Walking the GR131 El Baston from El Pilar to Pico de la Nieve (and beyond)

It seems ridiculous to say that I've wanted to do a particular walk on La Palma for years, yes literally years, and still not done it. I mean, why wouldn't you just go and do a walk if you want to do it, especially when we live just a 50 minute drive away from one end of it. But the fact is that this isn't an ordinary walk - no, we're talking logistics here. And an overnight stay in a refuge hut.
 So finally having given up on waiting for the 'right time' to walk it, when it's not too hot, not too cold and we're not too busy or too unfit, it was a case of just doing it. I have to say that it was probably not the most perfect time, especially as we couldn't start the walk until late-afternoon but sometimes walkers can't be choosers. And so off we set with the small matter of 28km of fairly continuous ascents and descents most of which is at altitude, bed rolls and sleeping bags. Glee :) I love an adventure...

The start of the walk was crazy-easy with the walking path crisscrossing over a forestry track. But nice to be able to walk over the pine needles on the ground with the tree heather lining the path. And within an hour, we are starting to get some tantalizing views. I don't know if it's what I had expected, we're used to outstanding views, but I hadn't seen this one.

And not too much further along the route, we came to the aerials we had seen not so long ago in the distance. This was something of a way-point and we were making pleasing headway. Plus some even better views over to the east as picked we out Los Cancajos and the airport in the distance. 

Perhaps a more significant waypoint was reaching the Reventon Pass, the intersection of the GR131 and LP1 walking route which crosses the centre of the island from Santa Cruz in the east, up and over to the Virgen del Pino at El Paso and eventually to Tazacorte in the west. It's 7km from El Pilar and another 7km to the Refuge hut - it's a good place to pause a while, top up with drinking water from the fountain and enjoy the view of both the east and the west.

By the way, the red line on the map above shows the whole route of the GR131 - this is the one that the Transvulcania athletes run in day. I kid you not.
I think it was after this point that the route started to get a bit more serious with an amazing number of ascents and descents kicking in, especially considering that overall we were not gaining a huge amount of altitude. Oh well, así es la vida, full of ups and downs.

With fabulous views continuing we didn't hang around long to take photos but it was more a case of taking in the view while still walking. After all, darkness falls quickly and we still had a long way to go. So speeding up as much as possible, we walked the last part in increasing gloom and when we finally reached the refugio, it was all but dark. Happily (if that's the word) we had armed ourselves with torches.

 Now, I've never been to the Refugio before although I've seen photos and heard reports about it, but I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. I had somehow imagined bare bunk beds with broken lats, a creaky door hanging off its hinges and a dusty soil floor. But in fact it's an absolutely brilliant little building with quite two quite big rooms, one with good, strong, clean sleeping platforms and the other with two large tables and benches. Oh and a heavy, self-closing front door immediately followed by a heavy self-closing interior door with zero change of blowing open in the night. There are a few basics to help walkers too - an excellent first aid kit and some sweeping brushes to keep the place clean and free of tasty morsels dropped on the floor. Outside there is a water tap, although water purifiers are recommended. The Refugio is completely free of charge, does not need a permit and is never locked. 

I can't say that I've slept on a hard surface recently - not that I remember anyway (!) And at many points in the night, there didn't seem to be much sleeping happening but come 9 o'clock in the morning, I had to be cajoled out of my little nest. I'd already missed the sunrise I had so wanted to see but luckily David had taken plenty of photos. Early morning is such a beautiful time, bathed in the stillness of a day waiting to begin. And to know that we were right there on the trail in the wilderness was something that did not pass us by.

The walking trail led us behind the Refugio and almost straight away, we were descending on a path slippery with pine needles. And there's one thing we were sure of - that going down was not the overall plan. But after I had a quick and unplanned meeting with the ground, we were on our way back up again. With breathtaking scenery virtually every step of the way and just 2.5 hours later, we reached Pico de la Nieve. 

 For those of you who might be interested in the logistics, we chose to walk in a northerly direction starting at El Pilar (1455m) with an overnight stop at the Refugio Punta Los Roques (2075m) and ending at Pico de la Cruz (2351m). To get to the start, we took a taxi from the capital of Santa Cruz up to El Pilar which is where the Volcano Route ends and the next section of the GR131 begins.
The Refugio is a fabulous resource which sleeps up to 20 people - more information on the official La Palma walking site here: Senderos de La Palma. You can also see the profile and distances on that site too.

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.