DAY 2 Great Walk Lanzarote - La Graciosa: Yaiza - Playa de las Malvas
8h30min (6h in movement) 23km +250m/-280m
After a very good day the day before (see Hiking Route Lanzarote – La Graciosa: Day 1) we started with a lot of energy this second day of the route.
The first section, of about 5km, will be by asphalted road. It is a bit tedious to walk on the road, but we have not found a possible alternative as we enter the ‘volcanic badland’ terrain of young lava impossible to tread if there is no path made.
Leaving Yaiza along the town road
So we leave Yaiza heading west on the road that goes to Playa Blanca and we come to a roundabout where the road that goes to “el Golfo” comes out. We take it and after about 2.5 km along the road we find a path that runs parallel to it so we take it. Sometimes it disappears and we have to get back on the road and so we move forward until we reach “el Golfo”, which we arrive at approximately 10:30 am.
Walking on the LZ-704 road toward el Golfo
Path section parallel to the road
El Golfo
Before going to el Golfo, we turn left to see the “Charca de los Chicos” or “Laguna Verde” is a pond with a characteristic green color. It is a crater that ends in the sea and is emerald green due to the algae that grow in it. We are going to see it from the indicated viewpoint since entry is not allowed. We see a marked path on the other side that is taken from the other coast (along the road LZ-703) since there is a cliff that is not accessible on foot.
Charca de los Chicos
Charca de los Chicos
After seeing the Charca de los Chicos, we went down to el Golfo beach, a small beach with volcanic rocks with holes and curious shapes. We are looking to snorkel but there are a lot of waves and we discard it. We have a little breakfast and go to the town of el Golfo. It is a fully touristy place full of restaurants basically, there is a small open supermarket where we buy water and fill our canteens since we won’t pass any other village till tomorrow noon.
El Golfo beach, from the viewpoint of the Charca de los Chicos
El Golfo beach
After the stop in the Gulf, we set out to start the road along the coastal route of the de Timanfaya NP, at 11:15 am. They say that it is a hard route, quite hard, through the terrain always stepping on the ‘volcanic badlands’ this black, hard and spiky lava that is eating your shoes and also quite long; about 5 hours to travel about 11 km, let’s see!
Coastal path along the Timanfaya National Park through the badlands
So we start the path, and indeed the rocks and gravel begin, but it is a matter of keep doing. In brief we see a sign that indicates we are entering the National Park. Here the landscape could be described as “lunar“, it is incredible, to see all this field of young and black lava. Sometimes you can only see this landscape of rocks and black ash, all bathed with the ocean waves crashing against the cliffs. Just amazing.
Coastal path along the Timanfaya National Park through the badlands
Cliffs by the coastal path
We cross a track that leads to a beach where there are people, but it is not allowed to bathe. We continue north towards Cochinos beach where we arrive in about 2h and 15min. Cochinos beach is a long and lonely beach where you could bivouac. It is a very beautiful rocky beach in this lunar landscape, although it is curious that there are a few garbage bags in the middle of it, we do not know why (we’ll see a helicopter removing this garbage the day after).
Natural pools are formed on the beach where the water is completely calm and we take the opportunity to take a bath and refresh ourselves and relax in total solitude. We eat our sandwiches and resume the walk, it is already 2:35pm.
Cochinos beach
Advancing through the badlands os the coastal path
Detail of cordate lavas type “Pahoehoe”
In this second section the landscape is similar, although advancing through the rock of the Malpaís seems easier, or perhaps we are used to it! We pass a geodesic point totem from where we see Cornona Blanca Volcano nearby.
Geodesic point
Walking along the coastal path with Corona Blanca Volcano in the background
At approximately 2h after leaving Cochinos beach, we leave the National Park in a short time we go down to a first beach where we could bivouac, but we continue along a track that has a parking lot just above and approximately in 1 km along this track we arrive at las Malvas beach, our today’s final destination.
Finishing the coastal path
Views of Corona Blanca at the end of the coastal path
Las Malvas beach has about 3 or 4 natural caves and this makes possible for many people to bivouac here. In fact, we will not be the only ones.
We arrived at 5:00 pm in the afternoon, we put down our backpacks and tried snorkeling, but the water is very rough. The beach is in fact oriented in the N direction to the waves, and they enter stirring the entire bottom, and the visibility is not good at all, we do not see many fish either so after a few minutes we go out.
The caves in las Malvas beach
We settle in a cave, have dinner while watching a magnificent sunset and spend the night in a bivouac, let’s see how it goes! tomorrow we will see if we have survived 😊
Sunset in Las Malvas beach
Bivouac in Las Malvas beach
Very happy with how it went today. We have crossed the badlands of the Timanfaya NAtional Park on the coastal path, thus discovering these rugged solitary places so picturesque, that without walking it would not be possible in any way to enjoy nature so fully!
Continue reading our adventure in the Hiking Route Lanzarote – La Graciosa: Day 3
