to get on if there was to be any hope of getting to Santa Cruz in one go.

For the first hour, there were some sorry sights of burnt pine trees, a reminder of the fire from last summer.  And other signs of damage due to flash flooding but the beautiful scenery was by far the over-riding impression.  And I also discovered that taking photos with the phone was much less time-consuming than with the camera.

After quite a long and steep downhill section along a narrow path with large stones scattered over it, we were deposited at the road, which we crossed and walked along the other side of it for a while before it had us go through a tunnel under the road.  A little further along, this was repeated, ducking under the road and it all felt rather like a fun treasure hunt as we followed the excellent and frequent signs.

Not only were the signs impressively clear, possibly the best markings of the whole GR130 route, but the walking was very easy, certainly in this anti-clockwise direction.  We passed a couple of goat farms and a few crosses here and there, a roof where figs were laid out to dry and a few barrancos which were nothing more than dips.  Although we dodged on and off the road at times, a large bend was cut off where we had the benefit of a lovely stone path.

And the crosses as we started to approach Mazo ... don't even count the crosses!   And all of them managing to be quite different, some quite simple, others ornate.  Singles or a group of three.  One attached to the end of an old house and another with a painted landscape behind.

However, the nagging worry I had was this 'mountian.'  Surely, after we had been so spoilt with flatish walking, the route wouldn't take us up a mountain.  But once we got to a sign that told us that the 'mountain' was only 02 km away and I could actually see it did I feel safe, knowing that we wouldn't be going up it.  And gosh, it was beautiful!  A peak really with a good smattering of bushes growing on it and with bare rock showing through.  I must confess to having forgotten about the existence of such a wonderful piece of nature's architecture!  Unfortunately though, the phone camera was not going to do it any form of justice.

Now we were level with Mazo and a short detour meant that we could finish the walk here for the day and re-join our car, if we wanted.  But, feeling pretty pleased with ourselves at it having taken only four hours so far, we had a quick bite to eat at the park and sped on.  Only 7.1km to San Pedro!
And plenty to see - a 'quiet corner' for resting with a beautiful drago tree, cows at the side of the road, a second small mountain which thankfully we were not required to climb up either, a plaza for parties and pretty lanes to walk along.

Passing along what would normally (or sometimes be) a quiet back road of San Jose, they were in fine form with bunting up and a stage being erected.  And an ancient church. San Jose - we shall be back to inspect you more closely one day!  It was not long after this that we got lost and had to retrace our steps which obviously was back up the hill.  It was only by a process of elimination (which nearly included me being eliminated, courtesy of a speeding lorry) and by close scrutiny that we spotted the GR130 blaze.  Huh! So over a small rubbish tip then, how cunning!  Whilst we did appreciate the inventiveness of it, the lane at the side of it would have been easier. At least though, it brought us out onto a lovely cobbled path which took us into San Pedro.

Here, we knew the route would take us to the end of the small town but the signs were not easy to find, but find them we did and passing below the church we headed out of town on this last section of  4.7km to Santa Cruz.

We had been looking at Santa Cruz in the distance for some time now but for some strange reason, it didn't seem to want to come much closer.  We walked along a short section of new road on the pavement, passed Maroparque Zoo (another place we must visit) and then down, down, down the steep, steep road towards the sea.  Two things happened.  1.  The phone battery died - surely I had charged it .. I know I meant to ... and 2. my little toe was stinging and David's knees were twinging - the usual troublemakers.
But there was no stopping us as we suddenly found ourselves at the Town Hall in Santa Cruz, seven crazy hours from Los Canarios.  We had completed the walk - and the GR130.