Area: Teide NP, Tenerife
After arriving in Vilaflor around 7ish last night, we woke to a superb Canarian morning - crystal clarity and perfect temperatures around 15c (bearing in mind that Vilaflor is almost 1500m up, a fact that did not endear it initially to Kate after arrival). On my last trip here in 2019, it was extremely cold, which was possibly the reason I missed the endemic blue chaffinch at Las Lajas. So I made this the first stop, a beautiful picnic area surrounded by Canarian pines, and this time (after a few canaries and the Tenerife subspecies of great spotted woodpecker) I located a blue chaffinch, which was followed by several more, azure in the early morning sun. A brilliant start, and then came a wonderful walk with Kate, the perfect warm-up for my planned assault on Teide tomorrow. The route up El Sombrero left Las Lajas via a path which weaved through the pines - the sunshine wonderful after weeks of cloudy, bone-chilling weather at home. The path passed through a series of side valleys before making its way up a spur and into a more open upper valley above the tree-line. Behind, the ground drops away to the Atlantic - and above, deep blue cloudless skies. Some characteristic Canarian vegetation and then a broad plateau is reached, this being the bare orange rock skyline visible from Vilaflor and below. That skyline is punctuated by a series of outcrops, two of which are called El Sombreror, because that's what their shapes recall. We curved round to take an open stepped chimney to the plateau summit, only slightly raised above the ridge but quite distinct from Vilaflor. The most notable thing though was the breathtaking view of Teide, now visible across the crater. After a break on the top, we moved round and then went to the edge of the plateau for views over the vast crater of Las Canadas with Teide the looming presence beyond. To the right, I could see Alto de Guajara which I did as a consolation prize in 2019 - I remember then the views of Teide above a layer of cloud. We extended the day along the ridge line, and Kate took a break as I continued west along towards Roques del Almendro. I had a vague idea to take in El Sombrerito, but this was clearly more involved (a shatterered ridge and steep gully lay between it and the Roque) so I returned to Kate and we ambled back to rejoin the ascent route. After a sandwich we took in the Roques de Garcia loop, this time with hundreds of tourists (we saw hardly anyone in the morning). Again, contrasting to 2019 when I did the same loop in icy conditions. We had to escape the hordes eventually so went back to refuel on Canarian fodder: queso asado, papas arrugadas, mojo and carne fiesta.
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