Walking in the Canary Islands: Vol 1 West

This guidebook includes a rich and varied selection of 50 mainly mountain walks on the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. The islands have a sunny, hot climate with little rainfall and snow only on 3718m El Teide. Mountain ridges and peaks, deep and rocky barrancos, rugged coastlines and extensive forests.

The Canary Islands are a group of seven volcanic islands rising from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of north Africa. They enjoy a sunny climate tempered by oceanic influences. Rainfall is rare and snowfall is confined to the highest peaks. Although the islands are often very rough and rocky, with impressive and often inaccessible cliffs, they are also criss-crossed with tracks and paths that offer a variety of interesting walking routes. Many areas are astoundingly beautiful and far removed from the major holiday resorts. There are mountain ridges and peaks to climb; deep and rocky barrancos to explore; extensive forests of pine and ancient ‘laurisilva’ woodlands; flowery hillsides, rugged cliff coastlines and cultivated terraces bearing all manner of fruit and vegetables. This guidebook includes a rich and varied selection of 50 walks on the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. A companion volume includes another 50 walks on the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuert­eventura and Lanzarote.

Location

The Canary Islands are more or less enclosed in a rectangular area from 13º30’W to 18º00’W and 27º30’N to 29º30’N. Interestingly, the small western island of El Hierro was long regarded as being at the very edge of the world; it was the original 0º meridian until supplanted by Greenwich! As a group, the islands stretch from east to west over a distance of 450km (280 miles). Although administered by Spain, the mother country is over 1100km (685 miles) away. The narrowest strait between the Canary Islands and north Africa is about 110km (70 miles) wide. There are seven main islands and a handful of much smaller ones. The total land area is nearly 7500km (2900 sq miles), but the islands occupy an area of the Atlantic Ocean nearly ten times that size. Apart from Morocco and the western Sahara, which are to the east, the nearest neighbours to the Canary Islands are Madeira, to the north, and the Azores, to the north-west.

Geology

The Canary Islands are essentially volcanic islands, and although much of the volcanic violence has long passed, there are still a handful of hot spots and there have been several recorded eruptions over the past 500 years. Magma from deep within the Earth spewed out onto the ocean floor over 100 million years ago. Gradually, enough material built up for land to rise above the water, so that the Canary Islands started appearing about 20 million years ago. The eastern islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura surfaced first, followed by Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera and La Palma. El Hierro, in the far west, probably surfaced only in the last three million years.

The volcanic rocks seen today range from ancient strata formed millions of years ago to lava flows that spilled out as recently as the 1970s. There is every reason to believe that there will be further eruptions; most likely at the southern end of La Palma. Perhaps the most spectacular result of volcanic activity is the conical peak of El Teide (the highest mountain in all Spanish territory at 3718m), itself surrounded by jagged lava flows and the awesome crater-like rim of Las Cañadas. However, it is easy to lose count of the number of smaller volcanic cones that can be spotted in their hundreds by a dedicated island-hopper. The deep-seated bedrock, volcanic dykes, later lava flows, cinder cones and almost everything else you see is essentially basaltic.

Discovery and History

Although the Spaniards are often credited with ‘discovering’ the Canary Islands, history has a lot more to say on the subject. The islands were convincingly described by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD, and it is thought he could have been drawing on information obtained by the Phoenicians or Carthaginians before the birth of Christ. Go back any earlier and the Canaries become lost in the mythology of Atlantis, but one thing is certain, the tribes known as the Guanches had already settled on the Canary Islands well before the birth of Christ, and Cro-Magnon Man was there as early as 3000BC. Where the Guanches came from, nobody can say for sure, though the simplest suggestion that they came from north Africa in fleets of canoes is probably the most plausable. Guanche civilisation has always been described as technologically primitive, even ‘stone age’, but was socially well ordered. The Guanches put up a fierce resistance when the Spaniards began their conquest of the islands from the 14th century, but one by one each island fell. Tenerife capitulated last of all, with the mighty volcano of El Teide grumbling throughout the conquest. Despite some of the Guanches entering into treaties with the Spaniards and converting to Christianity, they ultimately lost their land and freedom, and often their lives.

The Canary Islands have been viewed as stepping stones to the Americas. They were visited by Christopher Columbus on his voyages of discovery from 1492. Their position has, however, as with most exposed island colonies, left the islands subject to pirate raids, as well as disputes with the Portuguese, attacks by British fleets and wavering economic fortunes.

There was constant rivalry between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with the whole island group being governed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria from 1808, but with Santa Cruz de Tenerife becoming the capital of the island group in 1822.

In 1927 the Canary Islands were divided into two provinces: Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In the early part of the 20th century the military governor of the Canary Islands, General Franco, launched a coup from Tenerife. This led to the creation of the Spanish Republic, the onset of the infamous Spanish Civil War and a long dictatorship. The islands were free from the worst of the strife, but were also left as a kind of backwater. It was largely as a result of Franco’s later policies that the Canary Islands were developed from the 1960s as a major tourist destination for sun-starved holidaymakers from northern Europe.

Since 1982 the islands have been an autonomous region and there have been a few calls for complete independence from Spain. The islanders think of themselves as ‘Canarios’ first and Spanish second, though they can also be fiercely loyal to their own particular islands, towns and villages. It is a pity that so many visiting tourists remain largely confined to the resorts and holiday complexes, and understand little about the history of the islands or the character of the people.