A small rock in the Atlantic

Friday, 2 October 2009

The Outdoor & Walking Festival

Cubo de la Galga, Puntallana

La Palma has a wonderful network of hiking trails, providing a great variety of landscapes and levels of difficulty. And this weekend, the island's hosting an outdoor and walking festival. You can go on a guided walk for free, but you have to register in advance: see http://www.senderosdelapalma.com/walkingfestival/actividades.php although places are filling up fast. I'm probably going to miss it because you have to meet the bus at Los Llanos to get to and from the walk. This is great for walks where you don't come back to your starting point, obviously, but I get very travel sick in buses.

All the buses leave from the Plaza España in Los Llanos, and they have a programme of other events there, too from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
Friday
o 17:00 horas.- Inauguration of the Plaza del Senderista.
o 17:00 - 21:00 horas.- Exhibition of local food .
o 17:30 - 19:00 horas.- Workshop focused on: Salto del Pastor, is a means of moving with a spear, which is used to jump over uneaven ground and geographical features.
o 18:00 - 20:00 horas.- Local food tasting.
o 18:00 - 19:00 horas.- Exhibition of stilts in Plaza del Senderista by TEATRO KDO.
o 19:00 - 21:00 horas.- Seminar "Periodismo de Montaña", focused on journalism in mountains.
o 22:00 horas.- Launch of the song "SENDEROS DE LA PALMA". A concert by Moise González & Son Iyá (salsa). Special guest stars: José Manuel Ramos, León de Romeo, Beselch Rodriguez.

Saturday

o 10:00 - 12:00 horas.- Different activities and games for children.
o 12:00 - 13:00 horas.- Clowns and big balls at Plaza del Senderista with TEATRO KDO..
o 13:00 - 14:00 horas.- Humor with MANOLO VIEIRA.
o 17:00 horas.- Inauguration of the Plaza del Senderista.
o 10:00 - 21:00 horas.- Exhibition of local food.
o 17:00 - 18:00 horas.- Launch of sport (hiking and climbing) equipment. At the main stage.
o 18:00 - 20:00 horas.- Local food tasting
o 18.00 - 20:00 horas.- Globoflexia at Plaza del Senderista by Teatro Kdo
o 18:00 - 20:00 horas.- Workshop on GPS and Geocoahing, Geocoaching games at Plaza del Senderista.

Volcán de San Antonio (Fuencaliente):

o 22:00 horas.- Closing ceremony "Luces y Música en el Volcán". At the San Antonio volcano. (Volcán de San Antonio (Fuencaliente)

The summit of Teneguía, Fuencaliente

Labels: La Palma, walking

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Saturday, 26 April 2008

Cubo de la Galga

Cubo de la Galga is a very pretty walk along the bottom of the Galga ravine, between Puntallana and Los Sauces. By Palmeran standards, it's an easy walk.

"Walk! La Palma" is a good book, but the bit about the bottom end of the walk at Cubo de la Galga is out of date already. The Island Government (the Cabildo) have been busy.

There is now a car park at the beginning of the walk, on the road at km 16. You're unlikely to get lost for the first kilometre or so, because the path's actually asphalted, never mind signposted. It's a matter of taste, but this part was a bit too tamed for my taste, and I was glad when the asphalt stopped. In fact the path is currently so smooth you could actually walk for a couple of kilometers in stilettos, if stilettos are your thing. (I bought a pair of stilettos just before I came to La Palma. I've used them so little that seventeen years later, they still don't even need heeling.)

There are caves in the ravine walls. This one has a wall built across the mouth. at the time we wondered whether people had lived there at one time. Now I wonder whether it mightn't be the "windows" in the water channel, the Canal de Estado.

The book is absolutely right that the place would be famous if it weren't so close to Los Tilos. The path criss-crosses the stream bed (a trickle in April) and the ravine walls and trees tower over you.

This means that the roots are at eye-level.

When the signpost seemed to indicate that it was time to turn back, we carried on a little, up a much rougher path.

The path went under a little aqueduct.

Just above there is a flattish space, where we stopped to eat our sandwiches. Above that, the path divides. According to Charles Davis, you can make your way back to the road by another route, but we weren't sure of the way and I had to get back for the babysitter. So I can't tell you whether there are still fallen trees over the track.

Throughout the walk, there were lots of butterflies, mostly sitting still until the camera focused, and then fluttering off. But I got lucky eventually. This one is common in the western Canaries, but lives nowhere else.