Vigan, Caracol, Montana de la Tirba, Morro de la Cruzada
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Municipality | Location |
| Vigan | 464m | 357m | Fuerteventura | GPX |
| Morro del Cencerro | 287m | 73m | Fuerteventura | |
| Caracol | 467m | 402m | Fuerteventura | GPX |
| Montana de Tirba | 341m | 185m | Fuerteventura | |
| Morro de la Cruzada | 316m | 207m | Fuerteventura | GPX |
Vigan & Morro del Cencerro
It was our 3rd day on Fuerteventura, and Anne wanted to stay at the Las Playitas Fitness and Sports Resort to try some of the training programs they offer daily. She had been hiking with me for two days, but now her bad knee demanded some other form of training.
So I had the day all to myself, as well as the rental car. I started out in the near vicinity, aiming for Vigan – just a couple of minutes drive from Las Playitas – on the road to the lighthouse Faro de la Entallada.
Plan A was just to get up as quickly as possible, and so I approached the mountain head on from the south/southwest. The terrain was a bit cumbersome (loose rock and scree), but I made good progress and topped out on the west top (El Roque) 30 minutes after heading out.
From El Roque, I followed the main ridge over to the high point (Vigan) and wondered what to do next. The ridge towards Morro del Cencerro looked interesting. On the other hand, I was eager to get moving and visit other peaks too.
I ended up with following the ridge towards Morro del Cencerro and tried to follow the sharp part of the ridge as much as possible, without getting involved in serious scrambling. After an accident on Fenduca 2 days earlier, my left arm was in a really bad shape.
From Morro del Cencerro, I descended the west ridge and crossed the flats before I returned to the rental car, 5,9km and 1h:45m after heading out.
Pictures from the Vigan hike
Caracol
Caracol had caught my attention since we arrived at Las Playitas. For every top I saw on the island, I tried to memorize a route that would not run close to settlement – which most likely included goats – and more importantly – dogs. Loose dogs…
My “dog-free” route to Caracol would go from the beach town Giniginamar. This seemed to be a sleepy “apartment town”. No goats or dogs for sure. I drove to the end of Av las Palmeras and went up west of the valley ahead – passing a large building.
Once on the ridge, it was an easy walk up to the high point, which offered a fantastic view!
I followed the ridge back, but descended on the other side of the valley. There were lots of goats on the mountain, but no dogs. This 5,2km hike took me 1h:15m.
Pictures from the Caracol hike
Montana de la Tirba
From Giniginamar, I followed FV-525 up to FV-2, went west and then north onto FV-511. As I approached the mountain, I looked for a route that was not too close to houses, but on the other hand, I wasn’t interested in an unnecessary long hike. I ended up in a small village west of the mountain, where I would have the easiest and shortest hike to the top.
I drove up to a house where I saw a man on the outside. After “hola“, I pointed at me and the mountain top and asked “Es esta propiedad privada?“. A very useful sentence, I learned some time ago. A “no, no” suggested that I was clear to go.
I had one more question – “perros aqui?“. I had heard dogs barking, so the question was not really necessary, but I wanted to know if they were loose. I got a really, really long sentence in return, and the only word I understood was “casa“. I know “casa” means house. Dog house? “Perros en la casa?” But based on his body language, I assumed he was trying to tell me that they would not be a problem.
I headed out and passed 3 dogs behind a fence, trying to eat their way through when I passed. I was now en route to the top, seemingly free of any risk other than the incredible cumbersome loose rock that would be a real challenge on the way down.
I reached the top, looked around, took photos and headed back down. This 1,7km hike me 35 minutes.
Pictures from the Montana de la Tirba hike
Morro de la Cruzada
I had now 3 pf100 (primary factor >= 100m) tops, and 9 in total since we arrived on Fuerteventura. That’s my kind of vacation. That said, I was getting slightly bored now, but decided to go for one more top, making the total 10 – a nice and round number.
I decided to visit Morro de la Cruzada, which I had been observing from all possible angles the last 3 days.
I parked the car just southwest of the FV-56/FV-617 junction and headed out. I bypassed the closest ridge on the north side and headed for the pass between the ridge and Morro de la Cruzada. It was an easy hike, now that I had grown accustomed to off-trail hiking on this type of terrain.
The summit didn’t offer me any other views than Caracol did, other than the view towards Caracol. After some pictures, I headed back down, but went across the ridge I bypassed on the way up. I reached the car 3,2km and 45 minutes after leaving it.
I was quite pleased with the effort of the day. The total vertical gain was 1460m and I had done 16km of off-trail hiking. Clearly enough to enjoy a nice shower, a nice dinner with my girlfriend and a beer (or two) in the evening – with a very good conscience.
Pictures from the Morro de la Cruzada hike
