Ireland day 1234. Thursday 13 February 2025- Fuerteventura Day 03

Today’s summary	Early breakfast and early taxi to Corralejo to start walking the second stage of the GR131 by 9:30am. Followed dusty tracks through the volcanic desert landscape back to our Casa Rural in Villaverde, via Lajares (with unexpected Patagonia shop). Warm, sunny, dry and peaceful. A real treat. Finished by 3.30pm so plenty of time to have a shower, do the washing and relax before dinner in the hotel restaurant at 7pm.
Today’s weather	Cool in the morning but soon warming up to become another dry sunny and calm day. North 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 Day 02 Correlejo

Commentary

Today, like yesterday, started with an early (well – 8:30, which is early for us) breakfast to be ready in time for the taxi. It duly picked us up bang-on the appointed time of 9am, to take us down to Corralejo and the start of the next stage our walk.

We were dropped off at the Estrella del Norte roundabout and away on our walk well before 9:30 am. That’s almost unheard of for us, but I must say I really appreciated the extra time it gave us to complete the walk without any time pressure.

The route today took us along the series of tracks which link Villaverde to Corralejo via Lajares. Some of the tracks were used by 4x4s and e-bikes, which occasionally made them a bit dusty. But for the most part, it was pretty quiet and the tranquillity, combined with the warm dry sunshine and the languid blue skies, more than made up for any motorised intrusion.

We plodded our way through the volcanic malpais – almost completely devoid of all life-forms apart maybe from a couple of goats and some dried out cacti. Otherwise it was a pretty barren landscape.

Eventually, after three or four hours walking, we arrived at Lajares. There’s not much there in this desert wilderness except – amazingly – from a Patagonia shop selling top-end outdoor gear. I think it probably sprang up to serve the nearby surfer-town of El Cotillo. But anyway, it came as good news to me as I had (unbelievably) forgotten to pack my favourite hiking shorts and shirt, so I was able to pick up some new ones which, I think, will do nicely instead.

Shortly after our trip to Patagonia, we decided to pause for lunch in the shade of a cactus (ok it wasn’t very shady). Like yesterday, we lunched on rolls and cold meat rescued from breakfast, which did the job perfectly. Especially when accompanied by coffee from the trusty Thermos.

After lunch we pressed on to Villaverde and our accommodation. Towards the end I have to admit we took a bit of a shortcut to take us directly back to the hotel. If we’d been purists, we’d have stayed on the GR131 to La Oliva and doubled back down the road to Villaverde. But as one bit of desert landscape is much like another, it didn’t seem worth it.

This last stage of today’s walk was particularly interesting because it reminded me just how important water is to these settlements in Fuerteventura. Without it, all is desert. But as soon as this vital liquid is piped in – presumably from a diesel-powered desalination plant – everything is transformed. Plants grow, birds sing, and the flowers bloom. Everything looks lovely, but it’s a precarious, artificial, existence.

Anyway, we were back at the hotel by 3.30pm. Not long after lunch, actually. So we had plenty of time in the afternoon to have a shower, do the washing (and get it dry in the hot afternoon sun!) and put our feet up for a bit. We’re eating at the hotel restaurant again tonight, but not until 7pm.

So now I’m going to go end enjoy the sun for a few moments, and read the notes for tomorrow’s walk. I’m looking forward to it already!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Start point – the Estrella del Norte roundabout	Peering down into the Caldera del Montaña del Bayuyo

There are a number of shelters at various points along the GR131 – this is the first one we have come across. Just to the north of Lajares	Overlooking the malpais

Pure orange Buddleia – never seen one before	Curious dragon-fruit plantation in someone’s back garden, on the approach to Villaverde

Patagonia, Lajares!