The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Lago di Garda hikes and flowers

Once again I had not planned on posting from my time spent at Lago di Garda in Trentino. But not surprisingly I found aspects of some of my favorite hikes as well as new hikes that I have not covered here before. And of course, since it was May, there were many wildflowers in bloom…

I arrived at my Airbnb in Gavazzo – the same one I stayed at in 2023 – to impending rain. Nonetheless, the balcony view south to northern Lago di Garda was stupendous.

I repeated the Monte Colt & Croce di Ceniga loop from nearby Arco as it is one of my favorites in the area.

Here is the paved approach to Santuaurio della Madonna di Laghel.
Monte Colt summit view to Monte Biaina. It is the only summit in Italy I know with its name etched into the rock.

I have mentioned Massone – Bosco Caproni hikes in the past, but never showed many photos as wooded hikes are difficult to capture. With many trails, though, one could spend weeks and never repeat the exact same hike.

Here is a pano towards Lago di Garda from above the village of Massone.
A path through Bosco Caproni, likely in former times used to move marble from the nearby quarry down to Arco.

A new hike for me from nearby Torbole (just east of Riva del Garda) is the popular Busatte – Tempesta Panoramic Trail loop. I started early mid-week, so only encountered hordes of hikers on the last section of the return.

The lake with Riva del Garda and the Cima Valdez massif. There were spectacular views at every turn and numerous sets of metal stairs on this highly-maintained route.
Crimean iris (Iris lutescens), a new wildflower for this blog.
Poppies, Lago di Garda, and the Cima Della Nara massif
Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis), a more detailed photo of one previously shown. Native to Europe, it is considered a weed in areas of the US.

Many of my hikes were done simply walking out of my Gavazzo (Tenno) apartment. I extended my 2023 forays farther up into the mountains (as well as to the village of Vigne where the local grocery store now has Amazon lockers!)

Monte San Pietro from the road above Volta di No, less than a 1/2 hour walk from Gavazzo. Many local roads had little or no traffic, and often were gravel or packed dirt.
Balm-leaved Arachangel (Lamium orvala), a better photo of one I have shown before.
Rio Bordellino cascade. I rarely encountered anyone in the forest above my apartment. (In Italian, unlike Spanish, Rio refers to a seasonal stream).
Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius). Common they may well be, but I liked this photo.
Peach-leaved bellflower (Campanula persicifolia), a species of Campanula I don’t recall having included in my posts before.

Unlike last year when I stayed in Arco with the popular Sarca River walk as my go-to early morning exercise, I did a variant of this hike only once last month.

Multi-use path and valley view with grapevines on my loop walk to Ceniga from Arco along the Fiume Sarca, seen peeking out to the left here.
Gavazzo balcony view at sunrise. I never tired of the views from my Airbnb and would love to return in the future. Critically for the summers is has AC!
  • A note on the photos: this spring I bought a new Samsung Galaxy S25 phone which has a highly capable camera. All photos from this post were taken with that phone rather than my Olympus Tough camera, which will most likely also be the case for future posts.

After a week at an Agriturismo in Tuscany doing a series of group hikes, I have now moved even farther south, to Abruzzo, where I will remain until the first week of July. Some Tuscan hike photos will be posted in two weeks or so.

Enjoy the longer and warmer days outdoors,

The Vagabond Hiker

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

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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