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La Gomera

Around the hidden gem of the Canary islands

By Northern Adventures

Introduction

(Sun Oct 29th - Sat Nov 4TH, 2017)

La Gomera is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is the second smallest of the seven main islands of this group, yet it is very mountainous and steeply sloping and rises to 1,487 metres at the island's highest peak, Alto de Garajonay.

The uppermost slopes of the barrancos – deep ravines spread across the island – are covered by the laurisilva - or laurel rain forest, which is almost permanently shrouded in clouds and mist, and as a result these high altitude areas posses lush and diverse vegetation: they form the protected environment of Spain's Garajonay National Park, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Mountainous La Gomera is less of a beach escape and more suited to those looking to get away from other tourists and enjoy the myriad of hiking trails.

The island’s routes are really spectacular, with a well-marked trail network snaking out across the whole of La Gomera.

Having visited Madeira and Azores islands before, time has come for a more southern exploration last year – and the remote small island of La Gomera, one of the two Canary islands still without a direct air connection to Europe, was a natural choice for a week-long November hiking adventure.

We packed really light and didn’t rented a car; given the island size, our plan was to pursue a circular hike around La Gomera, sleeping in different places and visiting both seaside areas and mountain tops.

Hiking during days and eating local cuisine accompanied by mainland’s red wines in the evenings was the plan we carefully crafted for this more relaxed adventure.

Day 1: From San Sebastián de la Gomera to Playa de Santiago

We needed two stop-overs to reach the Tenerife-South airport from Prague; a bus ride with the subsequent ferry crossing to La Gomera island followed. Luckily enough, we managed to cover all these legs within a single day; in the evening, we already enjoyed delicious sea food with a bottle of Rioja in the friendly La Hila restaurant in San Sebastián de la Gomera, sitting outside and enjoying warm climate so much different to Prague's autumn fogs and rains.

On the following morning, we set out on the trail following the coastal path towards Playa de Santiago; rugged dry terrain with fine views of the coast formed the landscape we were passing through.

After two hours, having climbed a pass between two barrancos, we reached the secluded bay of Playa de la Guancha, with a lonely house and a pebbled beach.

It was a beautiful place and we were tempted to enjoy a short swim in the sea, however with a long way still ahead of us we decided to continue hiking instead.

Another across-the-hill hike followed, and during lunchtime we reached the remote hamlet of El Cabrito, comprised of a few houses, a hotel and all-around moods of its interesting past and sect-like vibe; we enjoyed a swim here, however we moved away rather swiftly.

The following hiking section across the former settlements of Morales and Contreras was a steep, dry and thirsty endeavour; it was a hot afternoon, and we were really thankful when we finally saw the coastal settlement of Playa de Santiago.

We booked an accommodation in Playa de Santiago via Airbnb for two nights, having planned a circular day hike for the following day; naturally, opulent seafood dinner with an excessive amount of red wine followed.

Day 2: Around Playa de Santiago

The second day started with a taxi ride to Degollada de Peraza, which saved us some 900m vertical meters of sweating agony, and gave us a possibility to be a little bit ripped off by the taxi driver.

Nevertheless, the views were amazing from the very beginning, and the sunny weather was bearable in the higher altitudes where we started to hike.

From Degollada de Peraza, we started to hike in the western direction, following the GR 131 "Camino Natural Cumbres de La Gomera" trail towards the iconic rock formation of Roque de Agando.

It was a pleasant hike, especially when we reached forested areas or enjoyed the view of the prominent Mt. Teide peak, the highest point in Spain (located on Tenerife island).

Having reached the stunning rock formation of Roque de Agando, we started to descent in the southern direction towards the remote hamlet of Benjichigua. The walk down through the lovely Barranco de Benjichigua valley was straightforward and very enjoyable.

The last stretch of the hike from the small hamlets of Pastrana and El Rumbazo was less appealing since we followed the paved road for most of the time; evening compensation with local seafood and beer/wine finally made up for this boring road-trek :-).

Day 3: From Playa de Santiago to Chipude

We returned to El Rumbazo in the morning by another taxi ride; yet again a partial rip off, however we didn't bother to quarrel with the taxi driver who even didn't know where the hamlet of Guarimiar is located.

The hike through Barranco de Guarimiar is certainly one of the most spectacular walks on the island, and blessed with sunny weather, we really enjoyed the rim walk with stunning views of the valley.

In a few hours, we finally reached the small village of Imada, where we ate the (packed) lunch and drank a few cold soft drinks we bought in a shop located in the centre of the settlement.

After lunch, the strenuous and demanding hike under midday sun continued towards the water reservoir of Presa de Acanabre, from where we wandered further across small hamlets of Igualero and Pavón.

The last mile to the hilltop settlement of Chipude was easier than previous climbs, and we enjoyed couple of cold beers on the main plaza of this mountain village as a well-deserved reward for our hiking effort.

Chipude is a secluded place; no rush, just a few people around, and an overall friendly vibe make this place a pleasant stop on the La Gomera through-hike.

Day 4: From Chipude to Hermigua

On the 4th day on the trail, we were about to reach La Gomera's highest peak, Alto de Garajonay (1 487m).

From Chipude, it was a pleasant walk through wooded and grassy areas, though we were quite surprised how crowded the mountain top was - on the contrary to previous days, we met quite a lot of people at Alto de Garajonay and further down on the way to Hermigua.

We entered the laurisilva forest proper at El Contedero, and continued hiking and descending on narrow footpaths through dense woods down to the remote settlement of El Cedro.

Having taken a short rest here in a small restaurant, rather steep descent from El Cedro followed, and in two hours or so we finally reached the friendly village of Hermigua.

We stayed overnight in a small house located in the middle of a banana plantation, and tapas-like dinner with well-deserved amount of red wine formed the evening highlight.

Day 5: From Hermigua to Vallehermoso

Have to admit, I didn't feel really well during the last few days on the trip; most likely I brought a cold with me I caught in rainy Prague during the previous week, and the disease broke out on the way to Hermigua.

Because of that, we decided to hike to Agulo and then to catch a bus to the settlement of Vallehermoso, where we were about to spend a night.

Here, we also visited the secluded beach of Playa del Vallehermoso; with all the facilities closed, it was still a lovely place to spend the evening at.

Day 6: From Vallehermoso to Hermigua

The journey from Vallehermoso back to Hermigua was a proper hiking challenge after the previous lazy day: although the route was easy to follow, it was quite steep and demanding.

The views were astonishing almost all the way, and there were not many other hikers around during the journey.

The final descent to Hermigua was almost brutal; having seen the village from above, we weren't really sure there is a way to the valley's floor, however finally we realized the trail is quite smoothly passable.

The following day, we left Hermigua for San Sebastián de la Gomera on a regular morning bus, and then continued travelling to Tenerife on a ferry - that's how our long return journey back to Europe began.

#Foodporn

Fresh seafood was a fixture on restaurant menus in coastal areas, and we really enjoyed visits of La Hila restaurant in San Sebastián de la Gomera as well as more upmarket Junonia in Playa de Santiago.

In Chipude, the centrally located Hotel Bar Sonia offered sufficient amount of beer for thirsty hikers as well as hearty local cuisine.

Afterword

In total, we covered more than 132 km on this La Gomera partial-through-hike, most of them on foot though occasional bus/taxi rides helped us to cover less interesting trip sections.

The island is pretty diverse and very rugged - the (very) dry south-coast areas stand in a complete opposite to the fog-covered laurisilva woods covering central highlands, whereas the northern coast has more greenery thanks to its more temperate climate.

The second-smallest of the seven Canary Islands - near-circular and with a diameter of only 25 kilometres - La Gomera feels like the island that time forgot. One can hike through soaring ravines and sleepy mountain villages down to deserted rocky beaches sometimes without meeting any other hikers.

In the north, fluorescent green slopes plunge into winding valleys, dotted with villages, vineyards and farmhouses.

In the south, red, desert-like rocks tower over giant cacti and black-sand beaches, so that it looks like some strange amalgamation of the arid American wild west and the lush Austrian Tyrol.

Foodwise, fresh seafood is almost guaranteed to be outstanding in the small coastal settlements. (Red) wine is imported, true, however who would complain about decent bottle of Rioja brought from the Spanish mainland? Certainly not us :-) ...

Footnotes

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FootNotes

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without permission of the author.

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