We drove to the old town of Vento up in the hills and found a parking spot near the trailhead.
The actual path begins between two houses and takes you initially through Las Casas ravine, then another, named Las Arenas. That's the summit you see from the beginning of the trail. You also see a profusion of cacti and other vegetation.
Then, the route drops steeply into the deep gorge of Barranco del Rey. At this stage, we were walking on an old cobbled path - evidence that the area was once extensively farmed.
This is reinforced by the presence of derelict buildings, abandoned years ago by local farmers.
Coming out of the ravine, the climb proper begins, winding round the left side of the extinct volcano.
There are two stages to the ascent, as the mountain has two tiers. When we reached the first one, the views from there were already stunning. Our apartment is about 1/3 of the way from the left in this photo, near the big white building.
We decided not to press on to the top as it had started to lightly rain and the peak was becoming obscured in a raincloud.
The climb down became a bit treacherous now that the cobblestones were wet and we had mud on our boots. We took our time and managed to stay upright.
We drove back to the apartment for a bit of a rest. It was still sunny in town so we walked down to the beach. While semi-sleeping on our blankets, I heard the rustling of the shopping bag we were using as a beach bag. I quickly sat up to find this black guy with his hand in the bag. I shouted and lunged like a cobra, grabbed and twisted his wrist while it was still in the bag. He made a quick departure down the beach with everyone looking at him. A close call as my credit card wallet was in the bottom of the bag!
No more sleeping on the beach. Will just have to settle for watching the topless sunbathers.
