Walking in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria, 8th Edition (2020), updated 25/2/2024

Updates for walks and car tours (drives) on Gran Canaria given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have an older edition of this book you can “upgrade” to the latest edition at half price.)

Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably by e-mail, to info@sunflowerbooks.co.uk.

General: Gremlins at the printers have played havoc with the few waypoints that are identified by letters, not numbers — waypoints for short or alternative walks. If you see a red circle waypoint indication in the text  with no number (the maps are correct), it is because a letter is missing. We think the instructions are clear enough without those waypoints, but if you find empty red dots too confusing, please email info@sunflowerbooks.co.uk and we will send you the offending page(s) as a pdf. Pages affected are: 51, 74, 85, 90, 97, 113, 117, 114, 128. Sorry. (Sunflower)

Walk 2: IMPORTANT: We walked Noel’s original walk in 2010 and we recall the climb down into the Barranco to have been difficult then, resulting it us losing the path several times. Last week, January 2024 we choose to revisit the Barranco De Tejeda. Despite being experienced walkers, we found the path from the almond covered hillside into the Barranco now completely non-existent. It meant a difficult scramble over loose stone on a very steep slope. Certainly not what we  would describe as ‘easy/moderate’.  The nature of the terrain makes it difficult to retrace one’s steps. Once in the Barranco, within metres there are many boulders over the canal. Given that these boulders have fallen on to  the concrete roof of the canal, we felt it risky to climb over them. Instead we retraced our steps a bit and walked through the Barranco rejoining the canal further up. The walk in the Barranco was interesting, there was even water in it. As Noel instructs we returned to Tejeda up the steep track after the farm. We felt that the walk description would be better advising walkers to follow  SL-1  from Tejada.  On meeting   the track up from the farm  after a short while, then walk down the track into the Barranco, In the Barranco walk along the canal  and Barranco bed  in both directions at one’s  discretion, before returning to Tejada the same way up the track as in Walk 2 description. Thank you Sunflower Books for your walks of which we have done numerous over the years. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a Sunflower book in our pockets! (User, 1/24)

Walk 6: A user sent these instructions from Bar El Lomo: From Bar El Lomo are ‘at the signpost follow S10 and very shortly the path splits so take the left turn which winds down in to the barranco on a narrow path. Cross the barranco and go up to the road. Turn left and follow a concrete road until another signpost for the S 10 on the left. Follow this path then a road down in to the barranco and you can see the onward path at the bottom. When the path reaches the outskirts of Teror follow the road it meets until the main road. Turn right and a signpost directs you down in to Teror.’ (User, 2/24)

Walk 8: Under ‘Transport’, it should read ‘Motorists, park in Tejeda, then take bus 305 to start the walk’ (Sunflower)

Walk 10: A direct bus service – 204 took me from Las Palmas to Firgas – (10.30 departure – arrived Firgas 11.40) – easier than the two buses the guide describes. Which meant I descended from Firgas into the ravine. Conditions going up the ravine met guide description. However, I found ‘several minutes along the barranco bed the track ends’ more like 40 minutes! And one is confronted with a jumble of rocks, soil & packed vegetation. This is also by the last house on the left with accompanying barking dog on the roof. No obvious path on the ravine bed. But a ledge to the left takes you to a wooden door ( progress beyond this ledge is impossible as part of it has collapsed!!) which I went through and one is able to skirt round the missing ledge – with bleating goats for company, not horses – & connect with the guide ‘ gate blocks your way’. Which I went through after disentangling the wire. Straightforward to the abandoned homestead but one needs to be very aware that an obvious path goes to the edge of dense shrubs in the ravine bed & you have to be courageous to push through to an obvious path becoming a track. A track now exists through the ‘impenetrable’ cane down to San Andres. Great fun! (User, 2/23) • Short walk: It is now no longer possible to park on the concrete track, as there is a barrier at the start. (User 2/24) [Sunflower: Looking on Google Earth, there is a possibility to park one or two cars on the GC350, well tucked in, just where the bus symbol is on the printed map – there is no official bus stop here.]

Walk 12 and variations: The path between La Goleta and the Degollada de los Hornos is not the S51, It is very poorly waymarked and not an official trail. That’s why the GC600 road is used in Alternative walk 12-2. Very experienced walkers with a good sense of direction (mists and fog are frequent here) could try the path, which demands a bit of scrambling. (Sunflower)

Walk 14: Rounding the crater (after Waypoint 3) ‘within an hour of circling the crater (just below a hotel and golf course) the path rises up log-stabilised steps to a corner of the green‘ (Sunflower) • No problems. Great walk. Guide directions sound. But the steps down from the Golf Club track are very badly eroded. (User, 2/23)

SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS – The following are not corrections to the 7th edition of the book.

Walks 17/18: Alternative walk suggestion, combining walks 17 and 18: Park in Cercados de Arana (possibly at the bar/restaurant, if it is still closed) and follow Walk 17 to the prickly pear enclosure, where turn left rather than right. Follow the track, which meanders across the plateau before passing close to a pylon. Ignore two right turns (to Las Casas and La Cueva) before turning right by stepping over a rusty chain across a track. This is the 4hr50min point of Walk 18, which can now be reversed as far as you want (remembering that you have to climb back up to finish the walk). Finding the path over the rock section in reverse is not easy and requires some careful scrambling: allow plenty of time. The reward is a good refreshment stop on the far side of the Soria dam. (If you just want a view of Soria, don’t turn right at the chain but follow the track to its end at a red and white radio mast, then turn right for about 100m and climb a small outcrop currently marked by a white stone. Although it’s possible to scramble down a little further here for a better view, there is no way on: it ends in a sheer drop). Returning the same way, come to the pylon and look out for a faint track to the right. Follow this until you see a small pool with a stone dam and, to its right, a pipeline with a concrete wall. Scramble down to the pool and cross the dam, then ascend the hill in front of you for a splendid view across the Embalse de Chira and its dam. Scramble down, heading just to the right of the dam, clamber over the concrete channel, and turn left on the path to walk across the dam. Return on the road next to the lake as for Walk 17. I didn’t make notes for reversing Walk 18, so at the moment can only recommend the descent to Soria for experienced and sure-footed walkers without fear of heights. With the diversion to Soria I’d classify this as fairly strenuous, while the circuit of Chira is easy apart from the section from the track to the dam. (User, 11/20)

Below is an email from a user of the 2009(!) edition of the book. Normally we would not post it, but there may be something of interest here for keen walkers: I stayed at Puerto de Mogan in the south for four nights and then another four in Las Palmas. The southern walks included:
Degollada de la Aldea/Mirador de Tasartico – Tasarte – Degollada de Veneguera – Veneguera – Cruz de Mogan – Mogan. All on S-73 .Done using the late morning bus 38 to the start and an early evening bus 84 back from Mogan to the Puerto.There’s also a newly signed Veneguera circular route SL-3 that looks good.
Fataga to Santa Lucia – SL route number fifty something starting at the top end of Fataga ,over Degollada de Los Sitios,crossing through Barranco de Tirajana and on up to Santa Lucia after a detour down to look over the now empty Presa de Sorrueda.There’s a whole network of recently signed paths in these valleys south of San Bartolome (Tunte).
Short walk 21 from Degollada de la Aldea to Viso and back.Very relaxed timing with a 12.25 arrival on bus 38 and return bus at 17:45.On the walk back down to the degollada I met a Norwegian who’d got off the bus at the bar near Fuente Los Azuelaos and headed up a signed SL to meet the forest track and trail to join Walk 21 above Roque el Castillete and then continued west on your route.
The weather was wetter in the north and I spent a short day in the Barranco de Mina from Las Lagunetas to Utiaca with a good lunch at Guiniguada restaurant , and then the next day started at San Mateo and continuing down the Barranco de Alonso to Santa Brigida on SL-16 past the famous dragon tree.
As a finale I did the last section of Walk 11 (down green SL-1) to Tenteniguada from Caldera de los Marteles,as part of a loop from Valsequillo (on green SL-2) up through Barranco los Cernicalos to the GC130 near the Caldera.These are just two of the half dozen or so old trails that fan up onto the top road from the valley, details can be found on the local tourist board website and at tourist information in Valsequillo which has walks booklets and map displays. I think that this area to the west of Telde has some of the best walking on the island.
My blog Emerging From the Undergrowth which has tabs to lots of my Canarian and other walks with photo albums. (User, 2/18)