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...two travellers in search of the world's wildlife

23 February 2023

Black sand

Sunday 29 January 2023

Today started cloudy and the forecast was for probably rain, so we settled on a walk we could do in 2-3 hours and could be abandoned. This began in the wet forest above La Montaneta and climbed to the black sand volcano of Arenas Negras. At first we couldn’t see it, but then it emerged from the low cloud and vapour as a great bare whaleback hump beside the trail. The pans of jet black sand with stubby pine trees growing here and there were very otherworldly.

Arenas Negras – the black sands

A little later the sun came out and we could have a picnic in the pine forest. Then as we extended our walk to four hours the clouds came in again and rained on us.

For the afternoon we decided to drive west and see the north-west Teno peninsula, stopping on the way for very sad cakes at Restaurant Fleytas on the way. The sun came out again and the jagged cliffs and ridges plunging down into the Atlantic were absolutely breath-taking. The little village of Masca clings to the green and vertiginous slopes, packed with cars as it’s apparently a beloved day-trip for locals on a Sunday.

Looking west towards La Gomera

We ended up in Teno Alto, a tiny village high above the sea along a dead-end road with a real end-of-the-world feeling to it. Our walk guidebook recommended a viewpoint a short walk along, and as the sun sank towards the west and turned the sea silvery we could see the island of La Gomera floating on the horizon. Nice.

When we got back we discovered that none of the restaurants in Icod are open on Sunday, so we ended up eating fast food arepas from the one place that was open. Beef with black bean and banana was the best one, which maybe tells you something! I’m kidding, they were okay. But a weird dinner.

Black sand photos

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