Tour guide David Penney takes us up the red mountain – Montaña Roja in Playa Blanca. It’s a popular, fairly easy local walk that offers great views of the resort and the distant islands of Fuerteventura and Lobos.
Last month, we decided to tackle this very popular walk which has been achieved by thousands of visitors and is regularly done by many locals.
We set off from the Montaña Baja residential complex where we parked our car at the end of the Calle Noruega. There are several routes up to the ridge, but I believe this is the easiest of them.
From the start, the track is quite clearly visible. We also noticed a family just ahead of us who were obviously on holiday, as they were all wearing flipflops and didn’t seem to have any water with them.
While this is a fairly easy walk, it’s still Lanzarote, where rough terrain and hot weather are always present. There have been falls on this mountain on a number of occasions. Being prepared for trekking on Lanzarote is very important as often there is no shade or facilities nearby.
This is highlighted as we make our way up the track and experience a few areas of scree (loose stones) which can easily result in an accident if you don’t have suitable footwear.
Within a short time we had reached the top, only stopping once to take in the view and capture a couple of photos.
From the ridge we get a panoramic view across to Isla de Lobos and Fuerteventura. As we scan around we can see the coastline of Lanzarote over to the lighthouse, Faro de Punta Pechiguera and across the Natural Park of Los Ajaches to the Papagayo area.
The crater of the volcano is large and shallow, about 50 metres deep. It’s easy to descend, and you’ll see how some plants thrive when there’s a bit of shelter and moisture. A cairn has been erected in memory of Barbara Paton, a Northern Irish woman who lived near the mountain and died in 2011. there are also several more names spelled out with stones in the crater.
Previously I have climbed up to take in a sunset or even risen early to be on the ridge by sunrise. These are enjoyable experiences and if you are more adventurous you can approach the climb from the other side but this is certainly more challenging.
We chose to take the same track back down to the car which is fairly straight forward BUT please do not get over confident and pay close attention to every step on the way down as I have seen several people slip on the scree.
Our trip up the mountain took just under two hours. We spent time chatting and admiring the views as our objective was to enjoy the experience and not rush it, but you can head up this mountain in a much shorter time.
WALK INFORMATION
The mountain stands at 196m high, 50 metres deep and 350m in diameter. The terrain is easy to walk and will not be difficult for most. It should take you approximately 40 minutes to complete.
You can take the number 30 bus to the nearest stop at the mountain and then walk from there if you don’t want to use your car.
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