Who doesn’t want to escape winter for a few days when living in central Europe.
From Belgium most common winter escape cycling trips brings us to Majorca, Calpe or to the Côte d’Azur.
The Canary Islands are a good options as well with a flight time of 4,5 hours from Brussels.
Here are some impressions from a stay in the Nord West part of the Island. Finding the right basecamp can be stressful and tricky as you can get it absolutely right or wrong. Avoiding the South and East coastline was a choice to find local vibes as much as possible.
A stay in a villa with sea view in a tiny village on the rocks 2km north from Sardina was the perfect base, 10min by car from Galdar which is a lovely town as local as it can get. Staying around Agaete would also have been a great option.
What was there to love ?
Pretty much everything, the weather with above 20 degrees every day, the most amazing sunset in front of the villa, not to crazy climbing to start the day if you went towards the ‘ corniche ‘ roads on the Est, the green oasis and vegetations on the whole north part of the island, the most beautiful gorges and Jurassic Park type of landscape close to Moya ( between Galdar and Arucas ), the amazing coast ‘ corniche ‘ road from Agaete down south to Los Caserones, the desert like roads in the valley of tears, the top crater views close to Tejeda, the local vibe in Galdar and Agaete.
Any favorite Coffee Spots ?
Specialty coffee was hard to find but proper coffee was served in most little cafes some better than others. We had some good ones along the way in the hills abobe Moya and on the cross section road when climbing up San Juan and taking left on the ‘ corniche ‘ road towards Moya.
Do I need some form to go ?
Yes you need some kind of base form to enjoy riding in the area as nothing is flat. You gain easily 1000M of elevation when going for a 60K ride, but don’t let it scare you, if you ride around the corniche roads between Agaete, Galdar and Moya you can make breathtaking loops that bring you safely home.
When going more to the center of the Island or making a loop south following the west coast road and riding back north through the valley of tears you will end up with more than 2500m of climbing and 100K ride but worth the effort.
We have uploaded two of our favourite routes you can find on the ‘ Route ‘ page in the ‘ Exploration ‘ category and download the GPX.
