Walking on Tenerife. Paddy Dillon
Rural de Anaga. Its rugged coastline often features cliffs, its mountains are riven by deep, steep-sided barrancos and the highest parts are covered in dense laurisilva cloud forests. Small villages cling to steep slopes that have been terraced for cultivation, and a network of old paths and mule tracks, as well as convoluted roads, link one village with another. Many routes have been signposted and waymarked in recent years.
Eight walks are offered on the peninsula and, while each one stands on its own merit as a day walk, they could also be linked together to create a long-distance walk around the peninsula. While the nearby urban areas of Santa Cruz and La Laguna offer plenty of accommodation, walkers also have the option of staying at a hostel high in the mountains at El Bailadero; the Albergue Montes de Anaga, tel. 922-823225, www.alberguestenerife.net.
There is an interesting visitor centre at Cruz del Carmen, dedicated to the natural history of the Anaga peninsula, tel. 922-633576. It offers plenty of information about walking opportunities in the area. Buses serve the villages on the peninsula from Santa Cruz and La Laguna.
WALK 1
Pico del Inglés to Valleseco
| Start | Pico del Inglés |
| Finish | La Quebrada or Valleseco, near Santa Cruz |
| Distance | 7km or 9km (4½ or 5½ miles) |
| Total Ascent | 30m (100ft) |
| Total Descent | 960m (3150ft) |
| Time | 3hrs |
| Terrain | Mostly good paths and mostly downhill, but occasionally rugged. The final stretch is on a road. |
| Refreshment | Bars at Valleseco. |
| Transport | Occasional buses from La Laguna to Pico del Inglés. Regular buses from Valleseco to Santa Cruz. |
| Waymarked route(s) | Route uses PR TF 2. |
The ‘English Peak’ can be reached by bus. A relatively straightforward route runs down to Valleseco in the suburbs of Santa Cruz. The lush laurisilva forest on the mountains gives way to scrub more suited to arid conditions further downhill, as the route drops into a deep barranco.
There are occasional buses to Pico del Inglés, around 1000m (3280ft) high, and if these are not convenient, other buses pass 1km (½ mile) from a car park and mirador near the summit. Despite nearby masts there are splendid views of the Anaga peninsula, the urban sprawl of Santa Cruz and La Laguna, with El Teide rising beyond. Gran Canaria lies out to sea. The peak was named after a visitor who fell to his death; only he wasn’t an Englishman, but an Austrian.
From the Pico del Inglés car park a signpost for Valleseco points down a short flight of steps. Turn left and right past a derelict building; then the path is often worn to bedrock on a slope of laurisilva woodland. Keep ahead at a junction, along the clearest path, flashed yellow/white. Occasional views to either side reveal that the route is along a rocky crest, rising and falling. There is a sudden view of the urban sprawl and the path swings left. Stone-paved zigzags give way to a zigzag groove on the slopes of Cabezo del Viento, where forest and scrub vie for dominance. Watch for markers to pass a little house.
The path drops and then climbs round a steep hollow where there are lots of aloes among the scrub. Join another path and turn left up to a gap where a few houses, Casas de los Berros, stand either side. Cross the gap and go down the other side, traversing before winding down past a big eucalyptus tree. Pass little plots and cross a river, heading downstream and passing a little white house while crossing the barranco from side to side.
The Roque de Agua is seen on the way down from Pico del Inglés
Make a slight rising traverse, then wind down and cross the Barranco de Valleseco back and forth again, passing a concrete aqueduct. Cross the barranco later and pass a bridge carrying another aqueduct, spanning an impressive narrow rock gorge. Cross again well below the bridge, then back again. Pass stoutly-walled plots and cross yet again. Pass more plots and keep left below a house. Cross the river a couple more times, pass a ramshackle house, then see lots more houses straggling down through the barranco ahead. Follow the rugged path and join a concrete road beneath a concrete aqueduct. The road offers rapid onward progress, but the path slices up to the right and comes down later, beside a map-board and signpost.
In wet weather waterfalls can be seen at intervals through the Barranco de Valleseco
Continue down the road, crossing two bridges and passing bus stops at La Quebrada. Unless a bus is due, keep walking down the road through Valleseco, passing sports facilities and bars. Reach a junction with a very busy coastal road where there are plenty of buses to and from Santa Cruz.
WALK 2
Igueste de San Andrés to Chamorga
| Start | Igueste de San Andrés |
| Finish | Chamorga |
| Distance | 10km (6¼ miles) |
| Total Ascent | 875m (2870ft) |
| Total Descent | 425m (1395ft) |
| Time | 5hrs |
| Terrain | A road walk is followed by a rugged path climbing to a ridge. Intricate paths lead from village to village. |
| Refreshment | Bars at Igueste and Chamorga. |
| Transport | Regular daily buses serve Igueste de San Andrés from Santa Cruz. Infrequent buses serve Lomo de las Bodegas and Chamorga from Santa Cruz. |
| Waymarked route(s) | Route uses PR TF 5. |
This route could be used as the first stage on a trek round the Anaga peninsula, though it stands on its own merit as a fine day’s walk. After climbing through a barranco, a ridge leads to laurisilva forest, followed by a walk from the village of Lomo de las Bodegas to Chamorga.
The road serving Igueste de San Andrés bends round a barranco and this walk starts at its furthest point inland, where there is a bus shelter beside an ATM. Follow the road signposted ‘Pista Hoya de los Juncos’, which climbs from the village, crossing and re-crossing the Barranco de Igueste. Pass a few houses and enter the Parque Rural Anaga. The barranco bed supports dense canes and aloes, while the steep and rugged slopes rising from it are thick with tabaibal and cardón.
Turn right as marked up a steep concrete track with a 10kph speed limit. Turn left off it along a level path past little terraces, passing an old sign reading ‘Casillas’. The path climbs a steep rugged slope, and a couple of little houses can be seen tucked into hollows. The scrub features tabaibal, cardón, prickly pears and asphodel, as well as fragrant incienso and lavender. The path levels out on a ridge, Lomo de la Zapata, with a view back to Igueste and the sea, as well as up to the well-wooded crest of the mountains.