‘THAT is one of our new volcanoes. Anything younger than a million years, we consider new,” smiles my guide Guillermo Bernal, as we peer over a wildscape alive with kilometre-high cliffs and pounding Atlantic surf, a wildscape riven with a sweep of volcanoes. “We are always a mixture of old and new here, so varied. You will find all the best bits of the Canaries rolled into one.”
I have been lucky over the years to visit Gran Canaria more than half a dozen times and it is indeed an island bursting with all the best bits of the Canaries. There is always something new to savour – I’ve been on dozens of local walks, but none in the Agaete Valley on the wild western coast, which Guillermo guides me around.
Hiking on Gran Canaria is often a slow process. Not because the trails are tough – though there are challenges – but as there is so much to check out. I admire a cacti, before Guillermo corrects me that it is a local doppelganger. We catch sight of bird species endemic to the Canaries, taste the juice of one plant, while avoiding an identical one that is poisonous. I savour a fresh prickly pear: utterly delicious. It is just an appetiser for lunch – a remarkable tasting menu served by the family at the Restaurante Casa Romántica, who have their own coffee plantation, winery and orange plantation. I taste all their fruits in an unmissable gastronomic experience, whether you’re hiking or not.
