As we emerge from the stifling heat of late summer and the first rains of the autumn feed the earth, turning brown to green and filling the air with the promise of new growth, it’s the perfect time to head into the hills of Santiago del Teide and visit the delightful Erjos Pools.

Why this way?
There are very few places on Tenerife where you’ll find pools or lakes that aren’t surrounded by sun loungers or walls. The disused quarry workings of Erjos are one of the prettiest. When the heavy digging machinery moved out, the wildlife moved in and now the pools are a haven for butterflies, dragonflies, ducks and rabbits – a veritable Watership Down, but without the sad bits.

It’s a part of Tenerife that’s favoured by walkers and it’s a million miles from the beaches of the south coast. Up here, the air is scented with pine, the landscapes are rolling green hills and dramatic volcanic cones and the nearby village of Santiago del Teide is to my mind, one of the prettiest on Tenerife. For the bonus ball, Bar Fleytas provides a great place to head for a beer and some tapas when you’ve finished. The inside bar is great for escaping the cool clouds and if it’s hot, the outside tables are perfect for perusing the, err, car park. Still, there’s always plenty to nosey at.

You don’t have to be a hiking pole-carrying, rucksack sporting, boot-clad rambler to enjoy this part of Tenerife. The pools are easily accessible from the main Icod de los Vinos to Santiago del Teide road and are great fun to explore just on their own and there are more than enough places to buy ice cream and fun things to do in Santiago del Teide to please the whole family.

Hike this way*
A path drops down from a dangerous bend on the main road, just north of Bar Fleytas on the Icod road, and zig-zags down to the pools. From there, any number of trails criss-cross their way, connecting smaller pools to wannabe lakes and providing reed cover for mallards and dragonflies. Just keep hold of the smallest members of the family lest they mistake bulrushes for solid ground and find themselves doing a Moses impersonation without the aid of a basket.

When the novelty of chasing rabbits and crickets wears thin, a path leads up through heather and willow trees to the ridge that overlooks Valle de Arriba and Santiago del Teide. At this point, any breath you had spare from the climb will be taken away as the gorgeous valleys unfold at your feet with the massive bulk of Mount Teide and Pico Viejo blotting out the horizon.

From here, a Red Riding Hood trail takes you through dense forest which still bears the blackened scars of the 2007 fires, along the north west ridge overlooking Los Silos before bringing you full circle to emerge once more above the Erjos Pools. Whistling the theme tune from the Archers, you descend through the green and pleasant farming land and arrive back at the pools.

Stroll this way
In the centre of Santiago del Teide is a small footbridge which looks as if it leads nowhere. In fact, it leads to a small shrine hidden in the hillside high above the village. The path is called the Camino de la Virgin de Lourdes and is marked by the white crosses (stations of the cross) that the pilgrims follow to reach the shrine. Once there, you’ll be rewarded with lovely views back over the valley and the village, and a small oasis of honeysuckle, roses and bougainvillea in which to sit and ponder the beauty of your surroundings.

Alternatively, take a stroll through the neighbouring village of Valle de Arriba where you’ll find rural Tenerife in all its simplistic glory. Agriculture is the mainstay of the village, much of it still by back-breaking bending and weeding by hand, and the fresh water spring is the centre of village life where bottles are filled and gossip exchanged. Feel free to join the queue for the free water, it tastes much better than the bottled variety and is rich in minerals.

My way

Peaks: Check out the lovely Casa Del Patio in Santiago del Teide for great food, souvenirs and a menagerie of farmyard animals or enjoy a eucalyptus-scented picnic at the zona recreativa opposite, If you’ve forgotten to pack the egg butties, the kiosk does a mean burger.

Troughs: If you’re unlucky and the bruma (low cloud) rolls in, the temperatures can plunge to uncomfortable levels and scenery can disappear.

My view: 4 Stars – This is one of my enduring favourite walks in an unspoilt area of Tenerife and is easily accessible by everyone. With the lovely Santiago del Teide next door, it makes for a great family day out.

*Detailed directions for this walk are available in PDF format as part of the ‘Into the Valley’ Island Walks.

Now summer is officially here and before the thermometer loses its head entirely, it’s the ideal time to explore Tenerife’s east coast. Around Puertitio de Güímar the default setting is sun and there’s very little shade to be found, but the near-constant breeze keeps everything just the right temperature for exploring the coastline.

Why this way?
For many people, the east coast of Tenerife is just a blur seen from the window as they travel along the TF1. But leave the motorway and head down towards the coast, or up into the hills and you discover a very different side to Tenerife. Less conducive to taming than its southern and western counterparts, the east has escaped over-development and there are many parts where nature still holds sway with wide, open spaces, where you can walk for hours and not meet another soul.

Hot, dry and windy, the central eastern coastline is largely what is known as malpaís (badlands); arid scrub land with desert-like conditions. To look at it from a distance, you might be forgiven for thinking that nothing grows or lives here but in fact, the malpaís is home to 150 species of flora which support 100 types of insect and 60 types of butterfly, not to mention the thriving communities of lizards that accompany your every step.

But the best reason of all for choosing Puertito de Güímar as a walking base is because of its great seafood and tapas restaurants and the little port with its stylish boardwalk where swimmers and sunbathers frolic. There can be few better places to end a hike with a swim, lunch and a beer, not necessarily in that order.

Hike this way
The clearly marked path begins just outside Puertito de Güímar and follows the coastline past a shanty town of former military installations which have been extended haphazardly using a spirit level that was clearly far more spirit than level. It should look like an eyesore, and indeed it largely does, except that there’s something compellingly ideal about its simplicity and I could easily pull up a deckchair and spend the day just idling here.

The path winds its way through clumps of pink marine thyme and bright green sea lettuce until it reaches Montaña de la Mar which should be awarded a prize for self delusion as, rising to no more than a paltry 27 metres above sea level, it barely deserves the title hillock, let alone mountain.

As the trail reaches the base of Montaña Grande the vegetation morphs into tall grasses and sweet tabaiba and everywhere, lizards scurry through the undergrowth, foraging for food. From the mountain a path leads back, zigzagging round islands filled with the fat spikes of cardón, to Puertito and that promise of a cold beer and lunch.

Stroll this way
The great thing about walking around the malpaís of Güímar is that you can set out from Puertito and just stroll along the coastal path, spotting nice pieces of driftwood and all sorts of detritus washed up by the tide.

Beyond the turn off for Montaña Grande the path continues to the tiny coastal settlement of Socorro with its beach houses and its two chapels – one above, one below – and its little beach of Chimisay where the miraculous discovery of the Patron Saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Candelaria took place. For such a momentous event, you might expect there to be an ostentatious monument or two but in fact, there is just a simple cross set in a block of concrete. The ostentation is preserved for the Candelaria Basilica.

My way
Peaks: The aces in Güímar’s pack for me are the wide open emptiness of the plains and the lovely El Puertito as the start and end points. Keep an eye out for plovers and turnstones fishing amongst the rock pools.

Troughs: The scenery could get a bit monotonous if you were to walk here every day and the lack of trees and natural shade mean it’s best to avoid high summer days when the breeze drops.

My view: 2.5 Stars – This is an easy, pleasant walk which offers a landscape which is more akin to the Eastern Canary Islands. I particularly like the abundance of grasses around Montaña Grande, particularly in spring and early summer.

The Easter Bank Holiday weekend weather was something of a disappointment for Tenerife and just for once, we enviously watched the sun soaked UK from our rain sodden island. But all that refreshment has given the earth her spring shower, the sun has returned to warm her to the core and she has responded with an explosion of colour.

This month, we leave the ‘valley deep’ of Masca and head to the ‘mountain high’ of the Anagas for a truly heady, spring hiking trail from Cruz del Carmen to Chinamada.

Why this way?
Long before the Spanish conquest of Tenerife, the Anaga Mountains were populated by the indigenous Guanche population. Rich, fertile earth; abundant rainfall and deep valleys punctuated with caves provided shelter, food and grazing for the livestock rearing people. Moving their herds from valley to valley, the Guanche created a web of trails that later served as paths to market for subsistence farmers before the roads were constructed.
Today they provide a network of walking trails through this incredible landscape.

The Anaga Mountains are like nowhere else on Tenerife. Here, life goes on in much the same way it has for centuries, completely oblivious to the developments of the resorts on the rest of the island. In the little hamlet of Chinamada, the population still live in caves,- albeit ones with satellite TV and telephones – a convenience only accessible since the 1990s when the hamlet got its first electricity supply.

If you were to blindfold someone, take them on a trip in a helicopter and drop them in the Anaga mountains before unveiling their eyes, I reckon that never, in a million guesses would they think they were on Tenerife.

Hike this way
Using the free car park at Cruz del Carmen as the starting point, the trail sets off from the right hand side of the Cruz del Carmen restaurant and descends gradually along a red earth path through a fairytale forest where lichen hangs from the gnarled branches of trees. Emerging into the sunlight, the path meanders alongside the allotments of smallholdings on the edge of the Batán ravine, bordered with hedgerows brimming with wild flowers.

After a short stretch along a quiet mountain road where wood smoke permeates the air,  steps lead off the road and down to the Las Carboneras and Chinamada path. It’s important not to lose your footing here as the views over the rolling valleys to the peak of Roque de Taborno force you to gawp endlessly at their sheer drama and beauty.

Taking the Chinamada path, the trail descends through sparse woodland until you emerge onto the ridge overlooking Chinamada where the panorama stretches to Punta Del Hidalgo on the coast and back along the rugged valleys behind you. Dropping down into the hamlet of Chinamada you’ll spot the cave houses on the brow behind the little plaza.

For those with the energy levels, the path continues all the way to Punta Del Hidalgo, taking in some of the most awesome views you can imagine. For everyone else, a detour to Las Carboneras on the way back to Cruz del Carmen completes a perfect walk.

Stroll this way.
From the car park at Cruz del Carmen a series of paths lead into the forest, one of which has recently been adapted for use by those with disabilities and which gives a total sensory experience of the forest. An easy stroll along walkways and even paths takes you to Llano de Los Loros where, provided the cloud isn’t lingering, you’ll discover spectacular views over to Santa Cruz.

My way

Peaks: To me, the Anaga Mountains feel like an ancient land, steeped in history, with a rugged beauty that has to be respected as well as admired. Cave dwellings are another bit of icing on a truly spectacular cake.

Troughs: Clouds love the Anagas and are apt to descend, and dissipate at a moment’s notice, or hang around interminably completely spoiling the views. Web cam checks and a prayer to the Anaga gods are all you can do.

My view: 5 Stars – Quite simply stunning.

Tenerife’s most popular walk, the Barranco Del Infierno, hung up its hiking boots and closed its gates to the public 18 months ago, thus depriving the south of its most impressive walk and Tenerife of a splendid barranco (ravine). Luckily, in my opinion it wasn’t the best barranco on the island – that title belongs to Masca.

This month we stop mourning the manicured splendour of Adeje and head instead to the Jurassic jewel of Masca.

Why this way?
There’s a reason why Masca is the second most visited place on Tenerife and it’s the same reason that Teide National Park is first on that list – it’s quite simply breathtaking.
Few places on the planet can boast such a dramatic setting as Masca, nestling in its fertile blanket at the confluence of two gorges beneath the colossal peaks of the Teno Mountain Range.

Thanks to the daily influx of visitors, a hamlet that would otherwise have slipped under the cloak of invisibility as easier ways to make a living attracted its ageing population away from the back breaking terraces and into the tourist resorts, now offers an authentic taste of rural Tenerife. In the restaurants you can enjoy such home made delights as cactus ice cream, cactus lemonade, smoked goat’s cheeses and mojos made from every fruit growing in the village.

If you really want to have your cake and eat it, visit early in the morning, late in the afternoon or on Fridays and Sundays to avoid the majority of the tour groups and experience the solitude and tranquillity of Tenerife’s Shangri-La.

Hike this way
From a signpost in the lower village, a path descends the side of the ravine, plunging you ever deeper into the bowels of the earth and giving your thighs a sneak preview of the trials to come, until you reach the narrow path that twists and turns its way towards the sea.

Scrambling over rockfalls, constantly scanning the near horizon for white markers on rocks and small piles of stones to keep you on the right track, the terrain morphs from arid to lush as you traverse a ravine floor untouched by sunlight. Skirting crystal creeks that gently cascade over elephant grey rocks into emerald basins and trekking, Hobbit-like, along the foot of Tolkien-esque cliffs, the barranco walls grow ever taller and close in overhead as you travel deeper and deeper into this endless lost world.

Eventually, the sound of waves crashing on the rocky shore reaches your ears and after the best part of three hours you emerge, footsore and thigh weary, beneath the tamarisk trees onto Masca beach to revel in the sunlight and dip your relieved toes into the surf. For most people, this is the end of the trek as they board the little boat that takes them to Los Gigantes and a Dorada reward.
For car drivers and masochists, the trail back up Masca Barranco is not only as arduous the other way, it’s also unrelentingly uphill.

Stroll this way
Thousands of visitors descend on Masca village every day of the week and very few of them take on the Indiana Jones mantle of the barranco walk. Instead, paths wind their way through the hamlet, alongside terraces filled with fruit trees and giant agave plants to the charismatic little museum of El Lomo de Masca where you can get a glimpse of the harsh reality of farming life in this paradise before the construction of the road from Santiago del Teide to Buenavista in the 1970s which brought the outside world and tourism.

A sloping stroll to the very end of the path at the bottom of the village takes you to a circular cul-de-sac where you can sit and look back over the palm groves of the village above which the daunting bulk of Roque Tarucho looms. Guanche legend held that the rock had to be bound with a reed rope each year to prevent it from falling on the village. It’s a tradition that remains in place today and it seems to have worked…so far.

My way

Peaks: For me, there is nowhere else on Tenerife to match the Jurassic drama of Masca Barranco. It really feels as if you’re the first person to discover this incredible landscape, tucked so deeply away from the view of all those day trippers.

Troughs: The down side for me is that unless you go with a tour group or have two cars, one parked at Los Gigantes, you have to face the return trek and your thighs will be bitching at you for days afterwards.

My view: 4 Stars – A truly unique location which tests the nerves and soothes the senses in equal measure.

There’s no better way to dispel the gloom of mid-winter and the excess pounds of the festive season than by lacing up the walking boots and getting out into the hills and sunshine of Tenerife.
This month we take an excursion away from the sun-soaked beaches of the south west coast to discover the ghosts of a past in the hills above them.

Why walk this way?
An easy bus ride or drive from the coast to Guía de Isora, administrative capital of the municipality which includes the resorts of Playa de San Juan, Alcalá and Playa de la Arena, takes you to a different temperature and another world. In the hills behind the town lie the derelict remains of a life that was once very different.

Dotted along the route that joins Guía to the pretty hamlet of Chirche, broken kilns are strung out alongside the path like pearls on a necklace, linking fields and threshing circles where once barley, chickpeas, lentils and wheat were sown, cultivated, harvested and threshed to the rhythms of the seasons.

The joy of walking in these hills is to witness the social and economic transformation of the landscape which shifts in world markets and improved water irrigation consigned to the agricultural recycle bin.
Cobbled paths which once bore the feet of farm workers to their crops and tile makers to their kilns, now amble between overgrown fields of wild wheat and derelict kilns that fired the tiles of many of the archipelago’s buildings.

Beyond the fields, the pretty hamlets of Chirche and Aripe doze sleepily in the afternoon sun, their cobbled streets lined with quaint farm workers’ cottages and their gardens abundant with perfumed roses and crimson geraniums.

Hike this way
Beginning from an anonymous path which breaks away from the busy main road beyond Guía’s cemetery, a trail leads gently and steadily uphill past the desert malpaís which flanks the town and alongside a flourishing vineyard until it reaches a stone cottage overlooking the hamlet of Aripe.
From here, the path follows the line of broken kilns which punctuate the grassland, their now cold furnace floors home to lizards who scurry between sun and shade.

Agricultural history unfolds as the heads of the wild descendants of wheat and barley whisper and ripple in the threshing circles and overgrown terraces.
Sparrowhawks wheel overhead, scanning the scorched earth for off-guard lizards while the island of La Gomera floats idly on the horizon.

In Chirche, the town’s drinking fountain marks the crossroads for exploration; upwards on a thigh crunching ascent to reach the Mirador de Chirche from where the south west coast is laid out alongside the glittering ocean, downwards for an easy stroll into the village and along the country road to Aripe and back to Guía.

Stroll this way
Take a drive along the TF38 from Chio and you’ll pass the Mirador de Chirche where you can enjoy the magnificent views from the comfort of a pretty terrace and a menu. But instead of heading straight back to the car or coach, follow the road downhill for four minutes until you reach a steep path on the right which leads down into Chirche village. Take the trail plunge and find yourself transported from Tenerife to Lark Rise.

Narrow, cobbled streets lined with cottages, hand made signs proclaiming wine or honey for sale and the occasional rural casa where solitude seekers can book a bed, unfurl beneath your feet. Make your way past the fountain and continue down to the pretty plaza and church where you can take five before plucking up the stamina to re-trace your steps uphill to the Mirador.

My way

Peaks: I love the way the arid terrain and its agricultural ghosts gives way to the cottage gardens of Chirche where life has continued in much the same way for generations, regardless of the tourist developments of the coast.

Troughs: Guía de Isora isn’t the prettiest of starts and ends to the trail and in an ideal world I would prefer not to begin a hike with a nervous, traffic-dodging five minutes of busy main road. Still, it’s a small price to pay.

My view: 3 Stars – A delightful little walk which uncovers secret gems in an area that’s usually reserved for paying overdue taxes and basura bills.

Title: Disney Christmas
Location: Church Plaza, Los Cristianos
Link out: Click here
Description: A Boxing Day bonanza of Disney characters for all the family. Starts at 5 pm, everyone welcome.
Date: 2010-12-26

With heavy snow in the UK and Mount Teide wearing her finest winter white, peak holiday season looms and thoughts turn to an escape to the sun. What better time to think about pulling on the walking shoes and heading into the great outdoors to explore some of Tenerife’s lesser known beauty spots?

Keep the fitness levels high, shed a pound or two and discover the breathtaking beauty that our little island in the sun has to offer with TM’s brand new series – Walk This Way.

Happy trails!

Why walk this way?
La Caldera is a large volcanic crater nestling amongst the pine trees of the upper La Orotava Valley above Tenerife’s north west coast.

Just off the main TF21 Teide National Park to La Orotava road and on two bus routes from Puerto de la Cruz, it’s easily accessible from the north of the island and even from the south and west for car drivers, provided you’re happy to make an early start.

Endless trails meander amongst dense forest with stunning views of Mount Teide on the horizon and the whole sweeping vista of La Orotava Valley at your feet. On most days of the year the air is thick with the heady scent of hot pine and on winter days when the clouds roll in the fires are lit and the aroma of wood smoke fills the damp air.

For me, the contrast between this area and the coastal region couldn’t be more marked. Here, the landscape is a dense emerald green where fat pine trees festooned in lichen tower above your head like a whole casting studio of Tree Beard wannabes.

Alongside the picnic zone on the path that skirts the crater is the characterful log cabin restaurant of La Caldera. Patrons tether their horses further along the path or park their forest fire trucks outside while they enjoy a lunch of grilled trout from the nearby fish farm.

Hike this way
From the wide forest pista (path) of La Caldera a trail snakes up through the forest, ever higher until it reaches the ridge and the world below opens up at your feet. You can sit on flat rock chair, dangle your legs and tuck into egg butties in front of a wide screen vista that makes you glad to be alive.

From there the path enters a wonderland of giant pine trees covered in the tattered clothing of lichen and huge bushes of sweet scented yellow broom in the dappled sunlight.
Feeling like you’re the first person to discover this magical trail, you weave your way through the dense foliage, crossing old water courses and rock rivers, until you arrive at the lip of a long, deep ravine.

Skirting the ravine, sometimes the ledge hangs above the sea of clouds that fills the void below so it feels as if you fulfilled that childhood imagining of stepping out of an aircraft and onto the clouds.
At the far side of the ravine there’s a tiny stretch of path that has Indiana Jones fans breaking into the familiar theme tune and vertigo sufferers looking nervously around for the alternative route as the ledge narrows to nerve testing proportions and a hand rail embedded into the cliff face becomes your new best friend.

The homeward journey adds gravity defying balance to the list of achievements being notched up as forest slopes thickly coated in dry pine needles present a slalom run that takes you freestyling back to the forest floor without the aid of skis.

Stroll this way
The wonderful thing about La Caldera is that all you have to do is step off the bus or out of the car in the car park and you’re right in the middle of rural Tenerife.
You can do a circuit of the crater which takes you along an easy, dappled path past the Caldera restaurant. Or you can follow the wide forest path that begins beyond the restaurant and heads towards the rock formation of Los Órganos which is hewn into the cliff face of the ridge.

Popular with locals on horseback, hikers en route to more challenging endeavours and a motley assortment of strollers, this is a well used woodland way.

My way

Peaks: For me, the highlight of the Los Órganos hike is the scenery overdose. From the ever-present Mount Teide and undulating hills of the deepest green with isolated cottages peeking above the canopy, to plunging ravines boiling with clouds.

Troughs: I’m always glad to get the first long, hard slog through the trees from the path to the ridge over and done with in the first third of the walk. It’s a thigh and lung tester of a climb.

My view: 4 Stars – One of my absolute favourite areas for walking on Tenerife. Endless paths give so many choices of routes and scenery that I recommend repeated doses should be applied regularly to keep the soul and heels in tip top condition.

There’s a commotion in the road. The roller-skating girl just let her dog run in front of a pizza delivery boy on a bike almost garrotting him with the lead and sending him and his pizzas hurtling into the road. The girl looks on unmoved by the chaos she’s caused and the dog makes off with the spoils.
It’s an accident that’s destined to play out continuously in the Groundhog Day streets of Pueblo Chico.

I’ve heard it said that there’s no such thing as ‘fun for all the family’, and whilst I truly appreciate the sentiment in that statement, I have to disagree and cite Pueblo Chico as my evidence.

Hidden away on a quiet back road in La Orotava, the miniature world of Pueblo Chico is set in 20,000 square metres of beautifully landscaped grounds overlooking Puerto de la Cruz. Laid out amongst the greenery in a series of terraced zones, Tenerife in miniature doesn’t just have the island’s historic centres, iconic architecture and natural beauty spots all reproduced in perfect detail, it also has the sights and sounds of the life that occupies them.

To a soundtrack of bleeting goats in the Guanche zone a group of elderly men occupy benches beneath the shade of a tree, verbally putting the world to rights. If it wasn’t for the animal skins they’re wearing and the lack of a nearby bar, it could be a scene from any town plaza today.
In front of the La Orotava Ayuntamiento, this year’s sand mosaic is already in place; in La Laguna a school playground echoes with the shouts of its charges; on neighbouring Lanzarote a church bell chimes to call worshippers to prayer and back on Tenerife the local lad is about to win his Lucha Canario bout as he hurls his opponent to the floor.

All Tenerife life is here in miniature, from the house leeks growing amongst the Arabic tiles of roofs in the old quarter of Santa Cruz to paragliders launching themselves off the cliffs above southern beaches and the Fred Olsen Ferry dwarfing small boats alongside the Auditorio.
But it isn’t just about admiring the incredible detail in the models and smiling at the wonderful moving parts, it’s about discovering the little touches; the ubiquitous double parking; the teenage lad spying on his neighbour as she sunbathes topless on her roof; the workmen enjoying their second breakfast – or is it their third?

With gardens brimming with endemic and exotic plants; a very tasty restaurant and snack bar with a sunny outside terrace, kid’s menu and gift shop; and the whole of Tenerife at your feet, I defy anyone of any age not to enjoy it.
Pueblo Chico – fun for all the family.  I rest my case.

Pueblo Chico Fact File:
Camino Cruz de Los Martillos, 62; La Orotava, off Exit 35 of the TF5. Tel: (0034) 922 33 40 60
Open every day from 9am to 6pm
Adults €12.50, children (aged 4yrs to 11 yrs) €6.50
Residents €8.50, children €5
Restaurant available for functions.