is often worn to bedrock on a slope of laurisilva woodland. Keep ahead at a junction, along the clearest path, flashed yellow/white. Occasional views to either side reveal that the route is along a rocky crest, rising and falling. There is a sudden view of the urban sprawl and the path swings left. Stone-paved zigzags give way to a zigzag groove on the slopes of Cabezo del Viento, where forest and scrub vie for dominance. Watch for markers to pass a little house.
The path drops and then climbs round a steep hollow where there are lots of aloes among the scrub. Join another path and turn left up to a gap where a few houses, Casas de los Berros, stand either side. Cross the gap and go down the other side, traversing before winding down past a big eucalyptus tree. Pass little plots and cross a river, heading downstream and passing a little white house while crossing the barranco from side to side.
The Roque de Agua is seen on the way down from Pico del Inglés
Make a slight rising traverse, then wind down and cross the Barranco de Valleseco back and forth again, passing a concrete aqueduct. Cross the barranco later and pass a bridge carrying another aqueduct, spanning an impressive narrow rock gorge. Cross again well below the bridge, then back again. Pass stoutly-walled plots and cross yet again. Pass more plots and keep left below a house. Cross the river a couple more times, pass a ramshackle house, then see lots more houses straggling down through the barranco ahead. Follow the rugged path and join a concrete road beneath a concrete aqueduct. The road offers rapid onward progress, but the path slices up to the right and comes down later, beside a map-board and signpost.
In wet weather waterfalls can be seen at intervals through the Barranco de Valleseco
Continue down the road, crossing two bridges and passing bus stops at La Quebrada. Unless a bus is due, keep walking down the road through Valleseco, passing sports facilities and bars. Reach a junction with a very busy coastal road where there are plenty of buses to and from Santa Cruz.
WALK 2
Igueste de San Andrés to Chamorga
| Start | Igueste de San Andrés |
| Finish | Chamorga |
| Distance | 10km (6¼ miles) |
| Total Ascent | 875m (2870ft) |
| Total Descent | 425m (1395ft) |
| Time | 5hrs |
| Terrain | A road walk is followed by a rugged path climbing to a ridge. Intricate paths lead from village to village. |
| Refreshment | Bars at Igueste and Chamorga. |
| Transport | Regular daily buses serve Igueste de San Andrés from Santa Cruz. Infrequent buses serve Lomo de las Bodegas and Chamorga from Santa Cruz. |
| Waymarked route(s) | Route uses PR TF 5. |
This route could be used as the first stage on a trek round the Anaga peninsula, though it stands on its own merit as a fine day’s walk. After climbing through a barranco, a ridge leads to laurisilva forest, followed by a walk from the village of Lomo de las Bodegas to Chamorga.
The road serving Igueste de San Andrés bends round a barranco and this walk starts at its furthest point inland, where there is a bus shelter beside an ATM. Follow the road signposted ‘Pista Hoya de los Juncos’, which climbs from the village, crossing and re-crossing the Barranco de Igueste. Pass a few houses and enter the Parque Rural Anaga. The barranco bed supports dense canes and aloes, while the steep and rugged slopes rising from it are thick with tabaibal and cardón.
Turn right as marked up a steep concrete track with a 10kph speed limit. Turn left off it along a level path past little terraces, passing an old sign reading ‘Casillas’. The path climbs a steep rugged slope, and a couple of little houses can be seen tucked into hollows. The scrub features tabaibal, cardón, prickly pears and asphodel, as well as fragrant incienso and lavender. The path levels out on a ridge, Lomo de la Zapata, with a view back to Igueste and the sea, as well as up to the well-wooded crest of the mountains.
Las Casillas, where partly-ruined houses huddle together in a gap on a rugged mountain crest
Start climbing up the ridge, but drift left and watch for yellow/white markers while climbing higher. Pass a huddle of heather trees and zigzag up past a stump of rock. The path eventually reaches a rocky crest bearing a line of telegraph poles. Turn left and use these as giant waymarks, revealing a rugged path making a rising traverse past rampant bushy scrub. Cross a rocky gap and follow the path through a bit of laurisilva woodland. Climb a little and later go down past Las Casillas, where a huddle of buildings, partly ruined, lie just off the ridge around 635m (2085ft).
Follow the path close to the ridge and pass just to the right of a pylon on a gap. The path climbs, then mostly runs down across a slope of laurisilva, passing a couple of houses. Rise and fall, in and out of laurisilva, and climb through dense woods to a road junction (bus service). The road left seems to wind forever up to El Bailadero. The road downhill is for Chamorga. The road immediately to the right runs to a little cemetery, around 635m (2085ft).
Looking across to Lomo de las Bodegas and the skyline hamlet of La Cumbrilla
Pass the cemetery and walk along a short track. Keep right to follow a path that leads quickly through woods and across a scrub-covered slope, passing a couple of small cultivated plots. The path reaches a slight gap on a rocky ridge. Turn left downhill, watching carefully for a path that drifts left and passes below a building to reach the end of a track. Follow the track downhill, across a valley and up to a road in the village of Lomo de las Bodegas.
Turn right to reach the road-end and turn left down steps towards a chapel. However, turn left again along a concrete path, gently up and down. Don’t go down a concrete path on the right, but keep straight ahead, winding uphill, with lots and lots of steps. These are flashed yellow/white all the way and occasionally named ‘Camino La Cumbrilla’. The path runs along a mountain ridge with houses strung along it at La Cumbrilla, around 700m (2300ft). Watch for markers all the way and turn right between the last buildings.
Follow a path down through laurisilva. Keep left at a fork, past a cultivated plot, then back into the woods, rising and falling gently. A steep and greasy stone-paved zigzag path drops down an open slope and heads back into the woods. Turn right at a signposted junction to drop from the woods to land on a road near the bus stop and little chapel in Chamorga, around 500m (1640ft). There are lots of dragon trees around the village, and a bar. Walk 3 starts here.
WALK 3
Chamorga, El Draguillo and Almáciga
| Start | Chamorga |
| Finish | Almáciga |
| Distance |
16km (10
|
