• The landscape is 'off this planet' and the first 'Planet of the Apes' was filmed around here, I believe.

  • Here is the lava beach at Punta del Hildago in the north west of the island. As with most places on the island, El Teide, the volcano, looks on.

  • El Teide National Park is alleged to be one of the most spectacular in the world, still free of charge.

Gimme Sunshine

After a seemingly endless winter of snow and cold, followed by the rain, gales and misery of England, Terry thought it would be good to get some sunshine. But a quick look around the Med resorts revealed temperatures no better than 12-14C and even snow and gales.

But Tenerife always keeps a reasonable temperature of 22-30C both summer and winter, due to the Trade winds. And so it came about, a trip to Tenerife, a first visit, for a bit of sight-seeing and a bit of climbing.

Here is the lava beach at Punta del Hildago in the north west of the island. As with most places on the island, El Teide, the volcano, looks on.
Here is the lava beach at Punta del Hildago in the north west of the island. As with most places on the island, El Teide, the volcano, looks on.
El Teide National Park is alleged to be one of the most spectacular in the world, still free of charge.
El Teide National Park is alleged to be one of the most spectacular in the world, still free of charge.

At 3718m, El Teide is the highest mountain in Spain. It can be climbed in 4 to 5 hours or take the cable car for 25euro. However, a permit is required to walk to the very top (cable car stops 200m below summit on the only stable rock around). Permits are free but need to be booked weeks or even months in advance, since only 200 per day are issued.

Teide

The landscape is 'off this planet' and the first 'Planet of the Apes' was filmed around here, I believe.
The landscape is ‘off this planet’ and the first ‘Planet of the Apes’ was filmed around here, I believe.

But you have to get a bit of climbing in too, don’t you? Here are a couple of climbing shots on the towers of El Teide.

I was taken by Tenerife and sorry that I had always rejected it as a destination – I’ll be back!

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6 thoughts on “Gimme Sunshine”

  1. I’m sitting on the train to London, so I’ll set a quiz 😈

    1. What famous British climber died on El Tiede some years ago ❓
    2. Why should many of this blog’s devotees be grateful to him ❓
    3. What kind of car did he drive ❓

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