The Purple Penguin

Up earlier this morning and breakfast by 7 – sat on the terrace and watched the sun come up while drinking coffee which is a lovely way to start the day. We’d loaded up the car before breakfast so once that was done we headed out. We aimed for Las Creces in Garajonay National Park which is labelled as a short easy loop hike through the forest of about 2 hours. Perfect.

So twist and turn up to the parking area (very small) to find we’re the first ones parking. Picked a spot that would easy to get out of and headed off down the wide easy path. The first bit is very wide and easy, though heading down, and about 0.7km to the picnic area. We sat at the picnic area to see if we could see any birds, but nope. Could hear loads, but could see nothing.

Now all the info about the trail said to go anti-clockwise, which goes down into the ravine. We went clockwise, along the nice wide path that goes along the other side of the ravine. The walk is nice, but under the trees with swirling mist. Not saying it was spooky or anthing but:

It occassionally opens out, but is mostly under trees. We could hear the pigeons/doves and they were possibly laurel pigeons, but we couldn’t see them well because they were way up in the canopy. So just dark pigeon shaped birds! The path back down into the ravine is much steeper, narrower, and generally more difficult with some muddy steps and clambering over roots and rocks. And the two hour walk took us about 3 hours because we stopped to try to see birds, take photos, and mostly because we’re old gits with bad joints. But it was a lovely walk. Most of the walk we were on our own, but toward the end it was getting busier and noisier and when we got back to the picnic area it was pretty full! The parking area was also full. So we timed that perfectly.

We then drove up to Chorros de Epina, a set of seven springs. Had to walk down to them and didn’t get any photos as there were a couple of people there filling bottles – large bottles! We did a try some and it was lovely and cold. There is a cafe at the top and we stopped for coffee while we planned our next route out. From the cafe we could look out and see La Palma.

We then drove down into Valle Gran Rey, one of the more spectacular ravines and one of the larger towns. It’s where most of the ocean based sightseeing tours are located. We found a parking space right next to the port and in front of a restaurant that looked nice. So we decided to have a large lunch and a bit of a rest. Definitely warmer on the coast – we had dressed for the forest with long sleeves and trousers and were actually a bit cold on the walk (well I was, Joe said it was comfortable cause he’s weird). But on the coast it was too warm for long sleeves! Still lunch was nice, even if we didn’t get the fish/seafood platter for two (Joe got tuna and I had steak with clams and prawns).

We then did a slow drive back to the hotel. It has to be slow drives because the roads all twist and turn up and down ravines. And down into Valle Gran Rey it goes narrow with pedestrian crossing every few meters. Once back at the hotel we put on short sleeve shirts and had a G&T at the pool bar. We were just finishing when the music for something was starting. So again, perfect timing!