La Gomera 2022

Arrival from Tenerife: Once we had dropped the rental car off at the Tenerife South Airport, we took the #40 bus into Los Christianos. We walked down past the waterfront, through the holidayers and finished off a sandwich, topped off with ice cream cones and then continued onto the the nearby ferry terminal. There are two companies that run fast ferry services between Tenerife & La Gomera for about 35 Euros o/w for foot passengers. We took the 14:30 Naviara de Armas ferry and I measured the speed, out of the harbour,  at 31 knots. As we approached La Gomera , we were impressed with the rugged coastline. 

We got into San Sebastian a little later than the scheduled 15:20 time and we figured that we had missed a connecting bus. Nevertheless, we maintained a brisk pace to the empty central bus station. The next bus wasn't for another three hours, so we picked up a few grocery items and then searched for a taxi with quick success. The fare was 35 Euros and before long we were gobsmacked at the amazing road and scenery. Our driver Ramon, dropped us off the apartment hotel, Los Telares in upper Hermigua. The key was in our room door and we made a walk to a small supermarket to top up our supplies for our two night stay. We had arrived in a completely different world. It was wonderful!

Hermigua: When we were planning the trip, we originally intended to stay in Los Christianos for a night, but we changed the itinerary, opting for two nights in Hermigua to begin our La Gomera visit. So we had an extra day, and Sheila opted to take it easy, to give her heel a break, and enjoyed the facilities at Los Telares. I opted to take a mid-morning bus to the next town of Agulo and walk back (about 9km).  The Hermigua waterfront and banana farms were the highlights of the walk.  We found the Canary Islands bananas to be delicious. On the long return walk through Hermigua, I purchased a half loaf of fresh German bread and some local produce including a starfruit at the Biosfera shop at the bottom of town.

Hermigua to Chipude:  We were walking before the sun came up. We knew it was going to be a big day, and it was.  The trail from Hermigua followed the  Barranco del Cedro  which turned out to be a steady steep uphill climb (700m ascent) to the top of the waterfall below El Cedro. Once we hit pavement, we knew that we had reached the hamlet of El Cedro. After a short road walk, we were in  Garajonay  National Park walking through another magical cloud forest. The gradient had eased, however the cloud forest thinned quickly with more elevation gain and we encountered other walkers including a German speaking group.  We crossed a paved main road and busy parking lot.

 The highest point of La Gomera is a short 1 km walk from the road and suddenly, we were on a busy trail. We stopped in the shade for a sandwich before reaching Garajonay Alto  (1480m) and a number of people. We admired the views (you can see four of the Canary islands from up top) and then headed west towards Chipude. The vegetation dried up considerably on the descent and we were both happy to reach the Sonia Hotel in Chipude.  The 18km day with 1300m of ascent was quite enough. We were also Spanish meal savvy, so we ordered up lunch as the kitchen was open till 4:00pm and wouldn't reopen till after 7:00pm (early dinners a concession to the mainly trekking guests). While the pork steak was very good, I saw goat stew on the menu and was not disappointed with it.

Chipude is a quiet place most of the time and it looked like the local population was in a slumber late that Saturday afternoon. It is a pretty place but quiet. I had a look around before falling back on beer and chips as a light dinner because the hotel restaurant was full.. A trekking group filled up most of the hotel that night and it wasn't till midnight before it fully calmed down.

Chipude to Vallehermosa. We had a  filling breakfast at the Sonia Hotel. Although it didn't start till 8:00am, we poked our noses in the bar/dining area and the owner got a couple of delicious coffees organized for us and we were chowing down well before 8:00am  His son is working in Toronto and he seems to like the city.

The trail skirted the edge of Chipude and then launched us out to an open landscape. The upper section of the Valle Grand Rey valley was an interesting down and up before reaching Las Hayas. We walked by a popular restaurant (we were still full from breakfast) and we were, soon after,  immersed in cloud forest above the village. We were back in Garajonay  National Park; the trail was wide and felt more like a road. Once we crossed over a paved road, the trail narrowed and started to descend in and out of small patches of cloud forest alternating with drier grass sections. 

The Vallehermosa valley looked good from above, but once we we had descended 700m to the valley floor, we were completely blown away with the upper valley as we walked along the road into town. We had provided an approximate arrival time to our host. When we reached Calle Triana,, I called Gloria who quickly appeared  and got us organized in the vintage apartment in the centre of town. We were quite taken by the character of the house and we had all the doors open to the courtyard. The kitchen was accessed by the landing (outside) and it featured a blue fridge. It was splendid.  The unit included a washing machine and we put it to good use. The Suma mini supermarket was open on Sunday and we organized dinner. 13km with 200m of ascent and 1050m of descent. The town of Vallehermosa was quiet on a Sunday but didn't get much busier on Monday either.

Day hike, Santa Rosa circuit from Villahermosa. 14 beautiful kilometres with over 700m of ascent & descent. Sheila had a heel issue, so she skipped this one and rested it. I hiked up to the Santa Rosa chapel through an incredibly beautiful valley and into morning clouds up on the ridge. I followed a trail, gravel road and back onto a trail that descended the ridge down to the Vallehermosa beach (no swimming there at that time of year with such an active sea). It was about a 200m ascent up the valley back to town, some of it on road and then on a beautiful trail that passed through a variety of agricultural lands, popping up into near the centre of town. The Spar was open and it offered better choice than the Suma market. Vallehermosa remained quiet.

Vallehermosa to Hermigua. The upper route from Vallehermosa to Hermigua looked like it involved a fair amount of up and down, so we got off to an early start. It was a steady ascent, reaching smaller cloud forest sections then through a smaller valley of less interest to reach the Garonjay NP visitors centre at Juegos de Bolas. Along the way we met just a handful of other walkers and by coincidence, they were all from Yellowknife. The European hiking culture allows for only brief greetings between walkers on the trail, but as Canadians, we were able to have a couple of chats on the trail. 

After the visitors centre, followed a loss of elevation, an additional ascent that brought us  to a viewpoint overlooking the Hermigua valley. Two small groups were coming up and they commented on how rigorous the ascent was. There was nothing easy about the descent either but eventually we reached Hermigua and descended past the petrol station to a town house that we had rented for two nights. The owner had provided us with a key box code and we were in without issue. It was 15km with 850m of ascent and 950m of descent. The local Spar market was a short distance away and before we knew it, we were enjoying appy hour on the scenic patio. Dinner was meatballs and broccoli with fresh tagliatelle, washed down with a Rioja. We caught up on laundry with the unit washing machine.

Hermigua day hike. Day walk from Hermigua. 16km with 750m of ascent/descent. Sheila rested her heel and went out to the natural swimming pool. The trails and scenery east of Hermigua made for excellent walking. I followed my nose and selected trails by impulse and really enjoyed it. It would be interesting to wander the rest of the NE quadrant of the island.

Hermigua is roughly 4 km long and although the upper section is more scenic, the lower part has ocean views. There are three small well-stocked supermarkets in Hermigua, spaced apart to service different town segments. There are some beautiful heritage buildings in Hermigua; they are however contrasted with some cheap-builds like the place we stayed at in lower Hermigua.

Hiking into San Sebastián  I had read that the hike down into San Sebastián  was a good one and we would agree. It was spectacular. We caught a Linea 2 bus just after 8:00 almost in front of our accommodation to las Casetas (a pullover and small road).  We pushed up 300m to a ridgeline and then followed it up and down, but mostly down to San Sebastián. The vegetation was adapted to dry conditions but it varied throughout the walk. We often had the sea in view and the Teide volcano on Tenerife made for a nice backdrop on the descent. 10km with 350m of ascent and 750m of descent.

Once we dropped down through the San Sebastián suburbs, we reached the reception of the Hotel Torre del Conde where we were provided a key to a comfortable, spacious hotel room. We both took dips in the ocean at the town beach and we learned of the 3,000mile Talisker Atlantic Challenge. We also took a quick look at the row boats before the area was closed up for the evening and chatted with some of the competitors. It was a take out pizza for dinner that night.

Transfer day from La Gomera to Tenerife.  We had a late morning ferry crossing to catch. Once we had enjoyed the excellent breakfast at the hotel, we wandered along the waterfront before returning to the row boats. We talked with more competitors and gained some insight. We later tracked the race on an App (YB Races).  The ferry to Tenerife was much busier than the one we came over in. We could have spent much longer La Gomera.