Walking on La Gomera and El Hierro. Paddy Dillon

      A view of the rugged coastline after climbing high above Santa Catalina (Walk 25)

      The seven sub-tropical Canary Islands bask in sunny splendour off the Atlantic coast of north-west Africa. Millions of sun-starved north Europeans flock there for beach holidays, but increasingly visitors are discovering the amazing variety of landscapes throughout the archipelago. Conditions range from semi-deserts to perpetually moist laurisilva ‘cloud forests’, from rugged cliff coasts to high mountains, from fertile cultivation terraces to awesome rocky barrancos carved deep into multi-coloured layers of volcanic bedrock. Some areas are given the highest possible protection as national parks, but there are many more types of protected landscapes, rural parks, natural monuments and nature reserves.

      More and more walkers are finding their feet, exploring the Canary Islands using centuries-old mule tracks, rugged cliff paths and forest trails. Paths pick their way between cultivation terraces, squeeze between houses and make their way to rugged coves and hidden beaches. Some paths run from village to village, following old mule tracks once used to transport goods, while other paths are based on pilgrim trails to and from remote churches and ermitas. Many have been cleared, repaired, signposted and waymarked in recent years, ready to be explored and enjoyed.

      This guidebook explores the waymarked trail networks on the islands of La Gomera and El Hierro. Despite their small size, they boast routes of all types – from easy strolls to hands-on scrambling, from simple day-walks to long-distance trails. As these routes are fully signposted and waymarked, walkers can follow them with confidence and enjoy the islands to the full. Over 700km (435 miles) of trails are described in this guidebook.

Location

      The Canary Islands are more or less enclosed in a rectangular area from 13°30′’W to 18°00′’W and 27°30′’N to 29°30′’N. As a group, they stretch west to east over 450km (280 miles). Although administered by Spain, the mother country is 1100km (685 miles) away. The narrowest strait between the Canary Islands and Africa is a mere 110km (70 miles). The total land area is almost 7500km (2900 square miles), but the sea they occupy is ten times that size.

Geology

      Most of the world’s volcanic landscapes are formed where huge continental or oceanic ‘plates’ collide with each other. When continental plates collide, the Earth’s crust crumples upwards to form mountains, and when plates are torn apart, basaltic rock from deep within the Earth’s mantle erupts to form mountains. The Canary Islands, however, are different, and have a complicated geological history.

      The African landmass is the visible part of a continental plate that extends into the Atlantic Ocean, but the Canary Islands lie within the oceanic crust of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, close to the passive junction with the African continental plate. It is thought that the islands now lie directly above a hot-spot, or mantle plume, some 2500km (1550 miles) deep within the Earth. The mantle plume is fixed, but the oceanic and African plates are drifting very slowly eastwards. Every so often a split in the oceanic crust opens above the mantle plume, allowing molten rock to vent onto the ocean floor. As more and more material erupts, it piles higher and higher until it rises from the sea. Each of the Canary Islands was formed this way.

      Lanzarote and Fuerteventura were the first Canary Islands to form, and were subsequently pulled eastwards. The next time a rift opened over the mantle plume the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife were formed, and these were in turn pulled eastwards. A further oceanic rift led to the formation of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. Looking forward in geological time more islands

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