Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Cruz de Maria

Peaks: Altavista East (1302m)
Area: Gran Canaria
Just a short warm-down walk, but an exquisite one. After lunch in the mist, within five minutes of descending from the obvious watershed of the Cruz de Tejeda I emerged from the cloud again, to spectacular views down to the west coast beyond Roque Bentayga (second only to Nublo in distinctiveness). From here, I drove to Artenara, with the scenery completely different and Gran Canaria proving its cliched description of a 'continent in miniature'. I was now close to Tamadaba, and the scenery was memorably beautiful, thousands of slender green Canarian pines, soft yellow hills, and beautiful low sunshine. From the Cruz de Maria, I walked up the 1302m hill that marks the eastern end of the wooded Altavista ridge. It would have been nice to have carried on along that lovely ridge but unwise, so I saved some energy. Just as well, as the drive down the GC210 to La Aldea was relentlessly stressful, singletrack the whole way, the scenery growing more and more arid.

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