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Just one more post to do from our final day. We decided to head up north again and I was anxious for another walk. Finding a short walk that TJF would be happy with (never easy) was proving a challenge until I spotted a walk in my guide-book that started with a long walk up a road and a footnote that said it had been recently improved. If we could drive up the road we could have a short walk up another couple of old volcanic craters without breaking sweat. Plan

We found the road at the back of the village of Maguez and indeed it was now metalled and easy enough to drive. We parked up at 520m to leave us a monumental 71m to climb to the top.

We were heading up the twin volcanoes of La Quemada and Los Helechos. This is the crater of La Quemada

And this is Los Helechos with Montana Corona in the background

They are perched high above the cliffs of Famara with superb views over the coast and the island of La Graciosa

It was a splendid easy stroll to the top (not easy enough for TJF to be honest)

A view over the crater of Los Helechos and Montana Corona behind

Looking south along the spine of the island. In the middle ground you can see the road we drove up zigzagging across the hillside

Family shot on the top

Montana Corona – one of the 600m peaks and one for the next trip

More superb views across the high valley of Guinate to la Graciosa

A short drive away and we were able to walk to edge of the cliffs. It’s a sensational spot. the cliffs plummeting 400m down to the sea

The photos just don’t do justice to how exposed it was. It made me feel giddy looking down

Lots of interesting looking walks along the cliffs and farmland up here. Looking forward to a return visit

We went back to one of our favourite restaurants of the trip in Orzola for lunch. We had hoped to spend the afternoon on the beach for a final swim but it turned a bit overcast and cool for that. Instead we took a look around one the other big resorts of the island. Costa Teguise. Its a huge place and as one of the older resorts it does look a bit tired and dated. It much more “Brits abroad” than Playa Blanca and needs some money spent to bring it back up to scratch although we didn’t see it in the sunny weather. It has a nice beach though and we took a wander about before heading home

Me and TBF found time for one last wander up Montana Roja in Playa Blanca (featured in an earlier post)

Not a bad finish to a superb couple of weeks away from the Xmas madness

A chance to see the sunrise on the last morning before we headed off to the airport and back home to winter

Lanzarote is a superb place and if you make a small amount of effort there are untold, unspoilt corners to discover. In reality its nothing like the holiday brochures and for the outdoor types like us a wonderful, almost perfect place for a winter break. From one extreme to the other in the next post

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Why visit one island when you can visit two. From Orzola at the north end of the island you can take a boat trip around the Punta Fariones to the island of La Graciosa. Of course we had to give this a go.

The boat trip was rather excellent if a little cool and breezy

The views of Punta Fariones were superb

And the island of la Graciosa came into view (the island we’d seen from the top of the cliffs at the Mirador del Rio a few days earlier)

The highest point on the island, Agujas Grandes

And the harbour of the main town Caleta del Sobo

We took a little wander around the town before lunch. All the roads are sand and there are few vehicles

It’s a pleasant sleepy little place with a few shops and a handful of restaurants

After a fine lunch we went off for a walk. There are some small peaks to climb and some stunning beaches. TJF is not the keenest of walkers so we wandered down the coast to the nearest beach

The island is dry, dusty and peaceful and I really enjoyed the walk along the coast

The dark summit of Montana Amarilla dominates the southern part of the island

While the views back across the water the cliffs of the Risco de Famara on Lanzarote were superb

We reached our destination at Playa Francesca and its a beauty

Golden, sand, clear water and overlooked by a volcanic remnant

Being the main organiser I’d packed the water, snacks, towels, beach rugs, snorkel stuff and everyone’s swimming gear – except mine. Can’t turn down a swim on such an idyllic beach so pants (discretely covered by a rash vest) were the order of the day

There were a few day trippers from the big catamaran but they departed not long after we arrived and beach was wonderfully peaceful

We spent a happy hour sunbathing and pithering about on the beach/rocks and admiring the views

The walk back was equally fine. As on most the days the late afternoon delivered a wonderful light that highlighted the stark landscape to perfection

There is a lagoon that holds water at very high tide but today it was bone dry

We timed our walk back perfectly to catch the last ferry back to Lanzarote

The light was fading and the cloud building on the way back so photography was a little challenging

I liked this slope of what looked like soft earth eroded by water over a matter of days

It those clouds look dark enough to drop some rain you’d be right. We had a few spots on the boat (and a brief shower on the drive home), the only rain of the trip

La Graciosa disappeared into the distance

Another fine day out and we were finding so much quality stuff to do. When I return to Lanzarote I’d like to spend a couple of days on La Graciosa, there is some quality walking and more great beaches to explore and its wonderfully peaceful

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After one full day I had itchy feet and they needed a travellers scratch. Time to explore the island. Lanzarote is quite a small island and it only takes an hour to drive from one end to other so we headed to northern tip to see what was there.

Even though there are huge fields of lava from an old eruption this part of the island seems a little greener, maybe because it wasn’t affected by the major eruption in the south of the island in the 16th and 17th centuries. It’s the Malpais de la Corona, the “badlands”

We stopped off for a “comfort break” in an extraordinary landscape of black lava and pure white sand

 

Seeing as all the rock type was black lava I assume that the sand has blown in from the Sahara a few hundred miles to the east. I didn’t see anywhere else on the island it could have come from

Time for lunch so we stopped off in Orzola, on the north tip of the island. A sleepy, traditional village as far removed from the tourist resorts as you can imagine. Stunning views to the cliffs of Famara

We had one of the best meals of the trip in a busy and friendly restaurant. An octopus, prawn and mushroom stew and a huge shared plate of fried local fish

We returned to the coast and the amazing Caleton Blanco. The Lava has formed pools of calm, shallow, clear water and white sand. It’s almost tropical and makes a great place for a swim

Or indeed a sunbathe!

The views across the stark shapes of the lava and out to see to the distant island of Alegranza were amazing

We spent a happy couple of hours here catching it on a perfect day sheltered from the westerly winds

Back into the car for some sightseeing. The road climbs steeply through the badlands and the wonderfully named village of Ye. Just beyond you reach a car park and pay a cheeky sum to look at this view

It’s the Mirador del Rio and one of the islands best known tourist attractions. They have built a series of viewing platforms both inside and outside, perched right above the dramatic cliffs of the Risco de Famara.

The views across the to the island of La Graciosa are spectacular

And back along the spine of the island to Monte Corona (the flat-topped one below and the source of all that lava down by the coast)

Its 450m straight down to the sea and its undeniably stunning. However after further exploration later in the trip we discovered several other spots perched above these precipices (the cliffs are several miles long) where you can look at the view for free. The photo below doesn’t really do justice to how sheer the drop really was

It’s the island of La Graciosa that holds the attention. You can visit by boat, more on this in a later post

Time to head back home but one more stop off on another of the islands famous beaches at Famara

Its named after the cliffs we were on earlier, in the background here

The setting sun was lighting up the cliffs to great effect

The beach is famous as a surf spot. It faces west and the full force of Atlantic breakers. It was windy now and felt more like a British beach in summer in the chill breeze and low sun. Fantastic spot though – for a few minutes anyway

The local village is a real surf haven and on another day I’d have rented some gear and hit the waves. I meant to go back but we never did, too busy with walking and chilling. One for next time and to try the seafood in the village which is apparently superb

The sun set on a really great day out

A short drive home through volcanic desert of the south of the island and another wonderfully named village of Soo. I felt I was getting to the know the island better and away from the resorts it’s both charming and beautiful. I liked it alot. More to come