Ireland day 1233. Wednesday 12 February 2025- Fuerteventura Day 02

Today’s summary	Early breakfast then taxi to Corralejo for the 10 am ferry to Islote de Lobos. Spent the day exploring the island including climbing the highest point (Montana le Caldera) and up to the north point at Faro de Martiño. Walked on the GR131 long distance path. Finished off the day with a coffee at the small café in Puertito and a swim from La Concha beach. Ferry back at 5pm then dinner at the hotel in the evening.
Today’s weather	Dry warm and sunny all day. Moderate easterly wind. Appx 20c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): GR131 as walked Day 01 Lobos

Commentary

I love the Canary Islands. It’s almost always warm and sunny here, and today was no exception as we started our first day’s exploration of Fuerteventura.

The day kicked off with an early (for us) al fresco breakfast at 8:30 am, then a taxi promptly arrived at 9am to take us down to the nearby coastal town of Corralejo. We were dropped off in the harbour, where at 10 am we caught the Majorero ferry over the nearby Isolte de Lobos. It’s a beautiful small island in the straits between the north of Fuerteventura and the south of Lanzarote and our aim today was to explore as much of it as we could before the 5pm ferry came to take us away again.

The crossing took about 20 minutes so we were soon on dry land again, and headed due north on the GR131 path for as short way, before branching off on a quick diversion to take a quick look at the 1950s era salt pans. Then a second diversion to climb to the top of Montaña La Caldera, the highest point at about 130m. It was moderately busy with other hikers when we got to the top, but they soon moved on and we were left with the stunning vistas all to ourselves.

From the Montaña, we returned to the GR131 and continued our progress north to the Punto at Faro de Martiño. By this time, it was early afternoon so we paused to have our lunch – mostly rolls and cake that we hadn’t eaten at breakfast, but decided not to waste! We’d also filled the trusty Thermos with coffee before we left, so we actually had quite a civilized meal of coffee, sandwiches and cake.

After lunch, we headed back south down the eastern side of the island on a slightly narrower path. It was particularly enjoyable as there were very few people on it. The small volcanic cones – hornitos, caused by explosively-boiling water – and salt flats made it a particularly interesting walk.

At the south of the island is a small ramshackle settlement, complete with a café-bar boasting possibly the most beautiful sea view in the world. It was quite busy when we arrived, so we just got a coffee but didn’t linger.

Perhaps the highlight of the day, for me at least, was the opportunity to have a quick swim from the Playa La Concha, as we waited for the ferry back to Corralejo. It’s a nice sandy beach and the water – while not exactly bath-temperature, was certainly a lot more comfortable than the Atlantic at Christmas in County Mayo! Val decided to forego the pleasure and to observe proceedings from the relative luxury of the sand.

Once back on the mainland, the taxi was there once more to whisk us back to the hotel. Then just time for a quick shower before heading back out to the on-site restaurant (Casa Marcos) for dinner.

A totally perfect day (and – just ion caser you were wondering – lots of opportunities for me to para mi a practicar mi Español!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Outside our casa last night!	Lobos lurking – on the horizon from the ferry

On the top of Montaña la Caldera with Playa Blanca on the neighbouring island of Lanzarote behind us	At the lighthouse, with decorative ornament for scale

The restaurant at Puertito	Life’s a beach – Playa de la Calera – better known as Playa Concha

Corralejo Marina