A brief account of a recent visit and some sources of information.
Location map - click here for an enlarged map in a new windowInformation
A good map of Gran Canaria is KOMPASS 237
A good guidebook is 'Eyewitness Travel, Top 10, Gran Canaria' (ISBN 978-1-4053-5026-6)
Another useful guide book is 'Essential Gran Canaria' (ISBN 978-0-7495-6010-2)
A useful book for walkers written by a British resident on the island is called 'Don't Leave Gran Canaria Until You've Seen it'.
Descriptions of free campsites, in pdf format, at the bottom of the linked page.
My favourite campsite!
The web-based application form for free camping
In case of difficulty with the web-based booking,
the email address of OIAC is:
Site under construction - watch this space!
Daily Journal
Day 1, Wednesday 22nd February
Departed for Gatwick on the Airport Express Coach at 8:30am to catch 14:10 flight to Gran Canaria I had an uneventful flight, landing at Gran Canaria airport at 18:10 I pick up my hire car and drive to Las Palmas. This was a bit challenging at first – nighttime driving, left hand drive car, and traffic - a bit like driving in London. The streets were also very narrow near my accommodation! But no prangs! I Booked into my accommodation then went for a meal.
Day 2, Thursday 23rd February
This morning I drove down the coast to the campsite at Player de Vargas. After booking in, I did some shopping for food provisions and tried to locate gas for my stove. I had some lunch at Player de Vargas, then went for a walk and later went to the beach for a couple of hours.
Two problems today – I couldn’t locate any gas for my camping stove and my airbed has a leak and deflates!
Day 3, Friday 24th February
I had a pretty good nights sleep despite waking up a few times to re-inflate the mattress. After a good breakfast I headed down to Maspalomas to find the beach. I got there at 10:30 and stayed till late afternoon. While there, I saw a small (6”) lizard in the Dunes – fed it some apple from my lunch! Then drove to my campsite in the mountains at Presa de las Ninas. What a beautiful location!!! It had an area set aside for camping, plus a barbecue area with stone fireplaces, a toilet block nearby and a water supply.
Day 4, Saturday 25th February
Drove down to Puerto de Mogan, then walked to La Playa de Veneguera. On the way I passed a banana plantation (quite common on Gran Canaria) and spotted a small bird of prey (Kestral?) I stayed on the beach for a couple of hours before walking back to Puerto de Mogan. Total distance walked about 8 miles in 4 hours. I treated myself to a Chinese ‘Eat As Much As You Can’ meal on the seafront of Puerto de Mogan, before driving back to camp for the night.
Day 5, Sunday 26th February
A beach day today!!! Wall to wall sunshine and blue skies again. Drove down to Playa de Veneguera. The road down the Barranco de Veneguera (Ravine) from Casa de Veneguera is a rough, unsealed, track, of distance about 5 miles! Careful - mind the boulders and (dry) ford crossings that have steep banks – real damage can be done to the underside of a car!
Had a good time on the beach sunbathing and going for a quick dip to cool off. Water temperature I was told was about 20 deg C. Not too much of a shock to the system, but not warm enough for me to stay in for a long time.
In late afternoon I travelled to Puerto de Mogan to do some food shopping, I had a meal and filled up with petrol, then headed back to camp. Petrol is cheap a little over half of what we pay in the UK.
Day 6, Monday 27th February
Drove to nearby (15 miles) Soria for the start of a walk. I was intending to do Rambling Roger’s Walk number 20. I didn’t get as far as I had hoped though. I had intended to return by a different (shorter) route but the tracks on the ground didn’t correspond to the tracks on the map, so I returned the way I had come on reaching the Chira Reservoir. I got back to base about 15:00 so relaxed in the sun on the hillside for a couple of hours. There were a couple of co-campers from Edinburgh on the campsite. I haven’t come across many English-speaking people in the mountain areas so it was good to chat. I had a barbeque tonight using some wood I found by one of the stone fireplaces.
Day 7, Tuesday 28th February
Today I plan to do part of rambling Roger’s Walk 25, Tasartico to San Nicolas. But before leaving the campsite I test the airbed to see if it can be fixed. I found 4 leaks and patched with the repair kit. I drove to Tasartico and parked the car in the village, then walked to the pass on Montana de Aguas Sabinas. I then returned to the car and drove down the Barranco de Tasartico to the beach at Playa del Asno where I stayed for a couple of hours including a dip in the quite rough water. Then it was time to get back to camp and have a meal. I shared a barbecue fire with the campsite couple I met yesterday. Tomorrow I move on to a new campsite at Llanos Del Mimre (Tamadaba).
Day 8, Wednesday 29th February
I spend the morning at the Presa de las Ninas campsite before travelling to my new campsite at Llanos Del Mimre (Tamadaba). I get supplies; food, postcards and stamps in Tejeda, then write and post my cards. It was then time to continue my journey to Artenara and then onto the campsite where I arrived at 18:30. It was getting dusk when I finally arrived. The official campsite was located separately from the picnic/barbecue area about 600 metres away. I was running out of daylight and needed food and to pitch the tent, so I decided to do this in the picnic area for the night. The next day, I would move the tent to the official camping area.
Site under construction - watch this space!
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