Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have been on the road. Packing some rolls and fluids, the intrepid duo headed back to the north of the Island. Following the map - (Gorse Fox should explain that this cartographic masterpiece only bares a passing resemblance to the Island's network of roads - it omits exits, side turns, and in some cases shows roads that patently do not exist] they found their way past the northern airport, through Tacoronte and down through Tejina.

Tejina is a prime example of the other feature of Tenerife that is designed to confuse. The road signs tell you that you are driving along one road, say TF121, but the mileposts tell you that you are on TF13, this is further compounded by signs that direct the unwary in one direction, then stop mentioning the item you have been following. Nevertheless, Silver Vixens navigation (which is excellent) and GF's sense of direction got the travellers to Punta del Hidalgo near the northern tip of the Island. From here various walks were signposted, including one to Taganana supposed to take 5h 30m. GF decided to pass on this, and given the quality of their roadsigns, would be a little concerned about a 5hour trek into the gorges and mountains of Anaga. Skipping the walks (which had never been on the agenda) we strolled down towards the beach. Though a warm 21C there was low cloud brushing the tops of the mountains and a haze resticting the views along the north coast.

Leaving Punta del Hidalgo, we headed back through Tegueste and into La Laguna. Given the paucity of road signs, we headed straight through the old town, down narrow cobbled streets and round queues of people turning right down a "No right turn" and found our way out the other side on TF24.

TF24 is one of our favourite routes. It climbs steadily through La Esperanza and the forest onto the spine of the island and loops south, sometimes looking to the east, sometimes to the west - but always affording wonderful views. As we had passed through Tequeste, the cloud had broken and the temperature climbed to 31C - but as we increased our altituded it slowly dropped back to 24C. We stopped at a number of the viewpoints along the way, passed the observatory at Inaza and dropped into Las Canadas at El Portillo. Las Canadas is the vast National Park that caps the island. Dominated on one side by the steep cliffs and buttresses of the priaml mountain, and on the other by the volcano El Teide that has become a symbol of the island. GF will describe more about Las Canadas when he retro-blogs the photos into place.

We stopped at Los Roques del Garcia for a snack and to take even more photos, before heading back over the rim and down through Vilaflor, San Miguel and back to the bungalow. 266km under the belt, but another super day.

[File under: Diary]