Tenerife 2022 – August 26-29

Such scientific consideration is made after walking past each on so many times, on some of our routes we pass by all four! To be fair we might try another, but tonight the principle is vindicated and we enjoy an excellent dinner, although I’m not so good with photos this time. 

Standard Saturday of domestic necessity is soon complete and then we’re walking into town. This time we remain inland for a change and people-watch the shoppers as we wiggle from area to area, finally ending up in Los Cristianos. The athletics arena is adjacent to the football pitch, but they seem to be doing motor-cross at the moment. We resist stopping at the caviar shop (a minimum of €175 per oz seems like a good reason to walk on by) and indulge in a bought sandwich harbour-side before commencing the more regular coastal return journey. 

We aim for a Vodafone shop but find they close a lunch on Saturday so that’s going to have to wait. Passing Playa Fañabe we walk up the Costa Adeje until we’re on the beach at La Caleta to watch a paraglider come in to a perfect landing right in front of the beach café. From our garden we see many such flights each day, most of which land on a strip closer by than this beach. 

Sunday is a hot, heavy, overcast day, but we’re going inland where the weather is colder but sunnier. We drive to Santiago del Teide, which is not the one mentioned the last two Sundays – although not high, Santiago or Saint Peter is up there on the list of common placenames. It’s San José since you asked!

This Santiago del Teide is a pretty village just 25 minutes from us, and the very end of the TF-1 motorway. It’s very popular with bikers and walkers, for a good reason close to winding mountain crossings. We head off up of the track PR-TF 43.3, which is a great route across a lava flow, the basalt river clearly visible where it wound down through pines in November 1909, the most recent of the eruptions Tenerife has seen, from the El Chinyero Vent, near our destination. 

Today we’re content to not make it all the way, another time we’ll park nearer. It’s hard enough climbing from 3100ft to 4700ft, the terrain either unspoilt pine forest or paths cut into the flow by the amazing national parks team, which seems unlimited in its ability to create fabulous walks around the island. Whilst researching the walk and dates I’ve found another good one too!

Bank Holiday Monday means extra weekend! To a point anyway, I still work a few hours as Hubby is in cleaning mode so I need to keep away, and anyway server maintenance is much easier when no-one is in the office. Excitingly our bird of paradise has grown a flower over the last few weeks, and today the second one emerges. 

Later we walk down to our beach – meaning the one at the end of our barranco just five minutes away. We take a little swim just so we can say we did it. More exciting is that La Gomera is very clearly visible today, and looks lovely in the distance. 

The evening soon arrives and we take a long walk to Roca Negra, as we go we look down over Hard Rock Hotel and La Gomera in the distance with more flyers. 

We enjoy our last frozen strawberry daiquiri for a few weeks. 

The walk home shows the hill side in late evening sunshine.