TENERIFE: Arona to Adeje walk on TENERIFE.

Wednesday 18 February.

It was off walking again today. This time we were heading south to the area around Adeje where we did our first walk on Tenerife. We left after breakfast and caught the express bus to Los Americas. We were there on time for the connection that goes to the volcano El Teide but we were only going a short distance, to Arona, where our walk started. There was some confusion when we boarded the bus, Moira was under the impression that the driver said he didn't go to Arona but the sign on the front of the bus said it did. It turned out that the problem was that he didn't accept the prepaid ticket and she had to pay him in cash for some reason. The bus was quite crowded with people heading for the volcano and more got on when it stopped at Los Cristianos. It was only a short distance, 7km, from there to where we got off and fortunately Arona was just a small village with one bus stop so there was no alternative about where to get off.

From the bus stop the guide book said to follow the main road in e direction of Vilaflor and picked up the trail after 10 minutes. Instead we took a different route that was signposted to the left shortly after leaving the bus stop. This pointed to the Roque del Conde, the flat topped mountain that dominates the region and to Ifonche at 6.2 km and halfway along today's route to Adeje. This was slightly longer than the more direct route to Ifonche described in the guide book but it was one with some outstanding mountain scenery.

It was particularly strenuous and the paths were mostly hard packed earth, smooth and well defined. There was a drop down into a ravine and up the other side before a steadier ascent to a col between Roque del Conde and Roque Imoque. We couldn't see the flat plateau on the top of Conde from this side but the other mountain Imoque was a beautiful pointed peak that was very striking. From the col the trail kept mostly to the contours as it rounded Imoque through wondrous natural gardens of various cacti and white daisies. Soon we came to another col this one separating Imoque, 1107m, from Roque de Los Brezos, 1108m. The col was at about 1000m but we hadn't climbed that much as our starting point at Arona was at an altitude of 630m. There was a cobbled threshing circle with a small wall of flat stones where we sat for a cup of coffee and a biscuit.

From the col it was still 1.7 km to Ifonche and we could see the houses of the community scattered over the surrounding hillside. The little village itself was along a tarred lane that made its way across the relatively flat mountain top. We passed a spot where the cliffs dropped away sharply and commercial hang-glider companies used it as a take-off point. As we passed a number were soaring into the air on the thermal currents. The guide book (we were back on its route again) was a bit confusing about the direction to take from the centre of the village but when we got there it was perfectly clear, well signposted and waymarked.

We now entered a most delightful area through pine forests. The route again wasn't particularly taxing as it followed the contours round the hillside and going in and out of ravines. The first ravine we came to was the top of Barranco del Infierno, this is where the highest waterfall on the island is found. A few weeks ago we wanted to come to it from the other direction but the route was closed for safely reasons. Now it seemed to be completely dry and just the tall trees and sheer cliffs were the spectacular scenery to be enjoyed. There seemed to have been a fire a some time through the forest as all the trees had their barks blackened and charred. The next ravine was the Baccanco de la Fuente and the route took us all along one side to the top where we crossed a dried up stream then down the other side. As we headed to the top of the ravine we could see other walkers on the other side, it was a popular route.

Soon we cleared the trees and could see the village of La Quinta on the other side of a deep gully as we headed down to the col at Boca del Paso. This was where we reached on our first walk on Tenerife about a month ago when we climbed up from Adeje. We stopped and sat on some flat rocks where we had our lunch. An English couple who arrived just after us from Ifonche enquired about the descent to Adeje and I assured them that it was fairly easy. Seemingly they didn't like going down and had considered walking over to La Quinta and getting a taxi from there. We passed them later a short distance away having their lunch, they had decided to do the walk down. I don't know what their concern was as they seemed to be experienced walkers having spent a lot of time over the years on the island and knew all the popular routes.

The first part of the descent was mostly on zigzag paths, a bit rocky in places but fairly easy and fast. After that it was flat and quick over a long shoulder before dropping again to the road leading down to the town of Adeje. We did the descent in 90 minutes and it was 3:45 pm as we were making our way to the bus stop; there were buses every half hour and I was hoping there would be one at 4pm. It was 5 minutes early, we arrived just on time and were on our way back to Puerto de Santiago. We had been walking for about 5.5 hours which was in accordance with the guide book's time for the route. It was been a wonderful day out and one of the best walks we had done with a mixture of mountain vistas and enjoyable forest scenery.

Back at the flat we relaxed with a cup of coffee and were I time for the quizzes on TV. We had a lovely chicken curry for dinner after a starter of avocados. The avocados were the ones we got a few weeks ago from the people picking them from a tree when we passed walking down the track from Santiago del Teide. They were very hard when we got them and Moira had left them to ripen, now they were soft and delicious.

There wasn't anything on TV after dinner that we wanted to watch. I managed to finish a crossword in the newspaper then we both read until bedtime. The weather today had been beautiful, clear blue skies and very warm but since we got back the wind had become stronger and was bringing in the clouds.

PHOTO ALBUM FROM ARONA to ADEJE