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Tenerife: The shadow of the volcano

This adventure begins in the Teide, the highest peak in Spain and the third largest volcano on earth from its base on the ocean floor. 

 

When you are looking for new biking adventures sometimes all you want is that the sun caresses your leathery face. This time the fervent pursuit of hot sun took us to the Canary Island of Tenerife. A truly earthly paradise where winter and summer almost shake hands. When the sun was already reflected in our faces and everything seemed to flow with an island tranquility, suddenly, a huge shadow loomed in front of us. It was the Teide and it was not willing to deviate from our path, I assure you. So we had no choice but to go around him at any price. 

Our adventure began in the highest part of the island, the volcano known as Teide. As I said before it is listed as the third largest volcano on Earth if we start the measurement on the ocean floor and it is also the highest peak in Spain at 3718m. Staring up at Teide is impressive, majestic and as impressive as any peak I would say. 


After enjoying the landscapes that seemed to be taken from another planet as we breathed in the fresh air of the highest peak in Spain and walked between long since cooled lava fields we couldn't help but feel like tiny beings inside the great magnitude of the environment that makes up the Teide National Park. Which has been declared World heritage Site by UNESCO. We also needed to try one of the great claims of the island. A typical meal at the Parador Nacional del Teide. Tenerife is very rich with amazing gastronomic wealth. Dishes like the canary ranch, soup noodles and chickpeas, rabbit, watercress soup or Gofio. Not to mention the potatoe "wrinkles" with mojo. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

From there our course was always downhill and thanks to Ivan (Teno Activo) and Unai (Canary Bike Tour) we thoroughly enjoyed the entire road network without getting lost in the attempt to visit every magical corner of the island. Locations with an exuberant nature such as El Palmar (Buenavista), The Forest Crown, Mount Water deeply contrasted with other more desert-like landscapes that are located further south of the island but are also amazing hidden places with fantastic routes all around to explore. 

The amazing thing about this type of island is its wildly varying landscapes which brings tremendous weather and temperature changes that seem to change every few kilometers. For a moment you can be tucked into a lush forest reminiscent of Canada and only a few kilometers later appear in a landscape of Morocco. That variety is great and can only be found on an island like Tenerife. 

The truth is that this is a place to go when you have time to take it slow, so slow. Only then can you truly experience and enjoy the island and its friendly people. The opportunities to see new things and explore never cease to pop up here so take your time in Tenerife. Because here there are no limits. 

Overview: www.webtenerife.com


Riding & Text: David Cachon

Photos & Video: Fernando Marmolejo


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