The 4 hour flight on Feb 26 from Gatwick to Costa Teguise on the island of Lanzarote completed an 11,000 km journey from home.   The photos and commentary gathered on 5 walks try to give "first glance" impressions of the island and how its geology shapes its ecology.

Participants selected the easier or the harder walk each day.  Overall the easier walks totalled 31 mi and 2900 ft. ascent.  Harder walks totalled 42 miles and 4300 ft. ascent.

Formed by volcanic eruptions  as the earth's crust " moved slowly over a "hot-spot" much of Lanzarote was built up about 24 m. years ago.  Low levels of precipitation have not eroded the land features very much.

We had the wind to contend with all of the time.  I estimate the strengths from Beaufort 4 to 7 (20 - 60 km/hr).  I used the rapid flapping brim of my Tilley hat to gather evidence.  Temp. about 22 C all year, rainfall about 110 mm/y (5 in/y).  300 days of sunshine /y

It's an hour in a commercial turbo-prop to fly from Lanzarote to Tenerife but the ride to the hotel in Puerto de la Cruz takes longer than we expected.  This island, at 2,000 km2, is 2.5 times larger  than Lanzarote.

We arrived in Puerto de la Cruz and checked in to our home-base hotel on Sunday Mar.5.  We had walks on Mon., Tues., & Wed. (Days 1 to 3), a Free Day on Thurs., and walks 4 & 5 on Fri. and Sat.

All together the easier walks put on 32 miles with 3,200 ft. of ascent.  The harder walks went 40 miles with 7,000  ft. of ascent.

Mt. Teide (pronounced tidy) is central and is visible from much of the island.  This island is volcanic too but much younger  (12 my).  The climate is set by lower winds, a greater variation in temperatures and most significantly rain, at 550 mm - more than 5 times Lanzarote.  The NW part of the island gets 73% giving good growing conditions.