Our third day on La Gomera started almost as great as our first one. After we had one of Efigenia’s great breakfasts consisting of a delicious omelette, a raisin cake, fresh vegetables, baguette with jam, a smoothie and a “café con leche” we took on the trail again and went through the laurel forest for our first time.
Our next destination would be a small village called Arure from which we would further advance to Arero at the coast and hike up again via Epína to our next hotel in Vallehermoso – the beautiful valley.
Although Arure is not a very famous place on the islands we really enjoyed walking through its quiet streets and green hills.
once again great weather conditions and a calming view on the sourrounding terrace plantations.
As Komoot told us to turn right we left the beautiful valley and went up a small hill. A stairway lead up towards an arch which indicated something special behind it. We actually did not anticipate anything, as we have not been checking out our route the day before. Walking through the arch though all of the sudden an amazing and breathtaking view over a steep cliff down to the coastline close to Alojera opened up in front of us. The POI we just reached was called Mirador Ermita del Santo as we found out later.
We eventually decided to take a short break and spent a few minutes to take a couple of photos.
the coast near Alojera.
Whenever we reach certain hights and the air gets thinner
there is a high chance of me getting goofy.
Little did we know that this was not going to be the last great view we could enjoy on our hike. The path lead along a shady cliff where every now and then palm and pine trees grew next to the trail. Every turn offered a marvelous new scene. When we finally descended to Alojera, a sleepy village at the coast, it was hard to leave this section of the way as it was in my opinion one of the most picturesque places of the island.
In Alojera we met a couple of other German hikers, who spend the last night with us at Las Hayas. We all went to the same restaurant in the village which was the only opportunity on the way to grab some lunch.
Anselm ordered typical Spanish tapas while I had two pastrami sandwiches. As we left Alojera the sun was high and we started climbing up again sweating like pigs. I remember we stopped almost every 15 minutes in order to drink and sit down for a moment as Anselm had a hard time with blisters on his feet.
palm trees in order to produce a special kind of honey.
We read a lot about rapidly changing weather conditions on La Gomera before we started our vacation but did not expect anything special on that day.
After crossing the next mountain range near Epína though, we suddenly were surprised by strong headwinds and heavy clouds after a predominantly sunny day. The easterlies (trade winds flowing permanently from east to west) which supply the islands with precipitation throughout the whole year are responsible for the foggy forests in the northern parts of the Canary islands. After we put on our jackets we welcomed the cooler conditions and could finally go downwards again. The soil we walked on turned sandy now and after a couple of miles we finally were able to spot Vallehermoso, where we would spend our next night.
Coming closer our steps accelerated as we couldn’t await the warm dinner and our beds after 17 kilometers of hiking. When we eventually arrived at our hotel though we made a shocking experience.
The doors were closed and nobody seemed to be welcoming us.
Did you enjoy reading about the second part of our La Gomera hiking trip?
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Stay tuned. This series is to be continued.
A special thanks goes out to Anselm for taking some of these amazing picures!
