December’s issue has been hell for Jack; he’s been hiking in and above Adeje’s Barranco del Infierno in the heat and dust of the recent ‘calima’ and facing up to the rigours of kit inspection by the keepers of the Barranco gate. And as if that wasn’t enough, he’s had to part with cash to [...]

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“If you go down to the woods today, you better”…bring some skis and elbow pads.
I’ve been walking in La Caldera in the Orotava Valley in the north west of Tenerife and the summer heat has left dried pine needles the depth of the pile in an Axminster carpet. Beautifully scented they may be, but to [...]

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I’ve been dusting off my hiking boots, removing the cobwebs from the tip of my Leki stick after a summer of being chained to the desktop and heading up into the hills to get some pine scented air into my lungs.
Every time I set off on a hike, I mutter about it being far too [...]

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I’ve been up to Vilaflor exploring its Alpine beauty and discovering just how exceedingly sticky its Canarian Pine trees are.
In a scene worthy of Laurel and Hardy, I found myself with bits of soggy tissue stuck to pine resin on four fingers, two patches on my skirt and the bottom of my handbag; not an [...]

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This month I headed off to Garachico on Tenerife’s northern coast to find out what attracts so many visitors to this Jonah of the island.
With a character of steel born from not only surviving, but thriving in the sort of bad luck that could provide the script for more than half a dozen epic disaster [...]

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Icod (pronounced Ee-cod in Spanish) is one of those towns on Tenerife that, if you don’t know where to look, you’re in danger of writing the entire place off as a non-descript work-a-day development.
But, as I discovered, to do that would be to miss out on some of the most stunning scenery on the island.
It’s [...]

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