Walkopedia magazine – Winter 2011: Extraordinary Tenerife; Paul Hadaway’s GR20

	December 2011

Contents

Las Cañadas and El Tiede, Tenerife

Icon: High Terraces, Atlas Mountains

Community Article: Paul Hadaway’s GR20

Photo Essay: Dawn in Hong Kong

Travel Writing and Photography Competitions

Vignette: Brawling at the Lake of Heaven

The World’s Best Camp Tucker: Recipes

Best Travel Websites: Photodiary of a Nomad

New on Walkopedia Website

Welcome to the Christmas 2011 edition of Walkopedia Magazine. We hope you find it inspiring and entertaining.

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Lebanon's Q'adisha Valley
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Las Cañadas and El Tiede, Tenerife

Across Las Canadas from Guajara

Imagine an underwater volcano so large, it has grown from the deep ocean into an island nearly 4,000 m high. It is subject to a catastrophic collapse, the whole of its highest massif, the Cañadas Edifice, falling back into the sea, leaving a huge abyss surrounded by a crescent of cliffs hundreds of metres high. In a mere 170,000 years, a new volcano grows that dwarfs the rim-remnant of its predecessor, filling the great hole with its hot spewings. It in turn is supplanted by its own unruly offspring, so energetic that it nearly overwhelms its worn-out parent, growing so that it stands more than 500m above it, the tallest mountain in a mountainous country. That island is Tenerife; that clogged-up abyss the Las Cañadas caldera; that young mountain, El Tiede.

Las Canadas rim from Guajara

The huge Las Cañadas caldera is surrounded by a jagged curve of cliffs to the south. The grand but not lovable peak of El Tiede (at 3,718m) fills its centre, with great lava flows running off it into the crescent-shaped depression, which has filled up a long way. The present caldera is 16km long and five or so wide, a series of arid gravelly flats almost overwhelmed by the vast lava flows of the millennia.

This natural and visual drama makes for thrilling walking - it is in our Top 100. If you can, spend at least two, preferably three days in this area.

Across Las Canadas to El Tiede

While most walkers come to Tenerife to experience Las Cañadas, or to climb El Tiede, there are many superb walking areas, and we recommend that, having made the effort to come here, you allow time to explore more widely. From the score of fantastic walks in and just outside Las Cañadas, these are perhaps the best:

El Tiede and Pico Viejo: climb or descend Spain’s highest mountain via the old crater.
Guajara, the high point (in all senses) of the caldera rim with a couple of hours on the Cañadas floor thrown in, and in our view the best overall.
Roques de Garcia: superb scenery and volcanic nerdery, albeit over-popular.
The 18km trail along the Cañadas floor from El Portillo to the Parador. (You get quite a taste of this on the Guajara walk.)
The tough but marvellous 24km along the Cañadas rim, from El Portillo to the Parador. (You get quite a taste of this on the Guajara walk.)

Las Canadas from El Tiede, lava river in front

Other excellent walks near Las Cañadas include:

The walk from El Portillo down into the La Orotava Valley.
The short walk in the lava-gravel area around Samara or a longer but superb-sounding trail from La Montanaeta to Los Silos through bleak, cindery scenery.
Various walks from Las Cañadas down the mountainside to the upland towns such as Vilaflor in the south, or north-west toward Teno, with wonderful sea views and volcanic scenery.

Pico Viejo from El Tiede

El Tiede and Rgques de Garcia

Rocques de Garcia

Samara

Walkopedia rating: 86 (Top 100)
More information on this walk

Best Book: Canary Islands: 1 West (Cicerone)

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Icon: High Terraces, Atlas Mountains

Precarious terraces high up a valley in the Moroccan Atlas near Jebel Toubkal.

Walkopedia rating: 87 (Top 100)

More information on this walk

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GOT SOME PICS OR A STORY THAT ARE SO GOOD THEY MUST BE SHARED?

Let us know – email us at info@walkopedia.net. They may get published!

Community Article: Paul Hadaway's GR20

Even strong walker Paul Hadaway found Corsica’s infamous GR20 extreme at times. Here are his thoughts and photos.

These are personal notes on the GR20 – Paddy Dillon writes THE guide book (GR20: Corsica, The High Level Route – Cicerone Guides), and there is no point in trying to replicate it. All my stage number references are Paddy Dillon’s stage numbers. No-one would plan to follow my itinerary out of choice but despite setbacks I did it in 13 days, starting from the north, breaking after stage 3 and restarting the same day from the south. I started with a companion who blew out after 3 days then walked with 4 Dutch guys who very generously let me join their team – and I didn’t even have to wear an orange shirt.

Read the guide books carefully: my experience is no worse than the books & blogs describe; it just all happened at once.

Walking the GR20 was one of the best 2 weeks I have spent. It’s tough and it’s dangerous – I saw 3 memorials to walkers who had died en route – but you’re only ever 2/3 hours’ walk downhill to civilisation. It’s a truly excellent brush with harsh untamed nature; the scenery and surroundings are dramatic, beautiful and threatening.

Stage 7 reflection

Preparation – I am usually fit; football/pilates/walking/riding-several-times-a-week fit, but an injured shoulder had restricted most forms of exercise although I had run 5 miles 2/3 times a week for 2 months before setting off. This was barely enough.

Kit – travel light. All the books/blogs say travel light. Travel light. My pack was about 13kg plus water. I carried a Nemo Gogo single skin breathable fabric one man tent – less than 2lb.

Given my experience, you can easily be forced to stop between huts because of the weather. You really should carry some form of bivvy bag/tent. However, camping one night, the condensation passing through the breathable fabric froze rendering it non-breathable. I woke up soaked. The balance of weight and performance is a difficult one – there’s probably no right answer.

One mistake was taking cotton t-shirts – all my other kit was the correct technical stuff – I don’t know why I took these but as a result I spent 10 days wet and unable to dry out. Man made, proper wicking under garments next time for me.

Stage 6 now where is the prevailing wind

Timing – the general consensus seems to be to walk in June or September. I would disagree – I walked in September; the weather was dreadful (but that can happen any time of the year in Corsica) and the route was very busy. The guardians in the huts all said August was best – very hot but deserted. When over-crowded with wet walkers, the huts are unpleasant and the atmosphere can become a little aggressive.

Weather – I started stage 1 from Calenzana in mid- Sept at 6am. It was 26˚C. By 7am it was 30˚C. The stage is exactly as advertised – 1300m of ascent. I couldn’t have walked another step by the time I reached Refuge d'Ortu di u Piobbu (1520 m).

Stage 3 was started in cold drizzle; this dried up and the weather temporarily brightened but, as we crossed Col de Stagni, it was like diving into a cold washing machine. It was impossible to tell whether it was rain, wind driven fog or what. It was just a very cold wet gale blowing in every direction at once making standing up difficult, walking a major challenge and scrambling over angled granite slabs between perilous and insane. (Paddy Dillon, having made much of the Spasimata slabs lower down, forgot to mention these.) Although, as we dropped over onto the final descent to Haut Asco, we were back in the lee of the storm, the damage had been done as far as my companion was concerned.

Stage 4/day 4 – it’s not recommended to walk stage 4 – the notorious Cirque de la Solitude stage – in wet weather. I woke to snow this morning. (My second kit error by the way was no gloves– clinging to cold wet rock numbed the fingers to the bone). Clearly stage 4 wasn’t going to be walked today and 15 people staying at the Haut Asco hotel commandeered a mini-bus to take us to the southern end of the GR20 to re-start from the lower end during the grim weather that appeared to be with us for a few days.

Stage 15/day 15 - The sign at Conca (the southern start/finish point) “Conca Arrivee Vous voici au terme de votre odyssee… Bravo” was a bit demoralizing and for my companion the final straw – he headed for the beach. After much debate as to whether to stay in Conca for the night or to walk, we started stage 15 at 2.30pm. Thunder, lightening and a lot more rain and six hours walking brought us to Refuge de Paliri after dark, soaked again. It was full; I slept on the kitchen floor.

Stage 13

Itineraries – most people allow 15/16 days and intend to double up on stages as and when they feel it will work for them. The rationale is “ a double stage day is a day on the beach”. My flight home was booked from Figari and I had planned to visit a beach near there. I was now walking in the wrong direction for my flight home and the beach.

There are some stages that naturally seem to double up. Criteria are, are they flat? Do they end at a hotel with a hot shower? (There are 3 hotel stops on the route). I doubled stages 10 & 11 and 6 & 7. We ended stage 10 with the detour to the Hotel Monte d’Oro, which I would highly recommend. This was of course walking north, so stage 7, which has massive rocky ascents, was followed by the much more benign stage 6 and ended at a hotel.

Surprisingly the bogey stage 4 (the infamous Cirque de la Solitude) was completed by 1pm and could easily be doubled with stage 3 travelling north following the “old” GR20 and missing out Haut Asco, which would be all downhill in this direction to Refuge de Carrozzu.

Also stage 9 walking north from Vizzavona to Refuge de l’Onda, which begins with 1200m of ascent (slightly reduced if starting from Hotel Monte d’Oro), was completed by 1pm and could be doubled with the easy-ish stage 8 – the high level alternative of this involves less ascent than the low level route. We finished stage 9 completely soaked and cold in fog – had it been warm and sunny, adding stage 8 would have been comfortable.

So, despite our restart, we completed the walk in 13 days finishing at the Haut Asco Hotel and it is easy to see how another 2 days could be taken off this. Pete Lockey’s 9 days (see web links) looks difficult in this perspective, the Foreign Legion’s standard 7 day work out is hard to imagine and the sub-40 hour record…well….

Good weather!

Way finding – after much detailed maps/gps/guidebook debate, I took nothing but the guidebook. It’s all that is required. We lost the route twice – once on the ridge approaching Refuge d'Usciolu in (yet more) fog and rain and wind. We lost the red and white markers and dropped of the ridge on the wrong side – neither a map nor a gps would have saved us. The second time was approaching the Hotel Monte d’Oro on a standard GR20 variant – either a gps or a map would have saved us this time – or just being slightly less tired after a double stage might have done it.

So how tough is it? It’s all weather dependent – the route varies from challenging to impassable depending on the elements. Stages 1-4 are reportedly the hardest, but stage 4 on our last day was done in warm sunshine and was really not bad – its not that exposed and if you’re not scared of heights it’s a no more than a fun scramble. Stages 3, 15, 13 and 9 were very grim slogs that had I been any less fit or determined could have been terminal.

So be fit, travel light and have the right kit – and good luck with the weather.

Stage 13	Usciolu Bocca
It's all worth it!	Le Chalet Haut As

All photos © Paul Hadaway.

More information on this walk…

Best books: GR20: Corsica, The High Level Route (Cicerone)

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Photo Essay : Dawn in Hong Kong

Jetlag isn’t much fun - but one benefit is being up at odd times. Here are the mysterious fruits of one such experience. Not strictly a walk, we know, but we will write about Hong Kong walks soon.

Travel Writing and Photography Competitions

“The Walkopedia Writing Contest sounds like a great opportunity for writers (and photographers) to get their work out there in the world and possibly win a little cashola”

Kristin Bair O’Keefe, Writerhead

Walkopedia has announced new competitions for:

The best travel writing about a walk or hike.

Prizes:

Winner: a Daunt Books* book token worth:		£500
Runner-up:		£200
Junior Prize: best under 18 entry:		£200 (if not otherwise a prize winner)
Best entry from a First Story student:**		£200
(Runner-up)	£100

* Probably the world’s best travel bookshop: www.dauntbooks.co.uk.
** The excellent First Story charity was set up to nurture and inspire creativity, literacy and talent in British schools. See www.firststory.org.uk.

The best photographs taken on a walk or hike.

Prizes:

Winner:	£400
Runner-up:	£200
Junior Prize: best under 18 entry:	£200 (if not otherwise a prize winner)

Find the entry form and the detailed rules and terms of the competitions at www.walkopedia.net/competitions.asp.

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Vignette: Brawling at the Lake of Heaven

The Lake of Heaven, Tian Shan, China

We lie against a rock, paying silent homage to a view we have been anticipating for years. In front of us Tian Chi, the Heavenly Lake, fabled for its beauty and remoteness, basks in the late April sun. Behind it, the grand peaks of the high Tianshan mountains, still weighed with snow, preside over dark pine forests and anaemic grassy hillsides only recently freed from winter's freeze.

Angry voices suddenly break our trance. A dirty-faced, ragged woman is hurling shrill insults in Mandarin, the world's best cursing language, at the group of men who run the hutted camp we have recently checked into. Guttural taunts, clearly the worst they can muster, bring her gibbering like a harpey through the fence from her wretched cave-hut. She strides up to the apparent ringleader, a rough looking man with frizzy permed hair whom we soon call Vinney, and trades insults, as near eyeball to eyeball as a height difference of a foot will allow. She kicks him hard in the shins; howling, he picks up an empty beer bottle and breaks it over her head. A stunned silence, shards of glass tinkling on the ground but no blood. She is led away, cursing incoherently. We avert our gaze discreetly.

________________________________________

The next evening, finally back in camp after a long trek high into the hills, we sit resting our feet, a glass of much-travelled Laphroiaig at hand, enjoying the early evening sun on the high peaks beyond the lakehead. Vinney intrudes on the view, already flushed and, as far as our poor Mandarin and his thick accent would reveal, already slurring. He eyes my treasured whisky and asks for a drink. Ever hospitable, and still traumatised by his antics the day before, I pour him a glass. He swigs, splutters, and makes his disgust loudly and gutturally clear. Fortunately the cook, sophisticated internationalist, is at hand and assures Vinney that this is a famous and legitimate foreign brew although, wonderful man, he refuses some himself. Vinney retires mollified. I hesitate at his unfinished glass, then swig it down.

Some while later, after we have gorged ourselves on more fried rice, we witness the cook, goaded too far by Vinney and no doubt by now himself overwatered, go for him with that favourite of the Chinese brawl, a meat chopper, which he swipes as he chases Vinney around the camp. Ali points out that there is no matriarchal figure to keep them off the bottle and, when necessary, slap them around.

The Worlds Best Camp Tucker

Foodie but not self-flaggelator Serena Mackesy’s cheerful take on camp cooking: this time: RECIPES!

CAMPFIRE BREAD OR DAMPERS:

Classic Aussie bush bread. If it’s good enough for swagmen, it’s good enough for anyone. Makes 4:

Two cups self-raising flour
A spoon of sugar
½ cup milk
A little bit of oil
Some nice long sticks
A bit of tinfoil (not essential but nice for the fastidious)

Lightly grease the large mess tin. Cover the sticks in tinfoil. Put the flour in the mess tin, add the sugar, mix in the milk and, having lightly oiled your hands to stop it sticking, knead into a dough. Divide the dough roughly into four, roll them into sausage shapes and smoosh them round the ends of the sticks, leaving a nice long handle. Cook for 10-12 minutes by holding over the embers, turning frequently, until they’re golden-brown and sound hollow when you rap them with your knuckles.

Variations:
Savoury: add some grated cheese to the dough
Sweet: double the amount of sugar and fill the holes with jam or whatever you fancy.

SOUPS:

Soup is simple: what you use is up to you. The only essential is onions, garlic, a bit of oil, a starch and some water.

Chop up your onion and fry in the mess tin for five minutes, adding a squeeze of garlic and any herbs or spices halfway through. When they’re transparent, add your other ingredients, fry for a couple of minutes more, then add a cup of hot water and a crumbled stock cube. Cover with tinfoil and return to the fire until the ingredients (including any pasta etc) are cooked. Add more hot water (make it as thick or as thin as you like), bring to the boil, bung in a bit of butter, milk or oil for richness, serve.

This is where instant mash really comes into its own. Just before adding the main body of water, add the powder and stir vigorously with a fork. This will make most combinations of ingredients deeply satisfying.

Suggestions:

White bean and smoked sausage – don’t use dry beans; decant tinned ones into a Ziploc and they’ll be fine for a couple of days. Cut the sausage up small and this will take ten minutes.

Cullen skink – a first-night dish. Vacuum-packed smoked haddock, fish stock cube, instant mash, milk rather than water. Give the fish 15 mins before adding the milk, and don’t let the soup boil.

Pea and bacon: either mangetout or real peas, mint. Macaroni is good with this and it’s even better with a spoon of dark brown sugar.

Mushroom and any smoked meat you feel like: dried mushrooms soaked for an hour in hot water (use the soaking water for flavouring); or fresh mushrooms; onion, garlic, sage, parsley, stock cube, milk, noodles.

BOIL-IN-THE-BAG KEDGEREE:

Classic Raj comfort food; everything comes sealed, and kippers are preserved, so keeping should not be an issue.

Boil-in-the-bag rice
Boil-in-the-bag kippers
Spring onions, squeezy garlic
A small pot of curry powder (and any other curry spices you like)
An egg each
Fish stock cube for preference
Oil or, better, a knob of butter

Check the cooking times on the packs, but basically:

Get a full pan of boiling water. Put the kippers and eggs in together, leave for 10 mins. Fish the eggs out, and leave them to cool, put the rice in. Cook 10 mins more.

Meanwhile in the other pan, fry up the onions, adding the garlic, curry powder and the crumbled stock cube if you have it after a few minutes.

Take everything off the heat. Cut the rice and kippers out of their bags, break the kippers up and stir into the onion/spice mix til thoroughly combined. Peel, slice and add the eggs. Dress with a knob of butter if you have it.

Press Comment

See what the press have said about us

We received our first significant unsolicited coverage in the Los Angeles Times in December 2010 (focusing on our “Top 100” list – see www.latimes.com), which was picked up in the San Francisco Chronicle and other US media.

In March 2011, Kate Humble, the popular BBC TV presenter and broadcaster, chose Walkopedia as one of her six favourite websites for The Good Web Guide - see www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk.
Their newsletter can be read here, http://eepurl.com/cTUTo.

Of our Travel Writing and Photography Competitions, author and journalist Kristin Bair O’Keefe (Writerhead), said, “The Walkopedia Writing Contest sounds like a great opportunity for writers (and photographers) to get their work out there in the world and possibly win a little cashola."

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Best walking websites: David Briese's Photodiary of a Nomad

David Briese’s impressive website www.gang-gang.net/nomad records nearly 6,000km of walks and has some 11,000 photos! David Briese is a retired Australian who is devoting much of his time to walking in wonderful places, and, from the scope of his walking, is terrifyingly energetic. David writes interestingly and amusingly – not always easy with walks, as Walkopedia knows to its cost.

There are many Antipodean walks, as you might expect; but a host of other famous or special walks are covered too, and done in detail – fantastic diaries from the South American Andes, Europe’s pilgrimage trails, and Vietnam (to name but a few).

The site is easy to navigate, beautiful to read and inspiring to flick through, with compelling personal accounts, tips and info.

We will be featuring some of his best writing – and walks – over the years to come.

Favourite Charities

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Daunt Books

Probably the world’s best travel bookshop: explore their website at www.dauntbooks.co.uk.

Shops in Marylebone High Street, Chelsea, Holland Park, Cheapside, Hampstead and Belsize Park (all London).

Walkopedia loves Trailblazer Guides

Trailblazer are very complete walking guides, giving good general information, from history to flora and fauna to the nearby cities and the wider area, as well as (of course) detailed route and planning information.

Have a look at their list at http://trailblazer-guides.com/books.

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New on Walkopedia website:

Walk of the month:

Latest walk:

Fish River Canyon, Namibia

Lycian Way, Turkey

Hike along the bottom of the world's second largest canyon, a vast, dramatic complex of brightly coloured cliffs, towers and spires.
This is extreme country searingly hot and bone dry although you will see a surprising variety of animals and plants eking a living in the unforgiving landscape.
This is a tough walk, which you must take seriously, but very rewarding