The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Day Hikes on Tenerife and Gran Canaria

Rather than spend another couple of months on Lanzarote this past winter, I changed my plans and chose instead to revisit two other Canary Islands that I had only cursorily explored, in the case of Gran Canary, more than 37 years ago! Two center-based group hiking weeks in November fit the bill perfectly, before heading to Southeast Asia and Australia for the winter. As a geography refresher, below is a map of the Canary Islands, located a bit more than 100 kilometers off the coast of Morocco. (Nevertheless, I needed to fly via London Gatwick to get from Marrakech to Tenerife!)

The Canary Islands, a province of Spain
(File:Canarias-rotulado.png. (2025, November 19). Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Canarias-rotulado.png&oldid=1118429016.)

Tenerife

With a land area of about 2000 km2 and a population of nearly 1 million, Tenerife is the largest and most-populous island of the Canary Islands. Visitors are concentrated around its southern towns and beaches, yet just a few kilometers away are some amazing mountain hiking trails. I had only once briefly visited the island, completing two iconic walks following a week in February 2020 hiking on the nearby Island of La Gomera, the subject of a previous blog post. For this trip, I went with a new (to me – it was founded in 1913!) company, HF Holidays. We were based for the first three nights in Santiago del Tiede in the southwest, and for the final four nights in La Laguna in the north of Tenerife.

Santiago del Tiede to San Jose de Los Llanos

16 km with 600 m elevation gain

Prickly pear covered with cochineal, a scale insect used to make the natural dye carmine
Our guide, Guillermo, explaining the life cycle of the endemic biennial Mount Teide bugloss (Echium wildpretii). Earlier in the year this stalk featured bright red flowers.
Landscape with Canarian pine (Pinus canariensis)
Volcanic landscape with pines and Mt Tiede, back right. This was the first of two hikes in Mt Tiede National Park.
A volcanic hill with scattered pines

Erjoz to Cruz de Hilda

9 km with 300 m elevation gain

Banana passionfruit (Passiflora mollissima)
A bold Blue Spotted lizard eyeing my picnic lunch
Our path was along this high ridge in the Macizo de Teno
Vista towards the island of La Palma
Masca village, at 650 m elevation, where we chilled at the end of our hike that day.

Mirador de Samara to Boca Tauce

13 km with 600 m elevation gain

View of the island of La Gomera in “two halves” due to low clouds
Euphorbia with Mt Tiede in the distance. At 3715m, Tiede is the highest mountain in Spain.
Sunset from my hotel room in La Laguna

The astute reader will note that I have only included three hikes from my walking week, rather than the expected five. For at least the third time this past year, plantar fasciitis caused a curtailment of my hiking plans. Fortunately, after several days rest, I suffered no lingering affects and was able to hike the following week on Gran Canaria.

Gran Canaria

As alluded to in my introductory paragraph, I had only once been to Gran Canaria, for a two week spring break back in my late 20’s. Apart from three days bombing around the island in a jeep, my past explorations had been confined to the the pool and beach scenes around the southern fleshpot of Maspalomas. Hence, nearly four decades on, the hiking was all new to me! A 40 minute flight from Tenerife took me to Gran Canaria. Our first lodging with Explore Worldwide was in the lovely town of Agüimes, where I had an extra day to see the sights.

Church of San Sebastian seen from the Plaza del Rosario
Well-behaved youth in the Plaza del Rosario
Courtyard of the local history museum in Agüimes. Our group also spent time in a natural and human history museum during our hike in Guayedeque Canyon. Both museums were fascinating.

Guayedeque Canyon circular from Agüimes

13 km with 500 m elevation gain

Guayedeque Canyon view with aqueduct. As on Tenerife, water is truly life in this arid climate.
Tree houseleek (Aeonium arboreum). Though far larger than the alpine Cobweb houseleek I have featured in past Italy posts, there is nonetheless a clear resemblance.
Cliff-side houses in a rugged landscape
Canary Tree Mallow (Malva acerifolia)
A former cave dwelling. Many limestone caves in this rugged landscape were once inhabited; some still are.
Lunch view from the plateau. The canyon is on the left here, with Agüimes in the right background.

On the Road, part 1

The dramatic bus transfer across the island to our next hike and second lodging was definitely photo-worthy.

Mountain vista
Caldera de los Marteles, near a high vehicular pass
Tree of baroda (Kleinia neriifolia) with Roque Nublo background

Degollada* del Aserrador to La Culata via Roque Nublo

8 km with 400 m elevation gain

Reflections in a lagoon near the start of our traverse. It was a very hazy day, likely due to sand being blown across from the Sahara
Hikers on the basal plateau of Roque Nublo
A hungry lunch companion
My lunch view
The other side of Roque Nublo during our long descent

* Degollada, a Spanish word for “pass,” also means beheaded

Degollada La Aldea to Mogan via Veneguera

12 km with 350 m elevation gain

Landscape with villages in the haze
Our guide, Brian, with a VERY STRANGE creation

On the Road, part 2

After an off day which I used to walk around town and chill by our pool, the following day we headed back across the island to our first hotel, far closer to the airport.

Rugged landscape view back across the mountains. The road is cut into the side of the mountain on the left.
Dramatic Roque Nublo vista from a beautiful but touristy mountain town where we stopped to pick up items for a picnic lunch

Pico de las Nieves to Cruz Grande

8 km with 100 m elevation gain

Forest descent from the Pico de las Nieves, at 1949m the highest point on Gran Canaria.
Still a long way down. With my knees bothering me a bit, along with some others I took a bus ride down the last few km to the town.

I did miss the final hike as I rescheduled my flight to leave earlier back to the UK to give me more time to prepare for my long winter trip.

Completely unrelated to hiking, below is one final photo, taken at Las Palmas airport while waiting for my flight back to Tenerife:

Three Condors of the Day, with apologies to Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford

I am currently at my Airbnb outside of Perth, Western Australia, hiking and planning my 2026 travels. Here is the current list, some items of which are fixed and others still in flux:

  • Feb 10 – March 7: Peninsular Malaysia and Northern Borneo (Sabah)
  • March 7 – 15: Bali, Indonesia
  • March 15 – 23: Hastings, UK
  • March 24 – Apr 29: St. George, Utah
  • April 30 – May 7: Hastings, UK
  • May 7 – July 10: Four weeks each in Arco (Trentino), and Aosta, Italy, with 1 week in Tuscany in between
  • Jul 10 – 17: Hastings, UK
  • July 17 – Aug 1: Madagascar
  • Aug 1 – Sept 3: Hastings and Cornwall/Devon UK (Southwest Coast Path)
  • Sep 3 – Oct 22: Mainly South Africa and Namibia, with short visits to Victoria Falls and a layover in Addis Ababa possible
  • Oct 23 – 31: Hastings, UK
  • Winter 2026-7: My plans are being developed over the next few months

By the way, I am no longer updating the Calendar Tab on this blog site as the amount of effort is simply more than I want to put into it.

The Vagabond Hiker

Northern Morocco town and country walks

Happy Holidays from Singapore!

I had previously been to Morocco three times with the sole focus on trekking and climbing, the latest in 2023 when I summited Mt. Toubkal. In contrast, my one week visit to northern Morocco in October focused almost exclusively on culture, archeology, and history. Nevertheless, as with nearly all my travels, a walking component was not neglected as our Intrepid Travel group explored on foot: Cape Spartel north of Tangiers, the Blue City of Chefchaouen (and nearby hills), the sacred town of Moulay Idriss, the Roman ruins of Volubilis, and the frenetic Medina of Fes, before finishing in Marrakech.

Join me on a short journey through northern Morocco.

Our 8 day itinerary from Casablanca to Marrakech.
Cape Spartel lighthouse, Tangier. While our trip started in Casablanca, to my mind it is not a city worth exploring and the 2 hour high speed train (300 kph!) quickly brought us to Tangier and the northern coast.
View towards Spain and Gibralter at Cape Spartel. Northern Morocco was far greener than what I have experienced in the more arid southern part of the country.
Hotel Dar Mounir in Chefchaouen. My windows are directly above the entrance. Earplugs required!
One other guest and I took a half-day guided hike along some trails into the Rif Mountains. Here is a view back to the Blue City of Chefchaouen, easily my fave on this trip.
Goats along the trail
A street in Chefchaouen
Lush foilage outside the Kasbah of Chefchaouen
Another Chefchaouen street. Though hardly undiscovered by tourists, I never grew tired of walking around this town.
Colorful steps in the sacred town of Moulay Idress Zerhoun. Non-Muslims have only been allowed to visit since early this century.
Sunset over Moulay Idress Zerhoun. The town is named for the father of Islam in Morocco, Idris (I) ibn Abd Allah.
Basilica of Volubilis. Spot the moon. Despite being better known, these Roman ruins were not as impressive as either Dougga or Bulla Regia that I recently visited in Tunisia.
Volubilis in-situ tile mosaic
Intricate zellige tilework on a Royal Palace door in Fes. I had no idea that Fes has about the population of Tangier, the 2nd largest city in Morocco after Casablanca.
Unusual in Morocco are the wooden balconies in the Quartier Mellah, the historic Jewish Quarter of Fes.
Fes Medina. This monstrously large warren of more than 10,000 streets definitely required a guide to explore!
Squeezing down a narrow alley in the Fes Medina
Medina market stall in Fes. Gorgeous!
Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech. Since my last visit in 2019, the Private Garden of the Villa Oasis, where Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent lived, has been opened to the public.

I am working on my next blog post, Walking on Tenerife and Gran Canaria, another in my long-running series on the Canary Islands. As it will be my first post of the New Year, I hope to further update my readers on my 2026 plans at that point.

Meanwhile, enjoy your Holidays with friends and family,

The Vagabond Hiker

The Southwest Coast Path: St Ives to Padstow

In October I continued my SWCP odyssey, walking in the “wrong” direction, eastwards from St Ives to Padstow in northern Corwall. My totals were: 105 km and 2550 meters elevation gain over the 6 days. Enjoy the photos and pardon the lack of usual verbiage!

St Ives to Phillack

13 km and 250 m elevation gain

View back towards St Ives harbor
A house for sale in Lelant, overlooking the River Hayle. A bit out of my price range, I’m sure.
The Hayle Mining Pump House monument
My Penellen Guest House balcony view

Day 2: Phillack to Portreath

18 km and 500 m elevation gain

Mutton Cove. Note all the seals hauled out.
Godrevy Lighthouse, marking a dangerous reef called The Stones
Sea Campion. As usual, not many wildflowers were out in the autumn.
Coast view back to Hell’s Mouth. The nearby Hell’s Mouth Café was a great spot for lunch.
Corvids (far left) and equines near Portreath
Portreath

Day 3: Portreath to Perranporth

20 km and 700 m elevation gain

Towanroath Shaft engine house at Wheal Coates
Convoluted erosional geology
The coast near Perranporth
My Seiner’s Arms hotel room view, Perranporth

Day 4: Perranporth to Newquay

14.5 km and 250 m elevation gain

Perranporth beach. The Seiners Arms is the rambling blue building
Looking back on Perranporth Beach
The “Commandant’s House” (my term – I’m not sure what this building is) at Penhale Camp. The camp was established in 1939 to train WW2 anti-aircraft gunners.
‘Shrooms & Sea
The Newquay tidal foot bridge

Day 5: Newquay to Porthcothan

19.5 km and 450 m elevation gain

Bedruthan Path, a gorgeous stretch of coast
Carnewas (Cornish, meaning “rock-pile of summer dwelling”) at Bedruthan
View towards Park Head. This was easily the best day for photography.
A pano just before reaching Porthcothan
An old curzyway dry stone wall, typical construction on this stretch of north Cornwall

Day 6: Porthcothan to Padstow

20.5 km and 400 m elevation gain

Trevose Head Lighthouse, featuring four holiday cottages
RNLI lifeboat station, Padstow, at Trevose Head
Prideaux Place Deer Park, Padstow. Seasonally open to the public, Prideaux Place has a fascinating history. I had diverted slightly to reach my inland Airbnb, where I stayed the final two nights.

This past six weeks I have traveled to northern Morocco to see some cultural sights and then to Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands for group walking weeks. They will all be subjects for a future blog post or two towards the end of the year or early 2026.

Tomorrow I depart for Kuala Lumpur and then onward to Taiwan for my 3½ month winter trip to Southeast Asia and Western Australia. Not to worry, though, there will be some hiking involved. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

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