Tenerife: From Chamorga to Roque Bermejo

The day after our encounter with the Trail of Tears, we decided to tackle another hike.  This is one that we've always wanted to do, but never completed because we always got too late of a start and didn't want to get caught in the dark--when dusk comes around 6 or 7, night quickly follows at this time of year.  This trip was the three-kilometer walk from the village of Chamorga to Roque Bermejo, right at the northern tip of Tenerife.  The hike is kind of strenuous only due to the difference in elevation that you have to deal with, but the trail is really good and not scary at all.  The kids did great on this one.

 Some giant boulders in the valley!

I really love the rocks, vegetation and peaks you see in this valley.   We'd actually only accomplished a very small portion of this trail on our earlier attempts, and on this day we made it the whole way to the coast.  After a while, the rocks change to orange and red, and the view opens up to the ocean.  It's really fantastic.

After a long time of seeing no people or houses, just lizards, we came upon a couple of goats.  You can see in the background that we were approaching the ocean, nearby there were some houses, gardens and banana plantations in this area.  Remember:  this area is not accessible by car!  You can either walk the 3 km from Chamorga or get to Roque Bermejo by boat!

Right on the edge of the town there's this really old little church on a tiny town square.  The pictures on the altar seem to be in memory of deceased people, I found it quite sad that a lot of rather young adults were pictured.

 Finally, we reached Roque Bermejo.  There is certainly not much going on in this tiny town, but it was just what we were looking for.  Fortunately we'd packed enough sandwiches and drinks, the supermarket/snack stand is only open on the weekend!   We had a really humorous encounter when we entered town:  a little dog came running out, barking loudly.  Friedrich, who is only 3 and not such a fan of dogs, was certainly not happy to see him and let out such a shrill scream that the dog took off and didn't come anywhere near us again!  The owner of the dog then came out and had a look around, greeted us nicely and returned to his abode after seeing that nothing had happened.  

 

 

This was just a perfect stony beach to spend an afternoon on, watch the waves and the crabs and enjoy the quiet.