Mount Teide, Tenerife

Last night’s meeting has spurred me into action!  Ruth and I haven’t done any exciting rides recently – apart from island hopping along the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, where we failed to take any photos!  So I thought I’d tell you about the ascent of Mt Teide, Tenerife in 2003.  This is one of the very few places in the world where you can cycle and walk from sea level to 12,000 ft and back in one day – at least that was the plan.  We’d hire bikes and cycle up from the coast to 7,700 ft then walk the rest.  

We hired nice Scott bikes and set off early but soon found that, though the bikes were good, the saddles were torture so we had to keep getting off and walking for a while until the pain subsided!  So we were late setting off on the walking part and, by the time we reached a mountain refuge at 10,700 ft, we realised we had to stop there for the night.

The next morning we set off at 6 a.m. in the dark and managed to be on the summit for the sunrise at 7:30 – 24 hours after we set off. 

So we did manage the ascent in “one day” but will have to go back sometime to do up and down in a day.  See all the pictures at www.prwatson.co.uk/trekking.htm and click on the link “Mount Teide ascent 2003".

PS – No, we didn’t do it in pirates fancy dress - Ruth’s eye patch was because she was having trouble with her corneal graft at the time.