Ireland day 1242. Friday 21 February 2025- Fuerteventura Day 11

Today’s summary	Got up very early and were away walking by 6:45 am. Covered the 25km to Punta De Jandia in under 7 hours so in plenty of time to catch the L111 bus [cash only] back to Morro Jable at 4:15pm. A really good day’s walking and perfect weather again. This was the last stage in the GR131 hike and we were very sorry finally to have finished our walk. In the end we covered 173.6km / 110 miles in 10 days and loved pretty much every step. After the 90 minute bus ride back, dinner in the a la carte restaurant in the hotel thus evening. Very posh.
Today’s weather	Sunny and dry all day. Moderate northerly 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 10 Morro Jable to Punto de Jandia

Commentary

Well all good things have to come to an end I suppose and today marked the final stage of our multi day hike along the length of the beautiful island of Fuerteventura. But it was a magnificent last day!

At 25km, it’s quite a long way from Morro Jable to Fuerteventura’s southern extremity at Faro De Punta De Jandia. But it’s not so much the distance as the bus timetable that makes this such a challenging walk. There is a 4×4 bus, the L111, that links Morro Jable to Punta De Jandia bia Cofete and it leaves the Faro at 12:15 and 16:15. There was no way we could make it for the 12:15 return so we had to make sure we got to the end well in advance of 16:15 – or risk a long walk back!

So we got up super-early, and arranged for a commensurately early breakfast at the hotel. In the end, we were up and away walking by 6:45 am – totally unheard of for night-owls like us!

The first 45 minutes of the walk took us through the town of Morro Jable in the darkness – but streetlights showed us the way. Once the sun came up around 7:30, the going was easier, which was timely as at around this point we entered more desert badlands on the final push to Punto de Jandia.

It turned out to be a relatively straightforward walk, in near-perfect conditions today. I couldn’t help reflecting that hikers who are short of time often miss out this section, which is a huge shame as it’s one of the best. Spectacular mountain, desert and coast scenery all the way – what more could you want.

We only stopped briefly to enjoy our packed lunches, but most of the time we just kept chugging along, keen not to waste time in reaching our destination. There were a few people about – mainly sun seekers and surfers in their caravans, but mostly we had the path to ourselves.

Eventually, we pitched up in Puertito – a scruffy little shanty-town almost at the end of the peninsula. There was a bar-restaurant but it didn’t look very inviting so we carried on to the end without stopping.

We eventually arrived at the lighthouse at about 1:30pm. Way too early but it gave us plenty of time to put our feet up and enjoy the rest of our late lunch. Disappointingly the cafe and museum at the Faro were closed but fortunately we still had plenty of provisions in our rucksacks.

So that’s that. 173.6km / 110mi in 10 days. A fabulous walk and we enjoyed pretty much every step. We were both actually quite sad to reach the end – no more hunting for those red and white stripes and we will miss it!

So now it’s time to jump on the [cash only – €8.70 each one way] L111 bus (which actually arrived at 15:30 for 16:15 departure) and head back for the 90 minute ride to Morro Jable and the hotel. It’s a posh dinner in the a la carte restaurant this evening, then a few days or well-deserved R&R for both me and Val, my trusty and ever-cheerful hiking companion.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


6:44 am is an unheard of time to start a walk. The sun didn’t even rise for another 45 minutes!	Val surveying the scene on the ascent out of Morro Jable this mornming

Sunrise over the palm-tops	These white markers along the coast mark the boundary of public land – on the seaward side of the bollard you aren’t allowed to build anything – even a parasol, technically, without Government permission

The long emptiness of the Jandia peninsula coast	Wind turbine at Puertito de Jandia. Looks very eco but it wasn’t going round and a diesel generator was buzzing away in the background (though that may have been for a desalination plant)

The L111 Unimog 4×43 bus – ready to “speed” us (in an hour and a half!) back to Morro Jable. We copped out at the end and got a taxi from the bus station to the hotel and saved another 4km of walking