DAY 8 Great walk Lanzarote - La Graciosa: North section of La Graciosa hiking router
8h (5h30 in movement) 22km +500m / -500m
Last day! We are excited because today we at last finish this trekking journey to discover these two impressive Canary Islands; Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
Yesterday we made the south section of the island; see Hiking Route Lanzarote – La Graciosa: Day 7 (2nd part). Today we will do the other half of the island that remains, the north section.
Aguja Grande, summit of La Graciosa, 267m
We leave Sebo at 8:15 a.m. by a sandy track that goes towards La Graciosa Needles. After a goat farm, we take another track at the right. We continue along this approximately 1km and turn left to take a small path that is not signposted (more or less we are in the middle of Grande and Chica needles).
This small path goes straight up towards the needles on its southern slope. But BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO GET OUT OF IT! Higher up this path steepens a lot and if we get off it the loose stone could make us slip and fall many meters down.
At one point we went out to look for some rocks that seemed easier for us to advance. Mistake. The slope increased a lot and the terrain became so slippery that we could hardly move forward. So we returned little by little to the path that we had a few meters to our left and now, little by little, we continued climbing safely until we reached the top.
Once at the top (1h since we left) we turn left to reach the top of the Aguja Grande, the highest point in La Graciosa, at 267 meters.
Towards the top of Aguja Grande
Views of the south section of La Graciosa (previous day): Montaña del Mojón, Montaña Amarilla, and in the background Lanzarote
Views to the north of the island and Montaña Bermeja. In the background on the left the island of Montaña Clara and further on the right, the island of Alegranza
We advance clockwise along the ridge. The wind blows a lot but we progress well. We went down to the other side, by the north slope, by a very easy path, nothing to do with the way out! Without any difficulty we go down. Although surprisingly little by little the road is blurring, passing through old roads and stones and thus we move forward.
Going down from Aguja Grande, heading north
We stop to see if we see any bustard, since as in the El Jable desert, La Graciosa has this environment of sand and bushes typical for this species, but we do not see any.
We continue towards North now without a path and we are going to look for the track that goes around the island, towards Playa de las Conchas, which will be our next stop.
Advancing without a path heading north, towards las Conchas beach
We arrived at Playa de las Conchas (Shells beach) around 10:30 a.m. where we stopped to rest and admire the big waves breaking on the sand.
Las Conchas beach is a large and very beautiful natural beach, with the wind blowing strong and the island of Montaña Clara in front of it, they make it unique. Here we meet more people, people who arrive mostly by bike or in 4×4 taxi service.
Las Conchas beach
Las Conchas beach
We leave the beach and return to the track to climb the Bermeja mountain on its southwestern slope. Easy and quick climb, although a bit steep. In about 10 minutes we are up, where there is a curious stone sculpture of knots.
Ascent to Montaña Bermeja, it is not difficult… but it is steep!
Sculptures and views from above of Montaña Bermeja; Panoramic to Montaña Clara and Alegranza
Montaña Bermeja is a red volcano, it is not the highest on the island, but it is the highest point in the north of the island and from here we have incredible 360 degree views; Montaña Clara and Alegranza, all the mountains of La Graciosa and Lanzarote. It is so worth the climb!
Up in Bermeja Mountain
Views to Playa de las Conchas, from Montaña Bermeja
Panoramic views of Aguja Grande, Montaña del Mojón and Montaña Amarilla (with the Famara cliff, Lanzarote in the background), from Montaña Bermeja
Up here the wind blows a lot so we go down, now on the North slope, be careful since the path is quite steep with loose stone. Once down, we are going to find a path that runs along the coast of the island, avoiding taking the 4×4 track whenever we can.
The coast here is spectacular, all made of black stone, volcanic badlands and that’s how we get to Punta Gorda, where there are some ‘water boilers’ due to the waves breaking strongly against the black rocks riding this characteristic white foam, looking like bolinig water.
‘Boiler’
It is already 12:30 p.m. and it is very warm. The island is desert, without shadows or water points so we have to be careful not to get dehydrated. A little further on, we arrive at the “Mirador Baja de las Majapalomas“. It is a volcanic arc where the water enters and breaks strongly, it is very cool to see although there are quite a few people in the place (who arrive with the taxi 4×4 service)
Baja de las Majapalomas viewpoint
A little further on, we pass behind a beautiful beach, Lambra beach.
Lambra beach
After the beach, the next stretch of coast is only allowed to hikers, entry is forbidden even for cyclists! So perfect for us. From here the path is really beautiful, everything is white sand with almost no footprints, only those of the walkers along the marked path.
Start section only for hikers
‘Access on foot only allowed’ sign. Access to a site protected by the Natura 2000 network
The dunes are full of snail shells, thousands and thousands! All white, it is spectacular. We see that this area belongs to the Natura 2000 network, and the truth is that it is very nice to see that people respect it, without having any footfall outside the marked path.
Dune area protected by the Natura 2000 network
Advancing through the dune landscape protected by the Natura 2000 network
We continue like this for about 20/30 minutes until this stretch for hikers only ends, and the landscape will change again soon! Now we enter a path through volcanic badlands, with stones and dark rofe. We passed through a geodesic point, Sonda Chica.
Start my way through volcanic badlands
Next, we see a very large hawk perched on a stone, about 30 meters from us. It is large and very beautiful, we can see it very well with binoculars, although it is a bit far to photograph it well with our compact camera. Excited we contemplate him for a long time and what a buzz in a moment! We feel tired after so many hours, and it is so hot that the hiking is becaming quite hard already.
But we feel lucky about the hawk. Later we will know that it is actually a tagarote or berber hawk … Great!
Tagarote or bereber hawk
We continue along the path, passing through a beautiful stone cove, the Caldera beach, with blue and turquoise water colors. Due to its shape it is a bit sheltered from the wind and with a little less swell, it might be a good place to stop to snorkel, but we decided to continue.
Caldera cove
The road turns to the right and in 5 minutes we arrive at the Pedro Barba small village. It is a small settlement with well-kept white houses. It also has an artificial pool in the sea, sheltered from the wind, where we see many people swimming.
Luckily we found a shadow under a palm tree on a porch of a house where we could stop, how nice! We stopped for a long time to rest, it is the first shadow we find today!!
Pedro Barba small village
It is already 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, we resume the walk in this suffocating heat. After the small village we take a very beautiful path that goes very close to the coast and a bit steep. We passed some very beautiful beaches, Conejos and Caleta de Aguardiente and sooner than we thought we arrived at Caleta del Sebo at 4:00 p.m.
Caleta de Aguardiente, arriving at Caleta del Sebo
Very happy and satisfied to have been able to finish this great hiking route. A journey of 8 days in total (6,5 days in Lanzarote and 1,5 days in La Graciosa), where we have been able to discover some of the hidden treasures of these wonderful islands.
The large number of different landscapes and ecosystems that have accompanied us during these days have surprised us more and more every day.
These two islands; Lanzarote and La Graciosa, we have really fallen in love. And its people, stolen the heart. An awesome trip 😊
If you want to know what else can be done on these islands, be sure to read our post <<what to see and do in Lanzarote>>
