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Bye bye La Palma
After seven wonderful weeks on La Palma, our Canary Islands adventure continues on February 5. The next island on our itinerary is La Gomera.
But before we can set sail on the ferry at 5 a.m. the next morning, we have one last challenge to overcome: a steep climb of around 1,000 meters to El Pueblo – and that after a seven-week break from cycling 😅.
We had already pitched our tent at the barbecue area above the village on the way there. From there, when the alarm clock rings at 3 a.m., we can whizz downhill for half an hour to the ferry station.
About La Gomera
They say that La Gomera looks like a giant lemon squeezer from above. And indeed, deep gorges radiate down to the sea from the central high plateau – as if nature had been tirelessly “twisting” the rock here for millions of years. Wind, water, and erosion have shaped an island that is rugged, wild, and yet surprisingly green. At its heart lies the Garajonay cloud forest, where trade wind clouds catch in the treetops and give the island its precious water.
Hello La Gomera
After a two-hour, fairly calm crossing, we arrived on La Gomera completely exhausted and in complete darkness. Our mood was surprisingly bad. It was one of those days when you stand on the coast, watch the colorful spectacle of the sunrise, and still feel no happiness. Everything feels exhausting, and nothing can really cheer you up.
Then we realize that we haven’t planned very well. Suddenly, we have to frantically think about how much food we need for the next few days and where we’re going to store it all. There are hardly any shopping opportunities on the island – and if there are, you always have to climb or descend at least 1,000 meters 🫣.
Because paragliding is officially not allowed here, we decide that Beni should leave his paraglider somewhere to make room for provisions. But where? There are no lockers. So we spontaneously ask at the first hotel we come across if we can leave the backpack there for about a week. We actually want to offer a tip, but the receptionist just waves us away: no problem. One problem solved and about 10 kilos less weight 😃.
So nothing stands in the way of our big shopping trip—but our mood remains low. That’s also part of such an intense journey.
Finally, we start the first steep climb. But it quickly becomes clear that it doesn’t make sense today. Everything is incredibly exhausting, we are simply too tired. By the time we admit this to ourselves, we are already at about 300 meters above sea level, in the middle of an extremely windy valley – it’s no coincidence that there are wind turbines here 😅.
Now we have to decide: continue climbing, even though Nicole’s legs can’t take it anymore? Go back down? Or pitch the tent here near a wind turbine and hope that the wind dies down during the night?
We stand there feeling paralyzed. On a trip like this, you make countless decisions every day; it’s not like a booked all-inclusive vacation. When you don’t have the strength to do so, everything feels twice as difficult and overwhelming. In the end, we decide to stay, pitch the tent in the gusty wind, and call it a day.
Fortunately, the wind dies down during the night. We catch up on sleep and motivation.
We stand there feeling paralyzed. On a trip like this, you make countless decisions every day; it’s not like a booked all-inclusive vacation. When you don’t have the strength to do so, everything feels twice as difficult and overwhelming. In the end, we decide to stay, pitch the tent in the gusty wind, and call it a day.
Fortunately, the wind dies down during the night. We catch up on sleep and motivation.
Luck is definitely on our side again and La Gomera is showing itself from its most beautiful side. A large high-pressure area is forecast over the island for the next few days, which means little wind and, above all, no/few clouds. This allows us to enjoy the beautiful panorama all the way up the mountain and almost forget the effort involved. Our destination for today is the La Vista campsite in El Cedro, located in the middle of the cloud forest (the trade winds create mystical wafts of mist, moss-covered trees, and a unique, humid atmosphere in this area). Instead of fog, however, we are greeted by bright sunshine, allowing us to enjoy fantastic views and vistas.
The campsite is very cheap, at €4 per night, and offers everything you need: a restaurant with good food, an outdoor shower with hot water, toilets, and flat pitches for pitching your tent. Musical entertainment is also provided in the form of a colorful animal orchestra consisting of sheep, ducks, dogs, and cats.
We leave our bikes behind for a day and enjoy a short hike through the beautiful forest of laurel, moss, ferns, and lichen.
The next day, we are drawn to the place that probably attracts every visitor to the island: the highest point on the island, Alto de Garajonay. From there, we enjoy a spectacular 360° view over the whole of La Gomera and the neighboring islands of La Palma, El Hierro, and Tenerife—what a feast for the eyes!
We can hardly tear ourselves away from this view, but we still have quite a distance to cover to reach our host for the day, so after a few hours at the viewpoint, we set off.
Once again, our host is a great story: there is exactly one person registered on the “Welcome to my garden” platform on La Gomera, and this man’s response rate is just 30%. So we consider ourselves lucky when he actually replies and tells us that he would be very happy to welcome us into his garden.
What’s particularly nice about this is that it takes us to a valley we hadn’t even considered visiting, and it would have been a shame to miss it – it was breathtakingly beautiful and very unknown to tourists, so we were able to enjoy the drive there all to ourselves.
However, when we ask for the address, we don’t get an answer. We decide to roll down into the small valley of Tazo anyway and hope for a miracle. The miracle happens, and as we marvel at the landscape bathed in the colors of the sunset, the only car we have encountered so far stops for us. Guess who the driver is 😄 – that’s right, our host, who is on his way to pick up a colleague. Since the maps of this remote village are not up to date, we look down into the valley together and he describes which house is his. Er meint, er sei in 1 Stunde zurück, wir können gerne schon mal die Dusche auf der Terrasse aufsuchen 😃.
We enjoy the warm shower, the incredibly beautiful sunset, and are surprised tonight by a completely different animal sound, namely that of a peacock 🦚😃.
After a restful night, we are even greeted with coffee in the morning and can then start the new day feeling happy, content, and refreshed.
Yes, what can we say, La Gomera simply means well with us. The next few days are pure enjoyment – perfect weather, pleasant temperatures, beautiful nature, great places to sleep. We take another day off and visit Valle Gran Rey, which is very popular with tourists and where many Germans and some Swiss emigrated after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. To be honest, we didn’t like it there very much. Not only because it was really touristy, but also because of the somewhat charmless beach promenade. Many buildings are dilapidated and it looks a bit dreary. But that’s how we saw it.
Now, after a week that went by far too quickly and a rapid descent to the harbor, it’s time to board the ferry again and explore the next island. And that is El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary Islands.
For even more insight into our everyday cycling life, check out our latest video: