The GR131 - Roque de Muchachos to Mirador de los Andenes

It has been such a busy 3 months on La Palma since Christmas with both the self-catering cottage and bed and breakfast accommodation well booked up.  Not only that but add a few guided walks and working the land on the finca here in Franceses, it's been all go.  Now though, with a few little gaps in the calendar, it really was time to head off and do something quite different.  What could be better than to leap off to the top of the mountain, the Roque de Muchachos for a bit of a hike along the GR131 in the snow?   So Thursday this week saw us jumping into the Land Rover in search of a few hours of snowy spring madness - and a walk.

The drive up there was fairly uneventful.  It only takes 50 minutes from the finca gradually ascending from 500m to 2426m, although I will say that after leaving the main road, the secondary road up to the observatory is one of the most tiwsty on the island with tight hairpin bends seemingly stacked on top of each other!  All very scenic though as the road wends its way up through the graceful slopes covered in tall pine trees.

We started the walk where the GR131 coming up from Tazacorte joins the main road at a point 0.7km below Roque de Muchachos.  The reason for this was that we had already walked that section between Tazacorte and here and now wanted to make a start on the only part of the GR131 that we haven't done. 
The trail started off with a short section on the road and then it was up a snowy track to the Roque de Muchachos, the Rock of the Lads, which are actually a little group of vertical rocks.  The paper notice advises caution on the snowy paths.

But we were quickly on our way past this point and anyway, most of the snow had already either melted or been pushed into heaps at the side.  The air was fresh and clear, the visibility more than excellent and it was all very exciting!    

Every moment seemed to bring something new to look at and twenty mintues from leaving the Roques, we saw some old dwellings just off the path.  Not quite sure how you could get down to them but certainly could be useful if the weather turned poor - but that's not today. 

 

The path is a serious of small ascents and descents and is made up of gravel in some places and small stones in other, so it is not the easiest of going.  But it wasn't this that was holding us up but the views.  They were just not stop amazing as we walked along the ridge of the mighty Caldera to Taburients and looked out over the Parque Nacional, the Caldera itself which is a width of 9km and 1,500 metres deep.  That's some hole in the ground!  

On the other side of this we could see the Cumbrecita, the Pico de Bajanado and then the GR131 Volcano route going down to the extreme south of the island. 

Continuing along, another sight we have never seen before from up here - the bottom of the Caldera, the Barranco de Angustias, the Ravine of Fear.  Just to the right of the photo is one of several rocky outcrops which suddenly just pop up like a brick wall.  Or is it that everything else around just popped down?

The observatories are a continued presence seemingly springing up at all sorts of points.  The observatories I should just mention if you didn't already know are the third most important in the whole world, after Chile and Hawaii.  They compete with nature to make the most stunning contrast against the pure blue sky and despite the incongruity of being high-tec man-made objects in this awesome natural landscape, they still manage to look beautiful. 

In some places though it is not a good idea to walk whilst looking around as the trail can be quite narrow.  And as I've said, it's a long way to the bottom.  
And here is the most famous wall on the island.  It is called El Pared de Roberto, Robert's wall, is completely natural and you actually walk through a large gap in it.   You won't be surprised to hear that there is a folklore story all about it.  Watch out for it on the www.fincafranceses.blogspot.com in the next week.  
In the photo below, David is testing the depth of the snow with the snow pole, I mean walking pole, which turned out to be an impressive 3 feet.   Luckily the actual path wasn't covered to such a depth.

After two hours we arrived at the Mirador de los Andenes.  Although this is a hugely impressive viewpoint and one that we have been to many times, it didn't seem quite as impressive any more.  Brilliant and fantastic, yes, but just not quite as good as the many views we had seen on the way.  However, on the other side of the road facing north where the land drops giddily away from the road and down into the pine forests below, the thick covering of snow made it look like a megga-scarey ski run.  I'm not going down there and that's final.

This was a good point to turn around and make our way back and, now with less photos to take, it was a general amble.  Not always easy though and still necessary to watch where we were walking, it is what the Rother Walking Guide on La Palma would describe as not 'for the nervous of disposition.'

On our return journey, we enjoyed trying to remember which observatory is which.  You can read all about them - and more on the wonderful island of La Palma - here. 

SL VG 51 - A bit of a ramble

Yesterday we decided that we would avoid getting monitor-shaped eyes and go for a short walk - this was not going to be one of our more serious treks.  And with that in mind, David winkled out a path we had never walked before, despite it starting just a 20 minute drive away at Llano Negro (Black Plains).
We left the car at the Red Cross building car park and crossed the road, easily picking up the white over green blazes.

Straight away we were on the up - heading upwards on the track that is.  In fact, we could expect to be walking up all the way as our destination was Hoya Grande (Big Hole or rather more nicely translated, Large Hollow).  With a slight calf strain that is taking ages to go away, I made sure not to dash up the track which is probably what caused it in the first place!  But actually, the going couldn't be fast even if we had wanted it to be as there was some deep gouges in the track following some recent heavy rain.
After the first rise and at a small junction of other tracks, we stopped to take a photo of Llano Negro nestling at the base of the mound named Llanas which has a height of 947 metres. 

Now we had joined a small concrete path and that made the walking easier if less interesting, although there were a couple of farms alongside it which were in full swing.  Apart from the obvious presence of goats - ever popular on La Palma - there was also quite a lot of growing of crops going on.  Red peppers hung very Christmas  like on little bushes, potatoes of course and it looked like a bumper crop of pumpkins.  If the owners don't eat all of them, then the pig will be pleased to help out.

After this, we crossed the road and carried straight on with the next section of path and we would in fact be doing this several more times before the walk was up.  Interesting though because we have driven along this road at least a hundred times (I think!) and most of the paths we hadn't even noticed.  It obviously wasn't a very well walked route and one section had quite long, wet grass but also filled with Flor de Mayo which will be an amazing display of purple flowers in April (it can't wait for Mayo).  I shall blog it, don't worry!
Not that you would realise this was a path from the photo - it looks more like a field but, honest, we weren't trespassing.

As we crossed the road - which in essence dithers about all over the place as if in a daydream - we came to our next section and I couldn't believe how each one could be so different.  This was tree-lined, dry and covered with liberal helpings of pine needles. And in places it was practically dark and I was rather hoping for a hobbit-sighting.  But no, just a few chestnuts on the ground.  The hobbit theory dismissed, we moved onto a healthy debate about the difference between conkers and chestnuts.

After just over an hour of walking we arrived at Hoya Grande which should really be called Sleepy Hollow because it certainly it.  Here we made a little detour to see the nativity scene which the Palmerans really go to town on, making a huge display.  The one here that we have been to see before even had running water in a tiny stream, lights on in houses and so on.  It really was brilliant but instead this year we found a new plaza had been built and no nativity scene.  Shame but we congratulated them on the plaza and made do with the cross.

Well, that was our walk completed one way and we decided that we would walk back along the road the short distance to El Bailedro bar and restaurant.  We had decided on a nice balanced meal that we would share between us of chips and salad.  Chips are a bit of a treat in our book so we were really getting into our stride.  We did of course discuss the possibility of it being closed even though Monday is its closing day and this was a Sunday.  It is wise to realise that nothing is ever guaranteed on La Palma!  And yes, it was closed, with a note stuck to the door stating that holidays was the reason - although they were actually working at the back.
So we continued on the road a little more and it was a good opportunity to wonder at the lichen hanging from a tree.  Well, after all, we were at about 1000 metres.

We didn't stay on the road all the way down though and picked some of our favourite sections of track to repeat in reverse direction.  It was certainly a gorgeous day to be out and wonderful to see La Palma up to its usual trick of make crazy shapes with its clouds.

A good walk then and I would be happy to walk it again any time.  I can't say it is exactly in our 'A' list though with vastly impressive things to see, and of course no chips to be had, but worth a bit of a ramble.

GR131 - The Volcano Route

Ever fancied treking over a whole route of volcanoes?  Well, La Palma's your place!  Although it doesn't always seem like 'proper' volcanoes, I mean, where's the gushing black smoke, leaping flames and molten lava?  Mm, probably just as well there were not too many erruptions on the day of our walk.  But there is still penty to see along the way.
The Volcano Route is in fact one of the most famous walking routes on La Palma.  It forms around one third of the GR131 and runs between El Pilar (south of the centre of the island) and Los Canarios in the far south.  The great thing about the walk is that, given a clear day, you can get amazing views of both the east and west sides of the island with just a turn of the head. 
However ... there is some planning required with the logistics as it is a linear route.  We chose to start from El Pilar which sits at 1,500m above sea level thus walking more or less down hill.   And because we wanted an early start, we decided to camp the previous night.  Ouch, it was a little chilly at that height, but fresh and exhilerating and it is nothing that a camp fire at one of the purpose-built bbq cabins can't fix.  And of course I am crazy for camping! 

The next morning, after a breakfast in the gentle sun, we were off.
At the start, we were surrounded by pine trees and it was hard not to scramble to the edge of the route for some early peeks at the view.  Unfortunately, scudding clouds were blocking what would have been a stunning spectacle.  Darn!  Looks like we shall be doing this walk again - so that got me smiling.

 

Not long after, we felt we were on the way proper as we followed the ridge which is so symbolic of the route and of course we were still hoping for a better view.  At least though there was no wind which is an important consideration as it is extremely high and exposed here. 

Ah, and not a zig or a zag in sight - not at all like the squiggling ascents and descents of the barrancos typical of the north.

As we walked onwards over what is quite frankly a bizarre terrain, the skies started to clear and when we looked back we realised there really was a great view over Los Llanos. 

And now we were facing forward and looking over the south west with its acres of pine trees.  La Palma looked rather a large island from this perspective!

Gradually though we were entering into a landscape that was bereft of the towering pine trees.  These trees were a bright green and young looking.   And yes, it did feel as if we were on the moon - the silence, the lack of birds, trudging through the lunar landscape.

And oh dear, I knew it would happen, it was only a matter of time.  David breaks into song, 'On the trail of the Lonesome Pine ...  '

Just above Los Canarios, the GR130 Camino Real crosses the GR131. The GR130 is an 8-day walk along the coastal path of the island. Perhaps we won't do that today (Editor's note: we walked the GR130 in its entirety in 2010 and many sections again since then).

Walking down into the small town of Los Canarios, we headed to a bar for a coffe.  Perfect timing to get the bus up to Los Llanos, then a bus to El Paso and finally a taxi back up to El Pilar and the waiting tent and Landy.  Yey!  Another night of camping!
We shall definitely be walking this route again!