Hiking Los Gigantes, Tenerife

 

Barranco Seco

So far in our visit to Tenerife we had been hiking in every section of the island except for the northwest.  Yet the Teno mountains might just be the steepest, most rugged area of the whole place, and considering what we’d already seen, well…steep is the norm here, that’s for sure.  The narrow roads barely cling to the hillsides and passing a bus is an all-day affair.  Luckily for this hike, we wouldn’t need to drive into the area, as the circular path started in Los Gigantes on the southern end.

Walk #32 from the Tenerife Rother Walking Guide

We parked at the viewpoint overlooking the marina and the cliffs (we’d be getting a VERY close look at those later), and began walking through the banana plantations to start our hike.  At home we love to eat a lot of banana smoothies as part of a whole, fresh, healthy diet, so it was great to walk through the dense forests of banana trees.   The banana clusters were so heavy on each tree that each one had been carefully propped up with sticks, and covered with mesh to keep the birds away.  Now that’s dedication! 

"The light at the end of the tunnel"

After several miles of bananas and cactus trails, we reached the first mine tunnel.  This was the mother of all tunnels.  1.2 kilometers long, with a dilapidated, rusty train track running down it most of the way, the tunnel was wide and high enough I didn’t have to worry about hitting my head or arms.   My standard travel packing list always includes a small headtorch…however, it’s more for emergencies and I hadn’t planned on needing it to guide us through a pitch-black tunnel!   Needless to say the batteries weren’t the freshest and all it really gave out was a dim light, which we used to not trip over the tracks.  After about 15 minutes of steady walking we turned a corner and finally saw the light of day. 

The tunnel brought us out into the Barranco Seco or “Dry Canyon”.   This seems to be a popular and appropriate name for Tenerife canyons, as we had already found one with the same name in the Anaga Mountains in the north.  Immediately the trail was more of a short controlled slide down some loose scree (very glad I wouldn’t have to go back up) until we hit the dry creekbed, and then we could pick our way down the rocks.  The trail was marked by rock cairns and meandered along both sides of the steep valley, selecting what seemed to be the only navigable passage down the canyon.  We passed more evidence of mining and old water channels before arriving at our next tunnel, which would bring us back through the mountains and out onto the cliffs of Los Gigantes. 

But first we took a worthy detour and continued a kilometer or so down the canyon to arrive at our own private beach for the day (we only saw two other people the whole hike).  The surf was crashing on the rocks and the only way out was back up the narrow creek bed.  It was noon and we appropriately stopped for a leisurely lunch and a nap in the sunshine. 

The walk back up the canyon seemed easier, I guess climbing up rocks IS somewhat simpler than picking a way down.  Soon we were back at our second tunnel with a really dim headlamp.  This kilometer-long tunnel was straight as an arrow, and a welcome tiny speck of light marked the other end. However it was lower and narrower than the first one, with the water flowing in the tiny canal right next to us adding a bit of dampness to the air.  We hunched over to keep our heads from getting a nasty rock surprise, and used the faint bit of light from the lamp to check the floor and the walls for jutting rocks.  The total darkness made it hard to keep my balance, and this was a glimpse of how hard it would be to be blind. 

Stumbling our way to the other end, we emerged high above the waves on a steep cliff feeling somewhat like Indiana Jones.  Another dusty trail led steeply downwards, crossing a narrow canyon, and then we were out on the cliffs of Los Gigantes, with nothing but the crashing blue waves beneath us.  What followed was a nervous hour of vertigo-inducing narrow trails, and even I started to get a bit wild-eyed at the poor footing and constant focus we gave to each step.  It didn’t help that we lost the cairned trail for a few steps and came to a sheer cliff where the trail appeared go nowhere.  That was not a pleasant feeling as we had just a few sips of water left and a high desire to be back on solid ground again. 

  It was a relief to finally get off the cliffs, and I wasn’t at all surprised to see a sign at the trailhead warning that the cliff path was dangerous and, more importantly, “closed”!?!?!   I suppose that could be the Spanish version of “hike at your own risk”?   My walking book seemed to grossly understate the sheer dangerous side of this grand-finale across the cliffs from the tunnel.  Although they did use words like airy, exposed, and breath-taking, the cautions were less strong than for the (relatively) much safer path in the Anaga mountains we had done a few days before.

All-in-all, I was happy to make the walk through town to the car on normal sidewalks!

 

 

Los Gigantes



Ice plants...my favorite!

 

Hiking Anaga Mountains, Tenerife

The dry creek is a steep descent below me

Waking up to another day of very hazy sunshine, we knew a day on the beach was out, and opted for another day of hiking on a (hopefully) fog-free north coast.  I had naturally picked one of the (supposedly) hardest hikes in the book, and Rob was up for what sounded like a really wicked canyon scramble.  With hike descriptions such as "The vertiginous path across the rock face" and "This should only be attempted by experienced mountain walkers...." and "This nail-biting stretch last for 10 minutes...."  I was anticipating a marathon's worth of danger, but the actual trail was less horrible than expected (and only 7 miles), so mere mortals shouldn't be afraid to try it.  The views, however, were stupendous.

But I digress.

Walk # 41 from the Tenerife Rother Walking Guide, Barranco del Rio and Barranco Seco (7 Miles)

It was a beautiful but curvy trip up into the north mountains, which at times are so steep that roads are a big challenge.  Hence there aren't many of them, and the small villages feel very isolated.   We were delayed slightly in our drive by the crossing of runners in the 2nd Annual Anaga Marathon...darn, if I had only know about that race! 


Finally, going in the right direction!

 We had our own trail to conquer, and started out from the tiny village of Batan, me with my nose in the guidebook, but not quite deep enough as it turns out.  I knew the walk was in a canyon, I read enough to see where it said "downhill for 5 minutes", and blithely set off into the cultivated terraces with Rob trailing behind taking photos.  On our way down we heard the most beautiful echoes coming up the canyon from a loud radio playing in one of the terraces...it was somehow unearthly, and made my huge avoidable navigation blunder big mistake seem worth it.

It was only after 20 minutes and a dead end over a steep-walled canyon waterfall that I went back and realized that our first mile should have been up and over a ridge!  Doh!  Rob was a good sport and followed me back up the steep terrace steps, and we were both sweating more than we would the rest of the week when we ignominiously arrived....back at the car.  Whoops.  We set off again.

In my defense, the trail was not marked (perhaps to deter less strapping specimens from attempting it?), and finding the right trailhead was another few minutes of dithering, plus a few more wrong turns into terraces ending in steep cliffs.  But we persevered, as we could clearly see where we were meant to go from the ridge (uh, down, hello!) and soon found ourselves on the "dangerous" section.  With steps cut into the rock ridge, and dry conditions, it was just another flight of stairs, really. 



Don't lose your balance here...


Now we were in the bottom of the Barranco del Rio (River Canyon), picking our way for a while down the stones of the dry creek bed, and I missed another clue "Ascend to water canal and follow for 30 minutes".   What?!?!  We could see it above our heads, and snaked our way between cactus plants to get back up to it.   Running nearly level (but of course slightly downhill), the tiny canal twined around the deep canyons like a snake, and we followed it.  Now high above the canyon floor, we had no choice but to stay in the canal and definitely not fall off (or out of) its airy confines.

Around the bend, the ocean came into view, and slowly, every so slowly, the water channel got closer to the canyon floor again.  At a big water tank, we were finally free of it and back on solid ground again.  There we saw the last of the Anaga Marathon runners pass below us, heading up what I hoped was a more realistic trail than what we had just descended. 

Dropping into the tiny village of Punta del Hidalgo (it really was at the end of the road) we climbed steeply back up the trail into the Barranco Seco (Dry Canyon).  This actually was a signposted trail for a while, until we deserted it again to jump back on another section of water canal.  The channel was dry, as it hadn't rained in a while, but clearly was still in working order, and showed the extraordinary lengths that the locals go to in order to provide fresh water to their fields and families.  This water canal was even spookier, taking us through a couple of short tunnels and looking over a lot of empty air of the canyon. 

The circular hike concluded with a relaxing stroll through another quiet village, capping it off at the end with views over our earlier descent route.  With our wrong turns we were happy to have finished in daylight, and not as tired as we had predicted.  Cue up more walks in our future....

More photos are posted on Flickr

Hiking Los Organos, Tenerife

Our second escape to Tenerife (Canary Islands) saw me arrive armed and dangerous with a walking guide, as it is difficult to find walking information or trail maps once there.  Conversely, there are tons of wonderful, signposted hiking trails on the island, but without a map it's hard to know where you'll end up!  With a good trail map in hand, I've decided that Tenerife might just be my new favorite place in the world to hike...shhh, don't tell New Zealand, ok?

Normally the northern side of Tenerife is bathed in fog, and the southern side has abundant sunshine.  The island is only about 60 miles long and (sometimes much less than) 20 miles wide.  Along with a 12,198 ft. volcano in the middle, this makes for quite a lot of ecosystems mashed together!  This means you can feel hot desert winds blow across cactus in the morning, and be cooling off in a rainforest fog in the afternoon, with time in the middle for some sunbathing on the beach! 


Hike #6 from the Tenerife Rother Walking Guide, Barranco Madre del Agua (4 miles)

On our first morning in Tenerife, there were high clouds obscuring the sun and limiting it to a dim yellow ball in the sky, so we figured this might be a good day to get a hike in on the north side while the fog wouldn't be forming.  Of course the haze limited the visibility as well, but at least it wasn't as dense!   From our hotel in Los Cristianos, we drove the winding road up and over the Teide crater, and then a long way down the other side.  I love this drive because it winds through forest of pine trees with impressive viewpoints (not to mention the crater itself with views of Teide), and we were excited because finally we would get to hike as well as drive through the forests. 

Our relatively short hike started from a small forested crater called La Caldera.  We followed the long-distance path GR 131 (red blazes) for a mile or so, which was wide and level and led us under an impressive rock formation called "Los Organos".  Then we turned off onto a short, steep circular hike (yellow blazes) through the "Barranco Madre del Agua", or roughly translated "Mother of Water Canyon". 

This was our first introduction to the elaborate water collection techniques used on Tenerife to gather and store the limited amounts of rainfall.  The constant fog in the area meant that the trees were covered in moss and the foliage was dense and green.  However the sun was shining weakly on us, and we were excited to be outdoors in warm, dry conditions and temporarily away from cold, rainy England!  Covered water channels, bridges, and water tanks were showcased along this recently restored path, which eventually brought us back down to where we had started.   Retracing our steps up the GR131 led us back to the car afterwards.

P.S. The entire week I was hankering for a real map of the island (finally found one in a bookstore on our last day!?!), but between the free driving map that came with our rental car and the small maps in the walking guide, we were able to find the staring points ok.  There aren't that many roads on the island so it's hard to get lost, although we did have to backtrack a few times....

Open 5, South Pennines, 4 Dec 2011

Photos courtesy of James Kirby at Open Adventure

Whew, another epic day out in the hills...although this was due mostly to the bad weather for sure.  The 3rd race in the Haglöfs Open 5 series was held near Bacup, and featured the mountain biking singletrack of Lee and Cragg quarries.  I had been really excited to do this race, as the quarry riding would introduce some uncertainty into the navigation and route choices.  Unfortunately both Sarah and I came down with colds a few days before the event, and with the weather looking pretty horrible agreed that we would maybe take it bit easy.    

Still, pulling out our bright yellow race numbers with "Series Leader" written on them in place of a number...well, that was just too cool.  I suspect a few competitors might follow us around today in hopes of good nav choices...but I'm sure we'll get good and lost just to put that assumption to rest! 

It was raining on us already as we started the run, and with clogged noses, hacking coughs, soaked gloves, and soaked feet (already), we immediately wrote off the day as a probable loss.   

The elusive control #28

That was helped along by the second run point in Lee Quarry, which we could not find, as the description said "Largest boulder under cliff in southernmost end of quarry" or something to that effect.  There was a house size boulder in that location, no control there or on any other boulders, and so we shrugged, hoped it really was nonexistant, and kept going.  Turns out there were two cliffs, and we had been looking on the high one instead of the lower.   Us and the 6 teams around us at the time were all stumped, and it was bummer to miss that one out. 

From there the run just got worse, as our route took us over the windy moor, which was partially frozen boggy terrain with unexpected deep holes, of course all filled with water because it was raining.  It was very slow going over that crap, and we detoured father south to get a control worth only 10 points, just because it would get us out to the trail faster.  I think that was a good decision, unlike some others we would make during the race.  Sarah was great with the compass, as usual...I really should learn how to use one!   Halfway across the moor, a loud clap of thunder made us jump out of our shoes, and wish to be anywhere but exposed on a hilltop. The rain turned to hail and then snow, and trudging into the wind with my hood up and my beanie over my ears, I couldn't hear a thing Sarah said.  Thankfully after another couple of controls we were back down into the valley and coming around into transition again. 

I had managed to get my permanent marker to write the run points on the map, but the rain then soaked the map and my pen stopped working.   Should've had a grease pencil or something, so we pretty much had to memorize the bike controls' values to get our route planned.  We attempted to do this while finishing the run, and I think both our speed and our route planning suffered a bit. 


Lee Quarry

Normally I can make an educated guess before race day about what territory the MTB might cover.  Wow, was I ever wrong on this one.  Sarah and I had previously ridden the quarries, and although our recce hadn't taken more than a couple of hours of easy riding, I had narrowed my focus to the race being mostly in the quarries.  Whoops.  The area was miles larger than I had expected. 

To throw another loop in our route planning, the quarry controls weren't plotted on the map in an effort to get us to ride the whole loop rather than shortcut straight to the points.  The control descriptions of "signpost" and "stone structure" didn't help much either as I could remember several stone buildings in Cragg Quarry, and Lee was just a maze of trails.  Added to that, the transition area was changed from the map location, which we recognized right away, but heard later that many racers got quite confused trying to figure out where they were. 

We started the mountain bike with Lee Quarry and found one hidden control, then left the singletrack to make a big loop on bike route 92 to Whitworth.  It was fast riding with several points captured quickly, although we did ride up the wrong trail to a reservoir following another pair who had been on the right road, got confused, turned around, and then led everyone around them up the wrong way.  Why do we keep following other people who often are quite simply as clueless as we are?  Hmmm. 

At the bottom of the loop, getting off our bikes on the bridge control was the first time where I felt slow and sluggish...my hands and feet were getting numb and I wondered if it was safe to be outside soaking wet in these conditions.  Uh, duh.  Obviously not!  Joining the Mary Townley Loop/Pennine Bridleway, our next few miles were uphill, so we warmed up a little and walked our bikes a ways to get some feeling back in our feet.  Sarah's hands went completely numb and frozen part way up, and she was starting to sound rather incoherent, so I cajoled her into switching to dry gloves and walking for a while, plus eating and drinking.  It was difficult to do any of it as my drink tube was almost frozen, and my hands were muddy (crunchy jelly babies, anyone?).   Sarah revived quite quickly and we slowly rode up the bumpy bridleway. 


Cragg Quarry

Near the top, we made our biggest route choice error in heading into the windmill farm for a control.  The b ridleway to get there disappeared into another quarry singletrack, and the route was partially flooded and was really slow going.  We watched a guy ahead of us sink with his bike halfway into a bog, and found a way around that particular trouble spot!   The windfarm roads were really nice, but leaving them again was on another slow bridleway.  I did enjoy riding under the huge windsmills, which were cranking in the high winds.  Our cold feet were begging to get back early, but the slow going meant that we would be chasing the clock back to the finish instead.  We skipped Cragg quarry entirely and double-timed it back to the finish, picking up a last quarry control on the bottom section of Lee (an educated guess based on the fact there were no trees in the quarry!) It was almost on the way anyway.  Coming in late meant that we couldn't try for the last mystery point in the quarry, bummer as I had a good guess where it might be. 

Finally getting back to the car and finding warm dry clothes was the best part of the day.  My feet were so numb that it took a good hour before I felt warm again, even sitting in the finish hall drinking hot chocolate.  Others around us looked much worse for wear, with space blankets pulled up tight to speed the warming process.   Scores for the event turned out to be all over the board, and we were amazed to finish a distant 3rd in our category after all our mistakes. 

I normally wait a few days before writing about an event, as it helps me gain perspective on the race, and find a good story angle.  However I was so wired after the crazy day that I couldn't even get to sleep, and so the whole race (and our mistakes) kept replaying in my mind.   Perhaps that is due to having a sub-optimal race, or just the fact that once again I had survived some extreme conditions!   Judging by the repeated stories of late finishes, navigation troubles, and freezing extremities, there may have been lots of sleepless people last night!  Hoping all competitors made it back safe and sound, and I was grateful to see there were race vehicles high on the moors in case of an emergency. 

Definitely have to compare this race to the awful high winds and flooding we had in the Yorkshire Dales during the Open 5 in February 2011 .   This one comes a close second on the torture scale, due to the colder temps (hello, it was snowing on us!) and tough terrain.



Sarah slides down the slope...then wonders why her tights are wet?!!?

Attempting to keep maps dry to mark the controls...a futile effort

Wading in that water (Control #28) does not look fun

 

Pennine Bridleway/Mary Townley Loop

   



Snow!

2011 Coast to Coast AR TV Show now on Internet!

The Adidas TERREX Coast to Coast adventure race finally aired on TV in November, courtesy of Dream Team Television.  If you missed the shows they are now on the web.  I don't feature too prominantly :-( but the helicopter shots are amazing and so are the memories of a great race.  It was quite a journey to make it all the way from one side of the country to the other, fueled by muscles rather than motors.  Can't wait for a rematch in 2013!

View the shows here:

Episode 1   

Episode 2

My posts of the stage race are here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Mountain Biking in Lee and Cragg Quarries, Lancashire

The next Haglöfs Open 5 adventure race is going to be held near the town of Bacup, Lancashire. Sarah and I have a good lead in the women's pair's series but with some really stiff competition no score is safe. So for the first time ever, we went out in advance of the race to recce the area, specifically Lee and Cragg Quarries which will feature prominently in at least the biking portion of the race. The quarries are fairly recent additions to the singletrack options in the South Pennines, and are barely signposted, so local knowledge should come in really handy.

For the recce, Sarah, Alex, Adrian and I went out on a blusterly cool day which would probably be similar to the weather we would have on Sunday. I layered up in full waterproofs, as I was feeling a bit of a cold coming on and wanted to be warm. And dry. The puddles were all full so that turned out to be a good plan. Alex had the local knowledge from a previous ride in the quarries so he led the way as we tried to convert our strange maps into what we were seeing on the ground. Starting in Lee Quarry, we rode the east half of it, which was full of rock boulders and lots of short ups and downs. It was also quite confusing as the red trail offered a couple of options at times. With each trail intersection we were happier that this was a recce and not the actual race! We diverted from the red trail to head down to the pump track area, which also had lots of boulder-hopping opportunities for people much better at balancing that I am!

On the south side of the quarry, we left the route to ride up the moor towards Cragg Quarry on a new winding bridleway. It was slow going up but it promised a very fun ride down, with angled rocks for the more adventurous of riders to hop over at speed. After a short way along the Pennine Bridleway, we hit Cragg, which is a figure 8 course meandering near the actual bridleway. It is completely unsigned, but if you can figure out the trail, ride it clockwise on the smaller top half, and anti-clockwise on the much larger bottom (western) half. This quarry was quite ridable most of the time, with a few nice sections of downhill swoops, but mostly it was like a grown-up pump track...constant short, sharp ups and downs. My legs were screaming halfway through and never seemed to get a rest. Key I think is to keep momentum going to make it back up the uphills.

Once we'd conquered the windy sections of Cragg, we headed back for the second half of Lee, and the downhill to get there was as nice as we had hoped! The rest of Lee Quarry was also quite ridable and VERY exposed on a few sections. Don't forget there is a bottom trail at Lee with some more nice singletrack, this time a bit of dirt rather than the rock in the quarry.

All said, it is tough singletrack but enjoyable. Not sure if I really want to do it again, but I've only been mountain biking for 6 months so my singletrack technique needs a bit of work. I know from riding at Gisburn Forest that I was much faster around the singletrack trails the 2nd (and subsequent) times I rode there, sooo. We're hoping the same theory works for Lee and Cragg!

If you are looking for maps of the area, here is what we used, as OS maps don't show the quarry trails or the new connecting bridleway.

http://www.pmba.org.uk/Downloads/lee%20quarry%20map%20.pdf

http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trails/maps/lee_quarry.pdf Lee Quarry

http://singletrackworld.com/2010/05/cragg-quarry-map/ Cragg Quarry

Oh, and the Cafe near the parking at the bottom of Lee Quarry is quite nice, and has printed maps of both quarries. Check it out!

Photos will be added retroactively after I con someone into coming along to the race on Sunday to stand around in the cold rain with a camera!