Tuesday 13 January.
We were planning to go for a walk today but first I got out for my run. I went out at the usual time just before it got light after some stretching. I did the route I ran on Sunday, out to the end of town then picked up the dirt road along the coast. I ran a bit further on the track before turning back. I didn't bother with any hill reps this time but pushed hard on the climbs on the way back. It was another lovely morning for running, mild but not too warm, allowing me to keep a good steady pace going. My time was 39:23 minutes, so a reasonable length run. I stretched again beside the pool then up to the flat for breakfast.
We were going to do the walk to Masca but found that there were only four buses a day running from Los Gigantes to Santiago del Telde where the walk began. The most convenient one was at 9:30 am and we didn't have time to catch it. We picked another walk from the book that looked reasonable for a starting walk. This one started at the town of Adeje and was to the highest waterfall on the island, at the top of 'Hell's Gorge', Barranco del Infierno. There were more buses running from Puerto Santiago, one every half hour, to Adeje. Moira made sandwiches and a flask of coffee for lunch and we set out after breakfast.
The bus ride cost €2 each and this was deducted from the card Moira bought yesterday. It took nearly an hour to get to Adeje with the bus taking detours into other resorts along the coast, Alcala, Playa San Juan, and Abama. There were plenty of seats until Abama where a lot of people got on and the bus filled up. We got off at the wrong stop but the driver who knew where we were going kept us right and told us to get on again.
The guide book we had said to begin the route from the church. We couldn't see the church but the road headed steeply up towards the hills behind the town so we assumed that was the direction to take. It was quite a climb up the steep road and at the top there was the church, a square structure with bells above the front porch and a separate steeple built in the tiled square at the side. Across the street there was the Tourist Information Office and we checked there for a map for the route. The guide book had said that the walk had been closed in 2009 due to a landslide and safety reasons but we assumed it would have been reopened by now, unfortunately they said at the office it was still closed. We were given a map with alternative walks we could take.
The walk went either to La Quinta, 5.5 km or to Las Lejas about 17 km. It was waymarked with yellow and white bands and the start was easy to pick up once the tarred road ended and the route became rough and rocky. It was a steady climb all the way and the track zig zagged all the way. The weather was nice, not too warm but unfortunately it was hazy and the views were spoiled as a result. There were a lot of people walking the hill, a young guy zoomed past us just after we started, but we overtook a couple then a family with youngsters having a rest. We caught a group from Belgium who told us that there wasn't a bus running from La Quinta but we could follow the road back from there to Adeje which was a more comfortable downhill walk. Later we walked with a German chap who had also come out to visit the waterfall and we chatted to him. The young chap who had past us early on the way up was now coming down again, running. He said 'Hello' and we recognised a Scot's accent. He was from Aberdeen and he said his family were spending the day beside the pool but he had to keep active so headed for the hills.
The junction of paths was at Boca del Paso and there was a lot of people already there having a rest or stopped for lunch. The pass was at 980 m, so we had climbed our first Tenerife 'Munro'. La Quinta was still 1.7 km away and we could see the houses of the village on the other side of a gorge. The scenery was quite outstanding even with the haze and there were ridges with jagged
crags and another high peak with a level flat top. We were feeling tired after our first energetic walk and my back was beginning to feel sore; continuing meant a drop down to the bottom of the gorge then a climb up the other side. We decided to call it a day and make our way back to Adeje again. We had our lunch then started off down again. It had taken us 2 hours to climb to the pass and it was about the same going down again. We stopped at the church when we reached the town and sat on the stairs to finish what was left of the coffee in the flask with a biscuit.
We had about 10 minutes to wait for the bus back to Puerta Santiago and again it took nearly an hour. The climb must have been hard as we were both feeling very stiff and sore and quite tired. Once in the flat we relaxed for half an hour before Moira made the dinner, a lovely chicken curry. After washing up we watched the New Year Ceilidh in Gaelic that I had downloaded from BBC iPlayer. It was very good and the music was enjoyable even though we couldn't understand any of it. I watched the second part of the 'Silent Witness' that started last night. It wasn't very good.
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