Friday 6 February.
We planned to go for a walk today but as our route started off from the complex I had time for a run first. I stretched and got going at my usual time. I ran up the hill to the Lidl roundabout and went along the contour road to the junction halfway that took me all the way up to the fire station at the top near the TF 65 walking route start. I ran down the hill to the junction to the bus terminus in Los Gigantes down past the street to Grab Island then along to the other hill up to Lidl again. I ran down the first hill to bus terminus again and headed home via the coastal path. It was tough hilly route and I managed to maintain a good pace on them all. My time was 55:26 minutes; I stretched then up the stairs for breakfast.
Moira had most of the things packed for our walk and finished making the sandwiches after breakfast. It had been mild while I was running but we knew it would be colder as we got higher so we put on our fleeces. It was just after 9 am when we got going. The start was more or less the route I had just run; up past Lidl then continued to climb round the next circle to the view point then still climbing to the start of the TF65. The first part on the narrow tarred road was very steep and it was only when we reached the rough Camino did it level out a bit and become a more comfortable walk. We were familiar with this track having a walked it twice though in the other direction. The plan was to take a side route near the town of Tamaimo that went up to Cruz de Misioneros, a large white cross high on the ridge. We were making quite good time and found that going up felt a lot easier than descending, especially on our knees. Before reaching the junction marked to the 'Cruz' that I remembered there was another junction signposted as a circular route ,TF65.2, of 3.5 km to Tamaino. There was no indication that it went to the 'Cruz' and there wasn't any reference to it on the map Moira had obtained from the Tourist Info. Rather than going that way and risk getting lost we continued to our marked trail.
It took nearly 2 hours from leaving the flat to reach the junction just after Tamaino. Before the climb to the ridge we sat on a wall and had a cup of coffee from our new flask and a chocolate waver biscuit. The signpost for this trail was marked 'Cruz de Misioneros 1.1km' but also as the other end of the TF65.2 circular route, we decided that once we reached the top we could follow it round and come out at the junction we spotted earlier. The ascent was fairly tough, it just went up and up with very few zigzags to ease the climb. The cross which we could see at the start high on the ridge disappeared as we climbed and didn't become visible again until we were near the top. Just below the ridge there was a junction, the 'Cruz' was 100m to the right while the circular trail went to the left. We went up to the cross first and sat there to take in the view. Below in the valley was Tamaino and high up behind was the new motorway with the town of Arguayo where we walked a couple of weeks ago. The coast stretched out from Puerto de Santiago and the island of La Gomera was crystal clear today. In the other direction we had the gorge of Barranco Seco running to the sea with the pointed rocky peak of Risco Blanco at its head. At the far top end of the ridge was the town of Santiago del Teide.
We made our way back to the junction 100 m below and headed in the direction of the TF65.2 circular route. I thought it was going to take a contour path round the side of the mountain but it continued climbing and in places it was very steep and required a bit of scrambling. When we reached the summit it was surprisingly flat, this was Montana de Guamanian at 877m, not quite a 'Munro'. We now had views down the Barranco Seco to its outlet at the sea, just round the coast from Los Gigantes. The harbour at Los Gigantes was just visible, the edge just poking out from behind the cliff. Looking backwards the whole of Risco Blanco, the conical pyramid of rock was now a striking prominence at the head of the gorge. We now began to descend and as it wasn't too steep in this direction we were able to make reasonable time, the only difficulty was loose gravel which tended to be slippery. About halfway down we came to a shoulder with some nice convenient flat rocks where we stopped for lunch. There was a lovely view over the ocean and boats coming and going out of the harbour, there was a different sailing galleon exiting the harbour, this one had red sails. While we were having our break a man coming up in the other direction stopped to talk. He was from Limerick in Southern Ireland and have been coming to Tenerife for 6 years since retiring. A short while later he was joined by another Irish couple, his companions who were a lot slower than him.
When we got going again the track cut round the side of the hill before turning and dropping straight down to meet the main route to Santiago del Teide at the junction we spotted earlier in our walk up to Tamaino. From there it was familiar territory and 3 km to the end of the trail. We managed to stride out now as it was relatively flat compared to the track descending from the ridge. When we reached the road it was the same way back that we had taken up this morning. As we neared the end on the hill going down after Lidl, the climbs were beginning to take their toll and we were both feeling sore and stiff; it was good to be finishing.
The first thing was a shower which helped to ease the muscles then a cup of coffee. I put on the radio via the Internet and listened to a couple of programmes that had been on today while we were out via iPlayer catch-up. Then it was the quizzes before dinner. Later tonight there was the first match in the rugby 'Six Nations' championship. It was Wales v England from Cardiff. Wales were on top in the first half but after the interval the coach must have said something to motivate England because they were a different side and won easily in the end.
'CRUZ de MISIONEROS' PHOTO ALBUM
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