Windswept in Gran Canaria

A feeling persisted that I never should discover what I sought for unless I could travel in the wild , unpeopled parts of the world………….Clara Vyvyan, Roots and Stars, 1963

Oh……………have I got lots to tell you about, this will be a long one. What has to be the busiest half term of the school year ever, was followed by an amazing little trip and the discovery of one of the best books I have ever, ever read!

I was so ready for this break. I thought, “Where can I go where I can get some sun on my face, wind in my hair, some good food, a bit of exercise outdoors and get away from the world?”. The decision was made to walk the GR131 across Gran Canaria……………. 80.3 km in 5 days.

The GR131 is a long distance path across all of the Canary Islands and the idea is you can start in the east of the Carnaries in Lanzarote, and by walking and using only ferry to connect the islands you can walk across all seven of the islands, 560 km, in around 32 stages. I only had 8 days so chose Gran Canaria which the walk traverses straight through the middle from South to North (or vice versa) can be done in 5 days with a couple of rest days built in for relaxation………….it was a holiday after all.

I always like to have book to read while I am walking and my chosen book for this walk was ‘Windswept’ by an author called Annabel Abbs. I have to say it is the most thought provoking book I think I have ever read. I think Annabel and I might have been twins in a different life!😂The opening quote is from that book and I’ll share a few more throughout this post.

The book explores why women walk. It goes back to when women were expected to stay at home and do as they were told. But it explores the walking journeys of 6 remarkable women who didn’t do as they were told, and they walked………………alone…………….in an age when walking alone as a women was completely unheard of! It looks at the reasons for women walking and concludes that there can be many. It examines the journeys of: Frieda von Richthofen (author), who walked for ‘freedom’, leaving an unhappy relationship; Gwen John (artist) who walked ‘in search of self and solitude’; Clara Vyvyan (writer) who walked to ‘simplify life from the weight of complexity’; Nan Shepherd (writer and poet) who walked ‘in search of being and meaning’; Simone de Beauvoir who walked ‘in search of body’, to rest her brain from anxiety and reset; and finally Georgia O’Keefe (American painter) who walked ‘in search of freedom and wide open spaces’.

Now Annabel is like me in certain respects. We are of a certain age, children, married……………………….and she has this overriding urge to be in nature and walk……………………..alone. Writing this book was her way of trying to understand why women walk and why she herself had a constant desire to walk and escape. She examines what happens when you do walk, how do you unbecome what you are, and indeed why, and what happens when you become ‘Windswept’………..can things ever go back to how they were, do you even want them to or are you for ever changed.

Reading this book was a bit of a ‘lightbulb’ moment for me. I got to the end and was that little bit closer to finding me and understanding me, and I’m almost there. When I tell people I like to walk, sometimes alone, often abroad, for weeks at a time, they usually look at me a little oddly. I get questions like “Why do you do that?”, “Aren’t you scared?”, “How do you find your way?”, “What if you get attacked?”…………… and statements like “aren’t you brave”, “I could not do that”. Some people think you are odd, some see you as an inspiration and most people just don’t get it. And sometimes I don’t know the answer either……….but this book answers all those questions and more.

So throughout this walk, I read this book, which by examining these 6 amazing women, revealed to me why I feel the way I do. So as I was reading it I was thinking, “So who am I? Am I Georgia, Nan, Gwen, Frieda, Clara or Simone?” I concluded that I’m probably a bit of all 6 mixed together………….but ultimately I’m Joanne, there are many reasons for me walking, all quite normal and rational, and I’m not some freak of nature. I’m most definitely ‘Windswept’, I have changed my outlook on life considerably on my journeys, will probably not go back to how I was before and don’t want to, and I don’t think others want me to go back to being the over anxious, over thinking human being that I was. Most importantly, I now value my worth and think I’m a pretty amazing individual in my own rite……..I’m unique (most people would be glad there’s only one of me 🤭)…………..and it’s taken me a long time to realise just how great I am and be happy in my own skin!

This book is not just for women, I would recommend that every man who has a woman who walks, or one who is struggling through that menopausal life stage should read this………….it will explain why they feel the need to walk or escape, why you should let them walk and discover themselves and it will give anyone who reads it an insight into the female brain, because it’s complex 😆. I’ve said time and time again…………………………………….we are simply not the same as men, we are beautifully different and are wired up completely differently. One is not more superior to the other, we are just different………….and this walk and book confirmed that for me 100%!

So on to the walk, the GR131 through Gran Canaria. It’s amazing and should be on the the ‘bucket list’ of walks to do for anyone who likes walking. Only this one was a walk with a bit of a difference…………..I was not alone. My ultrarunning other half (Mr Fitness as he is known by friends)………..had decided this one was a step too far! Ascending to just below 1900m, very mountainous, necessitating map reading, according to Cicerone a ‘highly challenging walk for experienced adventurers’ ……….. he put his foot down and said “NO!” And he very rarely tells me “No” as he knows it’s not a word I respond to very well, as you can imagine.😂 He pointed out that in addition to the above, it is a path travelled by very few, there would be low lying cloud…………….and then proceeded to remind me about the number of times this year alone I have come unstuck and called home for rescue………………..and there was no way he was coming all the way to Gran Canaria to rescue me apparently!

With my wings suitably clipped I reluctantly agreed he could come. However, I have to point out this is our first multi-day trek together! It is also likely to be our last! 🤣 We are completely incompatible as walking partners! We are pretty much opposites in lots of ways, but in life in general that’s ok as they say opposites attract! However in walking………….and the book ‘Windswept’ touches on this subject……….you should only walk with someone unobtrusive, similar and with the same objectives as you………….which is where it sort of falls apart for us.

Now Mr Fitness is not similar to me and most certainly does not have the same objectives. I like to meander, I like coffee and cake and ice cream, I have no timeframe when on holiday, I like things to just evolve, I don’t like to rush. Mr Fitness, being a competitive athlete, has to be ‘top dog’, has a plan and a strategy, is obsessed with fitness data, has a body like a temple and has a ‘goal’ for everything. He has to be ‘commander in chief’ of any situation and likes to try and organise everyone else! And if there is one thing I’m not good at it’s being told what to do……………….it instinctively uncovers my desire to do the opposite. I become naughty!😂

Just before we set off he started trying to tell me what to pack in my rucksack, how to carry it, which of the emergency equipment I would be carrying, muttering something about a tent and a stove…………………………at which point I had a mini tantrum and called a meeting to set out the ground rules! I advised him I was going on a ‘holiday’; I would not be carrying a tent as I would not be sleeping in one; I would not need a stove as Gran Canaria has multiple coffee shops; I would be substituting emergency blanket and water filtration tablets with face cream and shampoo in my rucksack; and I, and I alone, would be deciding route, pace, stopping points and accommodation. I then proceeded to remind him I had been walking numerous times without him, packed and carried my own rucksack, walked across an entire European country and survived!! I stressed he did not have to walk with me if he wanted to walk quickly, as I was not racing him. I advised him that from time to time I like to walk quietly, and not to be offended when I told him it was time for him to go on ahead or shut up! So the ground rules were set, and off we went.

Day 1 – Maspalomas to Arteara

We arrived at the airport the afternoon before we were going to start the walk. It’s an easy 45 minute ride on the No.66 bus direct from the airport to Maspalomas where the walk departs from.

We were travelling with just our rucksacks. Mine was its usual weight packed exactly as I like it, with just things that are necessary to me. All very efficient in my colour coordinated bags. Mr Fitness’s rucksack was just as I thought it would be. After spending weeks bragging about how he would be able to get all his stuff in a small rucksack half the size of mine he looked like he was going to Everest base camp. He’d had to upsize! I’d talked him out of camping stove and tent but he had his water filtration, bivvy bag, emergency shelter and more emergency survival equipment than the Red Cross. 😂

Maspalomas was not really my ‘cup of tea’…………..I’ll be brutally honest and say I did not like it. It does have the most beautiful beach, some nice sand dunes but other than that it’s just bars, British, bars, kebabs, beer and sex (I’ll expand on that in a minute). It’s as holiday resorty as it gets and if I’d ended up there on holiday for a full week I would have been longing for escape. It’s a love or hate sort of place, and if you like it that’s fine, it wouldn’t do for us all to like the same thing would it? However the apartment was good. We stayed in a lovely little studio apartment owned by the lovely Noelia and her husband, in a nice quiet area out of the hubbub. This accommodation was recommended by Mr Fitness who has used it as a base when he ran the Gran Canaria Ultra Run a couple of years ago…………. the only one he did not finish…………….but we are not allowed to mention that.🤭I loved Noelia……….who sent him a message just after we left the following day to say it was a pleasure to meet his very pretty, friendly wife who has the most amazing skin! 😂😍😂 Thanks Noelia! I’ll stay again!

The first evening was not without mishap……………..I don’t know how I do it. Mr Fitness, training for his latest challenge, had decided to go for a run on the beach. I’d settled with my book and a glass of Pinot Blush on the patio. The evening was spent preparing, which involved a trip to the supermarket for some provisions for the day one walk as there were to be no cafes or places to get food or drinks en-route. I was in the supermarket, waiting for Mr Fitness who I’d arranged to meet, choosing some bread and snacks when I smiled and said hello to a gentleman. I only smiled! He then proceeded to chat, which I don’t have a problem with as I’m friendly, however it did not take him long to ask if I would like to go to the mixed couples nudist section of the sand dunes with him. 😦 I glanced around for Mr Fitness to come to my rescue, told my suitor that I had a date with a Magnum double chocolate and caramel ice cream and got out of there as fast as I could! Now I know I’m a bit out of touch and naïve but that will be my lasting memory of Maspalomas……….I don’t think I’ll be rushing to return or chat to strangers (I should have listened to my Mum on that one).

The following morning saw our departure from Maspalomas, apparently the departure point for Christopher Columbus on one of his voyages to America, so he obviously couldn’t wait to depart either.

We were heading for Arteara at the base of the mountains…………a steady climb. The first five kilometres are a little boring. It’s still a bit residential, flat, not very green, and just a bit bland……………………….apart from some questionable graffiti which you can’t help but notice! I told you they were obsessed with sex here!

You start by walking out of town up a long, dry river bed.

It’s not too long before you get out in the open and spot the first of many yellow arrows which seem to have become the way markers for any long distance path or Camino. You pass through swathes of palm trees, past old dry stone aqueducts and plenty of prickly pear plants. As you head further away from civilisation you start to see the mountains towering above you and start to get the most beautiful views. This was when I started enjoying the walk.

All went smoothly until we took a rather questionable route choice. We could have carried straight on over the looming hill and down into the small village of Arteara where we were staying for the night. However, we thought it would be more exciting to walk down the Barranco de Fataga – a dry reed and river bed in the bottom of a steep gorge which also terminated in the village. This turned out to be not such a good idea. The reeds were densely thick, twice my height, with the narrowest little path through them. The path seemed to go on for ever. Then it kept ending with no way out in sight, requiring a retreat backwards and a hunt for another way out. I kept getting my rucksack stuck on the reed canes and kept having to be released by Mr Fitness (much to his annoyance), I cut my leg and was pretty close to having a full on meltdown when the end of the path finally arrived. I thought I was very brave!

The final hour and a bit had been a battle. 16km after departing and over 2,000 feet of ascent and I was so glad to see the little village of Arteara and the Finca Las Tenerias where I had booked a room for the night.

I was so ready for a beer………………a large one!

I spent the majority of the evening trying to extract cactus hairs from my skin. Every time I brushed my hand against my skin I found another, and the thing is they are so painful and you can’t even see them. Down in the reed bed the wind was blowing down the gorge. They must just travel in the wind and embed themselves in you. I was covered in them. And they are so hard to get out as they are fine like hairs and you can hardly see them. You have to first find them with a magnifier and then pull them out with tweezers. I didn’t get them anywhere else on the route so if you travel this way my advice would be don’t take the reed bed route. Go over the top! I’m still finding the odd one now……..weeks later!

This was a really different overnight stay………….it’s the only place to stay in the village. It’s sort of like a little commune (all German), who live a self sufficient life off the land and rent a few rooms out and feed you at their on-site restaurant which is also open to the public. They have a little farm shop, it is in the middle of nowhere and they have some bizarre bits of sculpture here and there and an old piano. It’s sort of weird in a nice way.

The food in the restaurant was delicious and they put us in the very sweet self-contained Casa Bonita at the bottom of the garden. This is when you realise how much your world is different to theirs. The strange thing was this little house had no key to the door, anyone could just have walked in, day or night……………and for some reason this made me feel really uncomfortable. I guess there is no need for a lock there. At home we would never leave our door unlocked, even in the house in the middle of the day, we lock our doors in the UK all the time. But sleeping with the door unlocked would be unheard of.

However, I had the most dreamy peaceful night’s sleep one I’d wedged a chair under the door handle and balanced a bag of dried fruit and nuts on the handle to alert me should anyone try to enter, which of course they didn’t!😂 And that was all despite the presence of a rooster whose body clock seemed to have gone awry……….he crowed all night and was silent by morning.

Day 2 – Arteara to San Bartolome de Tirijana (Tunte)

This was a lovely walking day, so much more enjoyable than the day before. A steady uphill 13 km with just over 655 metres of ascent.

We did not need to set off early so started with the most amazing breakfast served in the farmhouse of the old finca. So much food for two people……………..and freshly baked bread rolls, butter and cooked eggs of your choice…….it was delicious.

We departed for the day and started following the arrows over some amazing mountain scenery. It’s a little bit like a moonscape with little white houses and villages dotted here and there. Cacti and prickly pear are everywhere, but fortunately none of the little hairy things from the day before. I spotted some lovely little garden ornament flowerpot men outside one finca and another even had a camel on which to rest your weary legs!!

The nice thing about this stage is that there is a halfway stop in the gorgeous little village of Fataga. It was here where we had a little downpour and where we had a little falling out, well not a falling out, a difference of objective and opinion have we to say. I was apparently ‘dawdling’ too slowly. I was taking too many photos and taking too long over them. You see the thing is when walking with someone like Mr Fitness it always has the feeling of an army bootcamp. He asks you the same three questions (sometimes worded slightly differently) over and over again. And they are:

• What’s your number of heart beats per minute? – now I haven’t got a clue……so I have to check on my watch and tell him. He then has to make sure his is a lot lower and then inform you that all is well, his is currently forty beats slower than yours, proving his superior fitness!
  
• What’s your average speed? – obviously a lot slower than his so we are still all good.
  
• What’s your VO2 Max? – no idea…………I don’t even know what that is.
  

And it goes on and on like this. Now I’m not competitive when I’m on a walking holiday so I just keep giving him the stats, stroking his ego, and sometimes I admit to even falsifying my data output to so that the fitness gap between he and I broadens into an even wider chasm, making him look far superior. Anything for an easy life.

Now, I too have three questions which I ask over, and over………………but for some reason my questions seem to rather annoy him which I feel is a little unfair and one sided. Mine are:

• Do you think there will be a toilet near here, I’m getting ready for a wee?
  
  Where and when do you think I’ll be able to get an ice cream as I need one?
  
• Are we nearly there yet?

Yes, I’ve just read that back and appreciate that it might be like taking a small toddler on a day trip so he probably does have justification in his annoyance……………..but I’m on holiday!

So we arrived in Fataga where he spotted me dart inside the door of the Restaurante Terraza. They weren’t busy and although it was too early for lunch I sprinted inside to see if they sold ice creams before Mr Fitness could stop me. I know it was raining, but ice cream is acceptable in all weathers. They didn’t sell ice creams, they are a restaurant, but the lovely waiter pointed out that if I just wanted a coffee and a warm up inside that was fine, and “Do you want to look at the dessert menu?” he said. He must have seen my disappointment at the lack of Magnum ice creams. Well, what can I say……….they say these walks ‘provide’………and they do! I partook in the most divine, warm, icing sugar dusted, chocolate brownie with hot chocolate sauce, a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream and a fancy wafer biscuit! Meanwhile Mr Fitness sipped his decaffinated coffee (he does not do caffeine – it’s bad for the body temple) and looked at the chocolate sauce covered me like he had discovered the secret as to why he was a great athlete and I wasn’t!🤣🤣

We left Fataga suitably warmed up and headed up and up into the increasingly cloudy mountains to the village of San Bartolome de Tirijana, known locally as Tunte. There were some beautiful flowers but it was a tougher afternoon with all the ascent weighted towards the latter end of the walk. There are clear signs of recent fire devastation towards the end of the incline but recovery is in evidence and it’s still pretty.

I was relieved to see the small white town of Tunte in the distance by which time the sun had made an appearance and the blue skies were back.

Tunte is a pretty town. Flower filled balconies abound and we stayed in a delightful little studio apartment inside a traditional stone and red plaster building which had the cutest little flower and plant filled courtyard. It had the comfiest little bed and I was so tired. The same cannot be said for Mr Fitness who decided he wasn’t done for the day and went out for a training run while I had a little afternoon snooze.

The evening was spent having a look around the little town, devouring some huge home made veal meatballs, stuffed with quails eggs in mushroom sauce (these were nice!), and then having an early night as the next day was going to be a BIG day!!

Day 3 – San Bartolome de Tirijana (Tunte) to Cruz de Tejeda

This was always going to be a tough day, this and the final one, for different reasons. This day just goes up, up and up…………relentlessly, for 19km, non-stop with 1,025 metres of ascent to the highest point on the walk, Cruz de Tejeda, passing around the Rocque Nublo, the highest point on the island.

However, this has to be one of the most spectacular days of walking ever, But I have to admit, I think I would have been out of my depth on my own on this particular day. There was significant low lying cloud which I would not have been comfortable in without the assurance of someone who knows what they are doing giving me that confidence that I’ve chosen the correct direction.

It is also extremely exposed and probably not for the vertigo sufferers. I did have to check myself a couple of times and tell myself I was ok and doing just fine!

The views as you ascend are just spectacular and there are all sorts of unusual flower and fauna up on the ridge. As per usual Mr Fitness was skedaddling off, metres in front, while I was dawdling in my own little world taking pictures. This did give me the opportunity for some pretty amazing photographs though which illustrate the size and vastness of the mountain.

There were trig points, sheer drops, the hugest pine cones ever, and numerous stops to don waterproofs and then take them off again. We had all the seasons in one day.

The hardest task was deciding where to stop for the picnic. The the sky turned blue, the sun came out and we were rewarded for our efforts with the most spectacular lunchtime view of the Tejeda valley with Rocque Nublo in the distance.

The island is truly spectacular when you get away from the resorts of the coast. My parents have been coming here twice a year for the last 20 years and now they are aging I keep in regular contact with them when I’m away. Daily photographs were sent and responded to with disbelief, neither of them believing it was the same island that they visit as they tend to just stay put, being looked after in their resort now they are both in their 80’s. I must admit, my last visit to the Canaries was 30 years previous on a girls holiday to Tenerife, and it’s a place I’ve never rushed back to, believing it to just be full of resorts, but get away from those and it’s spectacular.

The air just makes you feel free………free from everything, I don’t seem to be wanting people…………..just space………………Georgia O’Keefe

We pressed on and arrived in the little hamlet of Cruz de Tejeda after five and a half hours of walking. There’s not much there only two hotels, the most spectacular view, and probably the island’s best sunset. This is where I got into a little bit of trouble, in a nice sort of way, and I definitely got a little eye roll if you know what I mean. I think Mr Fitness thought we were pressing on to the little village of Tejeda……………………you see he has no idea where we are staying each night, he just leaves that detail to me.

So he looked a little bewildered when I started walking up the drive to the Parador Cruz de Tejeda, a castle like building belonging to the Spanish group of Parador hotels. A Parador is a Spanish luxury hotel and it’s normally in an historic building or has a scenic view. I think he thought that we were popping in a drink only for me to shout to him to hurry up because this is where the two day spa break was happening and I did not want to be late for my 4pm massage I’d booked. I think his first thought was his wallet 🤣 and then he looked all horrified thinking I’d booked him a massage too. Anyway, he soon perked up when I told him I’d sorted the bill from my ‘secret’ fund and not booked him a massage. He has this thing about being touched by a stranger……………unless it’s a physio of course……..that’s allowed! 😁

I just could not resist the bargain of a two day winter spa break offer that they had on, and I thought that if I’d dragged myself all the way up to 1836 metres, with my rucksack on my back, continually responding to questions on my performance data (or lack of it), I’d deserved it.

Well what can I say, if you walk through Gran Canaria you just have to stay here, even if it’s just for one night. The hotel, the rooms, the views, the spa, are all just amazing. So after a thorough inspection of my bedroom, a little tipple on the balcony overlooking the mountains and the most luxurious shower ever, off I trotted for my massage, agreeing to reconvene in the spa pools one hour later. The massage was fantastic and soothed some of the muscles in my legs that were really starting to ache.

The spa is pretty spectacular too. It has the most gorgeous outdoor infinity pool overlooking the mountains, a hot tub, Turkish hammam, Swedish sauna, various fancy hot and cold showers and an indoor pool and jacuzzi with all sorts of jets and buttons to press. When you’ve had enough of the pool there are heated hammock beds tucked away in a dark little room with piped soothing music and camomile tea. It was gorgeous and I knew I was going to be perfectly happy on my rest day the following day. 😁 Oh…………..and the bed was sooooooo comfy, I slept like a baby.

Rest Day – Tejeda

This was the rest day that wasn’t really a rest day because after breakfast Mr Fitness declared that it would be a shame to come all this way and not visit the very pretty village Tejeda down the hillside. I reluctantly agreed as long as we could go down and up on the bus. Anyway, to cut a long story short I missed the bus so agreed to walk down and bus back.

It was a nice, if not a bit steep, 2 mile walk down to the village but he was right, it is very pretty and you should visit. There is a lovely mirador view point, some nice coffee shops, a pretty church square, some lovely old doorways………………………..

………………..and loads of Bougainvillea, which I love.

There was also an opportunity to have my photograph with my wings outspread, confirming what we already knew, I am 100% angel, apart from the halo which I substitute with a pink bucket hat.🤣

And guess what, I spent that much time walking around and window shopping, that there was no bus back either so I had to walk 2 miles, up a very steep hill, after which a very large Aperol Spritz was required on the patio as part of my rest day recovery.

This evening’s pool spa session I’d booked for 6pm as I wanted to watch the sun set from the pool …………. and goodness, it did not disappoint. It was spectacular! One of those wow moments that you will remember for a long time.

I retired happily to my bed thinking what a shame it was I was leaving the following morning to walk the last two days when I could have stayed there a little bit longer by re-mortgaging the house. 😂 No, I joke, with the spa offer I would say although it was expensive it was good value for money and worth it for a treat………..you work hard for it and can’t take it with you! And after operating as what Mr Fitness calls ‘his amazing and indispensable one-man support crew’ for 48 hours in Mont Blanc 2 months previous to this even he agreed this was a well deserved treat……………………and believe me, he can split a penny in half! 😆

Day 4 – Cruz de Tejeda to Artenara

This was quite a short day, just 7.5 km and 549 metres of ascent. This was because the real end to Stage 4 is in a campsite in the middle of the woods, which after two days at the Parador I wasn’t doing! So I decided we’d just walk to the last town on the route, Artenara, stay there, and then walk a Stage and a half the following day to the coast and the end of the walk.

This also meant no early set off so I got to enjoy my big breakfast at the Parador before we left at around 10:30am.

I immediately thought all my Christmas’s had come at once when parked outside the hotel was a fully saddled donkey! I was so tempted to track down the owner and see if it was available for rides to Artenara with a 10kg rucksack and fully grown adult. But I reluctantly told myself that the aim was to walk and I trudged off on my way after a bit of a donkey cuddle.

The walk to Artenara is lovely. After a very steep half a kilometre uphill it flattens out and is just undulating, along a ridge line all the way to Artenara. There are spectacular views over the whole Tejeda ravine and mountain range of Gran Canaria. Then you drop down into forested areas with the tallest pine trees, with shafts of sunlight shining through the tree canopy.

I took another walk yesterday and it was the most wonderful of all …………when I find myself again lonely and quiet in a lonely quiet country, it moves me deeply………….Simone de Beauvoir

There is also a really interesting group of seven caves half way along the route. It’s quite rocky but perfectly safe to have a clamber around and look in them.

Route finding can be a bit of guesswork as there are various options you can take because I think there is some sort of competition taking place in Gran Canaria to see which town council can attach the greatest number of directional arrows to one post. 😂 Some can have up to 5 arrows all with the same place on, all pointing different directions, like the one below.

So I was a little bit relieved when in the distance I spotted the little white town of Artenara. This is a really interesting little town in the very depths of the mountains and is not frequented that much by visitors. It’s very well looked after , really clean and has some quite interesting sculpture to look around…………..some modern, some just fun and some more poignant.

As you enter the town from the mountains there are some huge modern pieces in rusted iron, one which is supposed to resemble a lighthouse and the other a boat. There are also a number of sculptures reminding you which town you are in just in case you’ve forgotten!

We checked into the accommodation, threw off our rucksacks and went for a wander. A large number of houses in Artenara are cave houses which were dug into the side of the mountain many years ago and are still inhabited now. There’s also a little chapel in a cave, the ‘Ermita de la Virgen de la Cuevita’. The chapel dates from the 18th century and contains the locally revered statue of the Virgen de la Cuevita. Its definitely a worth a little look. There is an altar, a font and even a pulpit from which I was delivered a sermon by the ‘commander in chief’ of the walk.

Then I found Jesus! You can’t really miss him, he’s the hugest statue at the highest point of town.

I like to learn new stuff and probably the nicest statue in the whole of the town is on the Mirador de Unamuno. Here there is a lovely place to sit, above and below the clouds (Artenara is the highest town on the Island). On it is a really atmospheric statue of a man gazing longingly outwards, clutching his hat, looking like he’s searching for something long lost. There is just a plaque with his name on it, Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo. “Who is that?” I thought, so I gave him a little search on the internet. Anyway, he’s a man who Artenara hold quite dear as he spent a period in exile from Spain here. He was a essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, and latterly a professor at the University of Salamanca. He was Basque, born in Bilbao and was exiled from Spain a couple of times. He switched his allegiance more than once in his life, during World War I and later during the Spanish Civil War, ultimately turning against Franco who held him under house arrest until his death in 1936. An interesting story of an interesting man.

It wasn’t until the evening that I realised why Artenara would be an excellent place to hide out in exile. Being the highest town on the island and having house interiors that are hewn into the rock it is so cold and damp. No one would come here looking for you! I’d found one of only two places to stay. It was a little house in town and it was cute and it was clean but goodness when that sun went down it was freezing cold right through to your bones, and I had not really prepared for that. Extra clothes and bedding were piled on and there was nothing much to do except sleep deeply in the little cocoon I had made for myself.

Day 5 – Final Walking Day – Artenara to Puerto de las Nieves

With 23 kilometres and 1270 metres of descent, for me this was by far and away the hardest day. For a start it was a sunrise set off as I know it would be a long day and nights were drawing in early. In addition it is all downhill…………all the way from the highest town on the island to sea level. I find downhill so much harder than uphill.

So I have to admit I set off a little bit grumpy! It was cold, dark, damp and I was looking forward to reaching the end. A sharp left turn after the mountain rescue station and I was a little dissapointed to see there was lots more uphill, over the summit of Mount Tamabada before the downhill started.

The sun came out, the air heated up and the walk started to get better. I did not take too many photos today as I spent a lot of time concentrating. The downhills are really steep as you descent the mountain and there are some really high ledges and drop offs so I was more than happy to see the coastline open up in front of me about 4 hours into the walk. What I did not realise was that although it looked close, it was going to take me another 4 hours to get there! 🥵

By the time we got to Puerto de las Nieves and the end I had well and truly had enough of the day. This final stage and a half, with so much descent and not one coffee stop along the way had definitely got the better of me.

However, arriving in Puerto de las Nieves was such a nice surprise. It was nothing like the resorts of the south coast. It was a traditional little fishing town. The sun was shining, the beach was full at it was a national holiday, and the smell of seafood was drifting out from the nearby restaurants which lined the pretty little port.

I was so hungry and I just wanted a plate of fresh fried seafood and a beer…………nothing fancy, just that. So that’s what I had and it was gorgeous.

Just time for a quick supermarket visit and a check in at the apartment as this had been a long day. This apartment was a little gem. A recently renovated one bedroom townhouse in the small town of Agaete, 15 minutes walk from the port. It was really clean, well presented and so well equipped. It was lovely to put our clothes through a proper wash cycle with detergent and put some clean, fresh clothes on. The icing on the cake was the rooftop patio complete with sun loungers which faced west so the day was finished with a toast to a successful GR131 mission, with a beer, while watching the sun set behind the mountains. We were here for two nights and the following day was a rest day and our last full day on the island so I was looking forward to a relax and a little explore around the small town of Agaete.

The Finale

The last day was a lovely rest day in the beautiful little town of Agaete. It was a little cloudy, but warm. The town has a pretty town hall, a nice little tree lined square with a church in it, narrow whitewashed streets that you can get lost in and the all important bakery for that carrot cake and coffee stop.

It was in Agaete where I also discovered ‘the natural pools ‘Las Salinas de Agaete’. They are a little walk out of town, down above the harbour. They are three naturally formed volcanic pools, interconnected by underwater tunnels. They are ideal to swim in as they are protected from the rough sea by really thick volcanic walls, but you get the most spectacular sight of the waves crashing and breaking over the sides and spilling over into the pools. The water was a little ‘fresh’ but I could not resist a dip and once I’d got myself submerged and taken a couple of deep slow breaths I soon became acclimatised and had a good swim around.

It was a lovely little day. I declined Mr Fitness’s offer of a 10 mile training run and had a lovely me myself and I evening with a cup of tea, my book and the most gorgeous sunset. A perfect end to a lovely week.

I’ve been back for over two weeks now and I’m already missing the winter sunshine of mainland and southern Europe. It can be positively grim in Yorkshire at this time of year. Foggy, cloudy, wet, damp with not a lot of daylight…………..but still beautiful of course because it’s Yorkshire! And tonight it’s snowing and it’s not even the end of November! 🥶I’m frozen………..I don’t do cold.

But you just wear the right clothing and keep busy. And you know what that means don’t you……………..yes, one of the advantages of Autumn is that my woolly hat collection can come out. This weekend I’ve been for a lovely autumnal walk with my friend of over 50 years (we were born 1 day apart and were brought up on the same street)………one of those ‘friends for life’. My first woolly hat outing of this season.

Being Joanne and Suzanne we spent hours when we were younger singing into our hairbrushes pretending to be Joanne and Susanne from the Human League, that was before the age of gaming and social media when we used to do proper things like singing, role play, bike riding and playing out in the woods and fields to entertain ourselves. However, we never quite managed to persuade Jonathan or Robin (our sidekicks) to be our Phil Oakley!🤣 We were like the Famous 5 (minus 1). We have laughed so much at this photo this weekend. Why on earth did my Mum put a ribbon in my hair to play in the woods and climb trees? How on earth did Suzanne climb in open toe sandals?😂 Those were the days………..when crimplene flairs were in fashion and it was cool to wear your wellington boots with shorts! We were obviously on a mission on this day! 🤣🤣

Then I filled 10 garden compactor sacks of leaves and planted some bulbs, baked my Christmas cake which looks pretty spectacular, and went orienteering.

Saturday was the Padfield Plum Fair Fell race where I ran my little socks off and Lois, Helen and I won the ladies team trophy for Penistone and I claimed first place V50 lady. It’s a little tough one on the fells……….. 5.5 miles of up, up and more up, round the grouse shooting cabin, up to the Cock Hill trig point and then all the way back again. It’s a bit of a mud fest which used to be finished off with a 100 metre sprint carrying a 25kg bag of coal up the neighbouring hill. Fortunately for me, that little addition no longer happens as I’m not sure I’d have been up to that following the run. 😂

I sort of welcome my little winter hibernation though………………..I read more and find much more time to do my creative things. No adventuring abroad planned until February. I’ve just taken delivery of some gorgeous fabric to make some new bedroom curtains and I’ve booked myself on a linocut print making workshop which I’m very excited about! I first learnt about linocut when I went to the Picasso museum in Barcelona. Picasso, Matisse and Hockney all produced a number of linocuts. It’s something I’ve not had a go at before so I’m looking forward to learning a new art skill and getting messy!

So that’s it for now. Almost my favourite time of year…………………..until then, in between working, I’ll just keep wandering, exploring, making, doing, learning, living and getting up to as much mischief as I possibly can…………………………although I’m not doing too well at the latter…………….it’s been over two months since I’ve had to call home to be rescued…………….I must try harder. 🤣