This morning the heat cranked up a bit. David came to try and sort the internet out but it still is slow and intermittent.
We decided to head up into the hills where it might be better for walking. We took the road from San Isidro, through Grenadilla and Vilaflor. It reminded us of Peru with its slow zig-zagging upwards.
Eventually we came to the old caldera out of which Mt Teide rises. Most of the pictures we have seen shows Teide as snow capped, but, now , in the middle of winter, there was not a flake of snow to be seen. We parked at the visitor centre near the Roques de Garcia, a wellknown tourist point. Here there are series of unusual rock formations made out of ancient volcanic plugs. They are all shapes and sizes and have names like the finger of God and the Cathedral.
We did a walk recommended in both our guidebooks which skirts around the edges of the rocks. There were quite a few walkers doing the same path, though it was far from crowded. We didn't hear any spanish spoken though!
The initial part of the walk was flattish and at the end of the rocks another path led up to the Pico Vieja (Old Peak) another four hours walk away. Passing on this opportunity, we then headed down a scree path over a lava flow until we reached the bottom of the caldera, filled with stones and black sand. The final part of the walk was a stiff climb uphill to the tourist viewpoint. We rested to watch two rock climbers scaling the Cathedral rock, and then made it to our own summit!
We came back off the volcano a longer, but less windy route which initially crossed a lava flow from the last eruption of El Teide in the 1700s. As we descended we could see the island of La Palma not too far away.
It was dark by the time we reached the villa. Joan made a vegetarian paella which we ate on the balcony.
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