El Teide

No cancellation today.  We drove up to the base station of the cable car, arriving in plenty of time for our 1110 slot.  I'd paid online, inluding hiring audio guides, but there was still a rather slow moving queue as there was just one chap explaining their use.  A second person turned up to help when the queue had got stupidly long.

W is not good with heights, so had been quite apprehensive, but coped pretty well.  The base station is at 2356m, the top station at 3555m, and the ascent of over 1000m takes just 8 minutes. 

Once at the top station, there is an option to climb to the crater edge, but it has to have been booked in advance, and a permit obtained.  When we were planning our holiday, I did think about organising this, but it would have been wasted - it is a really steep climb, just 700m distance, to climb to 3700m, so another 150m.  I've added a photo of the peak in extras - you can see the tiny people climbing up on the left side.  There is no way I would have tackled this with my current handicap, and it would have been way too vertiginous for W.

Instead, we walked along a path that passed around the peak, though with a number of ups and downs, and quite challenging under foot, and also for the drops to the side in places.  But the reward was to get great views of stuff near and far. 

In the main photo, you can see the Pico Viejo to the left, and beyond, some of the other Canary Islands - La Gomera and La Palma.  I've added another view of Pico Viejo.  Pico Viejo was at one time the main peak of El Teide.  I've also added a view across what apparently was an even older peak, until it was destroyed/fell in on itself many thousands of years ago. 

Finally, a little bird.  Possibly a Berthelot's pipit, but possibly not! 

After this, we drove back to the local coast.  We had noted that many of the restaurants we passed were closed for the day, but reckoned, correctly, that there would be plenty open on the tourist packed coast.