Ireland day 1235. Friday 14 February 2025- Fuerteventura Day 04

Today’s summary	Got up early again and were at breakfast before 8:30. Our bags were collected at 9am for transfer to Tefia, today’s destination. We started walking soon afterwards and made our way via La Oliva and Tindaya to Tefia. Stupendous mountains and desert scenery and perfect blue skies. Overnight at Villa Cecilio in Tefia with dinner on site. Another early night ready for breakfast at 8:15 tomorrow!
Today’s weather	Cool in the morning but soon warmed up when the sun rose. Light south easterly wind. Appx 21c

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 03 Tefia

Commentary

A Valentine’s Day with a difference! Most of it was spent in the desert, although the horse with no name didn’t put in an appearance.

We started early – again – with breakfast at 8:15am. Mind you, we were in bed by soon after 9pm last night so we were up bright and early, and were soon bouncing off the walls, raring to get going.

At 9am, after our alfresco breakfast, a taxi arrived to take our bags on to our next night’s accommodation – in Tefia. In between us and there was the desert.

Anyway as soon as our bags were away, we started walking – directly from the hotel back on to the GR131 a little way down the road in La Oliva. We paused en route for provisions, as the next few days walking are said to be a bit sparse on refreshment options. So, laden with water and crisps and other essential requisites, we set off into the wilderness with the revered Montaña Tindaya a constant and impressive presence on the horizon for most of the morning’s walk.

Eventually, we made it safely round to the back of the sacred mountain (now closed for ascent) and lo and behold found a small bar in Tindaya village itself, where we could down a couple of refrescos. From there we set off into to the afternoon sun and back into the desert for the next stretch to Tefia. I must say the desert is strangely calming – mostly pretty empty and at this time of year – despite the clear blue sky and bright sun – not overpoweringly hot.

By about 3:30 we pitched up at the molinas in Tefia and threaded our way through the back lanes to our accommodation at Villa Cecilio. We settled in quickly, did our ablutions and got our washing out into the sun to dry. With the bright sun and light breeze, everything gets desiccated pretty quickly here.

As we relaxed in the late afternoon sun, our host even brought us a beer and prepared our cena – which all made for a perfect end to an excellent if somewhat unorthodox Valentine’s Day. (And a great reminder that I am pretty fortunate to be able to share it with someone as tolerant as Val!!)

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Luna – our hungry breakfast companion	Alfresco breakfast – surprisingly chilly until the sun came up

Pointing the way at the start of the walk, leaving La Oliva	Val checking out Montaña Tindaya – it’s nowhere near as high as it looks – only about 450m / 1400ft

*Heading out into the malpais* like something from a Clint Eastwood film**	Molina in Tefia

Tonight’s modest accommodation. It was just what we needed!