Walking In The Sun

Tuesday 7 to Tuesday 14 January 2025

I have never been one to dread the English winter, often writing here previously on the joys of a brisk ramble on a frost-covered January morning in the Chiltern countryside, or wherever I happen to be on our varied land at this time of year. But on this occasion, and at quite short notice, Rachel and I had the good fortune of a week’s walking break in the Canary Islands; on Gran Canaria to be precise. Our excursion, the first for both of us to this volcanic archipelago, offered the opportunity to see a new part of the planet, whilst enjoying some outdoor exercise and a calming of the mind after the excesses of the last few weeks, together with a chance to top-up our Vitamin D levels.

I hadn’t quite realised beforehand how far from their host country of Spain, nor how close to tropical latitudes, the Canary Isles are to be found. Lying within the belt of the trade winds, this southern part of Macaronesia experiences very different, sub-tropical, weather patterns to our temperate European climate. For much of the time the prevailing north-easterlies provide some pleasant respite from the heat, and winter can be an excellent time for exploring the island on foot. Even so, and even up in the hills, we set out prepared on our first day with five layers, but ended up wearing just T-shirts, and so I would guess that summertime would be a little warm for attempting the treks that we completed in the last week.

The warm maritime climate of the island combines with predominantly volcanic rocks and soils to encourage a wide range of sub-tropical vegetation, many species of which are unique to the archipelago, to Grand Canaria alone, and even to specific locations upon the island. January, so we were told, is not always the best time to view wildlife in the region, but we did see a fair diversity of birdlife, from blue chaffinches and Canary Islands chiffchaffs to a variety of birds of prey. There is a range of native reptile species that include various lizards, the largest of which is the imaginatively-named Gran Canaria giant lizard, unique to the islands, that we saw on two occasions – and I even managed to capture the above shot before the timid creature scuttled away. I hope that these highlights of our walks give some flavour of the beauty to be had in the Gran Canarian countryside.

And just to finish, here are a few pictures of the vegetation of the island:

And so the week passed as quickly as it had come upon us, and home beckoned after a straightforward 4.5-hour flight back to a rather misty Luton Airport. We look forward to returning to Gran Canaria and to visiting the other islands, that (in order of size) comprise Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro; from what we hear they are all of unique character and appeal. Until then ‘adiós a las islas’, and I will report back here with some English winter walks presently!

My Blog heading today ‘Walking In The Sun’ is borrowed from the title of a 2004 ‘Top-20’ hit by Scottish indie rockers, Travis. The song was written by the band’s lead vocalist and lyricist Fran Healy, and appears on their compilation album ‘Singles’, a collection of the group’s early hits, plus two new numbers (‘Walking In The Sun’ and ‘The Distance’). The album itself went platinum (meaning over 300,000 copies sold) – this is my first Travis song title heading, and a timely reminder to myself to play some of their music: the ‘Singles’ album has some great songs on it, and is well worth a listen.

As a footnote, a couple of friends have asked how we arranged this trip. The company we booked with is Headwater Active Holidays, who operate self-guided walking trips as part of the Exodus portfolio. Headwater arranged for us the hotel accommodation and the hire car and provided detailed walking routes and maps (paper copies and via their app) with support from their local agent Natour. We have used both Headwater and Exodus several times before, Headwater for self-guided walking, and Exodus Adventure Travels for group trekking excursions.