We reached Teneriffa by ferry from Fuerteventura via Gran Canaria, with a rough ride on the short stretch from Gran Canaria to Fuerteventura.
We explored Santa Cruz for a few days and were happy to see how green it is. Then we managed to get our bikes and trailer into an overland bus heading south to El Tablado in order to cycle up to https://www.facebook.com/Plantarteamor/, only to figure out that our 65 Nm engines and lowest gears were not able to cope with Teneriffa‘s frequent slopes beyond 15%. Fortunately, the lovely people of Plantamor were able to pick us up with a minivan and we then spent a couple of nights in Oleks beautiful cavehome. There were toddlers for our kids to play with, a marvelous view of from everywhere including the dry toilet, a common kitchen where we could eat in nice company, and a little village nearby to go for little excursions with the kids.
Olek even drove everyone except Simon and his cargobike to Lagarto Hostel, where we spent a few nights while Simon got a little dose of cargobiking and wild camping.
Then we moved into https://serenelightgardens.org/ for a week in order to get a taste of permaculture life mixed with ocean pool flavor. We enjoyed the knowledgeable hosts‘ hospitality and the lovely volunteers flocking in to dig their hands in the revived soil of this beautiful environment.
Since the cargobike was a bit stressful to get into busses and riding the steep slopes was not really an option either, we left the cargobike behind
and continued with only the folding bike plus trailer which fit into most overland busses. Puerto only became a stop because the busses up to Mount Teide leave from there, and we wanted to check our mountain-fitness in the field. Portillo Alto welcomed us with blistering cold and snowy wind, which made the short walk to the visitors center feel like an arctic expedition.
The only bus down the mountain raced by while we were expecting it to come 10 minutes later (the Titsa app is preferable to google maps or Moovit, which however allow to plan beforehand which Titsa doesn’t). But mountaineer’s solidarity got us off the rock for little money.
The next stop was Casa Mara on the cliff above Garachico, with a panoramic view some 350m above the ocean. Our courageous folding bike had to pull the trailer with our two little ones up and down the serpentines everyday as we explored the wild coast of Buenavista and the hiking trails around Garachico.
Then we set off for a wild bus ride to Yoga Finca Amrita in Playa Paraiso (which can be contacted via telegram @Coraluz). Here, our son enjoyed the company of a five year-old neighbor and we enjoyed the marvelous beach of Diego Hernandez and visited the Cristoforo yoga center and the little wild camper communities of La Caleta and El Balito.
A ferry took us from Tenerife to La Gomera where we spent about a month in Valle Gran Rey. There it is easy to meet other German families on the child-friendly beaches and there are child-care and a room for free education offering activities for kids. And of course the forest to hike in, and whale-watching, canoeing, yoga and so on 🙂
