tenerife
Clockwise from left: Canarian pine trees in Corona Forestal Park;
Capilla Roque Bermejo in Anaga Rural Park; Benijo Beach in Anaga; aerial view over Anaga wall bar, we stop for a refreshing glass of Dorada, a lager brewed here in Tenerife. The bar is little more than some blue wooden shelves stocked with cans, a fridge and a serving counter but it’ s a welcome sight for this thirsty hiker. Cao has made arrangements for us to be collected by boat— it’ s the only other way out unless we go back the way we came.“ We’ ve got 20 minutes or so,” he says. Just enough time for a cooling dip in the sea, I think.
STELLAR VIEWS
There are several protected parks on the island and my next journey, the following day, is to Spain’ s most visited: Teide National Park. Even though I’ ve been here at least a hundred times before, there’ s something about the sight of Mount Teide— Spain’ s highest mountain at 12,198 feet above sea level— that always fills me with awe and wonder. I’ m heading towards the summit, which, on a clear day, you can just about see from the coast. As I drive up the winding roads in the balmy early evening air, I watch as the swaying palms of the coast slowly turn to towering pine trees. Tenerife, as with its neighboring islands, has suffered forest fires in the past few years. And now, the charred remains of tree stumps dot the mountain landscape like dominoes. These are European pines, I’ ve been told previously by a local guide. Canarian pines have become naturally resistant to fire and while their barky outer parts will burn, their core remains living, allowing it to regrow like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
My aim today is to get above 6,562 feet in altitude, above cloud level to the giant crater landscape of Las Cañadas del Teide. And it seems I’ ve made it just in time for the show to begin. I park and watch as the setting sun illuminates the harsh volcanic mountain view, bathing it in a spectrum of oranges, russets and purples— mellowing this jagged wilderness that’ s been forged by fire over millennia.
I drink in the atmosphere and feel part of something bigger. I can see why these mountains were revered by the Guanches, images: getty; awl images
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