Playa de Barlovento
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 8.85 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,398 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Very difficult
- Elevation loss
- 1,398 ft
- Max elevation
- 807 ft
- TrailRank
- 34
- Min elevation
- 8 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Coordinates
- 479
- Uploaded
- January 3, 2024
- Recorded
- January 2024
near Jandía, Canarias (España)
Viewed 56 times, downloaded 1 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
To prepare my walking holiday to Fuerteventura I bought 2 walking guides in German : one of Rother Wanderführer (7th. ed. 2022) and one of Kompass (1st. ed. 2018). In both walking guides this walk has number 33 and is marked as the most beautiful one of the entire island. Both walking guides offer GPS tracks for their readers. Most walks are present in both walking guides, so just one is enough. Due to erosion, stone avalanches, ... landscapes and paths can change. The GPS tracks from both editors have a few differences and I would recommend the Rother walking guide which is the most recent and their track is also the one I would advise. My edition was in German, but the walking guide is also translated in e.g. Dutch (published by Elmar). Translated editions are often not as recent as the original German edition. I can confirm that this walk is indeed one of the top walks of Fuerteventura because of the variety of the landscapes : mini-canyons, a beautiful lonely beach (apart from the plastic rubbish), beautiful dunes and volcanic remains. I've labeled this walk as very difficult : several stretches are very steep, so you should be sure-footed and absolutely free of vertigo. You should wear sturdy footwear, preferably mountain boots. You must be able to orient yourself well. Especially in summer, you need to bring enough water as there is hardly any shade along the way. Having written this I don't want to discourage you of course from taking this walk ;-). In the walking guides it's a fully circular walk starting at a few small buildings called "Casas de Pecenescal". To reach this starting point, you leave the highway at exit 74 ("urbanizaciones", coming from the North). At the roundabout point you should take the dirt road directly at the right, parallel to the highway to reach this starting point. However I don't recommend you to do this : there is a sign "forbidden for cars" and if you drive a rental car, your insurance doesn't cover damage on dirt roads. We took the second road at the roundabout and shortly afterwards a road on the right to a small power station. You can park your car close to the power station, of course not blocking the entrance. If you park close enough you can even take advantage of the camera protection of the power station ;-). From here walk along the fence of the power station towards a dirt road which you follow to the right. At the T-junction go to the left. You are now on the dirt road leading to the "Casas de Pecenescal". At these buildings go straight ahead and soon you'll walk in a small canyon (barranco) following a track which is still suitable for 4x4 vehicles. You'll reach "Degollada de Pecenescal" from where you can see the sea and where you can see the signpost on my first picture. You can climb the hill for a better view. Take the small path to the right (north west) of the hill. If you feel uncomfortable at the narrow steep passages, it's now the time to turn back because a lot of these passages will follow. You'll reach another barranco which you follow downwards towards the sea till it becomes so steep that it would be dangerous to continue. You see now the nice eroded landscape of the second picture. Look here for a path to the right. The beach below is not that far away, but it's too steep to reach it, so the path remains on the cliffs parallel to the beach. After 550 m you'll see a large beach in front of you. Instead of trying to descend directly, first follow the path to the right away from the beach before commencing the final descent without a real path, just following some uncomfortable stones and rocks. If you can arrange it, try to be at the beach ("Playa de Barlovento") when it's low tide. You can consult https://nl.tideschart.com/Spain/Canary-Islands/Provincia-de-Las-Palmas/Fuerteventura/Weekly/ . It's not only more beautiful, but at high tide you'll have to follow the coastline along the rocks where the plastic rubbish has also washed up. With low tide you can walk on a a beautiful wide beach with probably hardly any other tourists. Having followed the beach for ± 850 m, look for the start of a path on the rocks. You may also see a marker such as a wooden stick or a scull here. Having crossed a little barranco, go the right and almost directly afterwards to the left uphill. Soon the landscape will change and you'll walk between nice white dunes. Back to "Casas de Pecenescal" you'll follow a dirt road which is also used by 4x4 vehicles.
If you are looking for a good walking map of the island, I can recommend the super-durable map "Fuerteventura" published by Discovery Walking Guides.
If you are looking for a good walking map of the island, I can recommend the super-durable map "Fuerteventura" published by Discovery Walking Guides.
Waypoints
Waypoint
230 ft
Barranco
33_Barranco (3)
Waypoint
322 ft
Casas de Pecenescal
CASAS DE PECENESCAL
Summit
827 ft
Degollada de Pecenescal
33_Degollada de Pecenescal (2)
Waypoint
241 ft
Exit 74
UCL and CW
Waypoint
115 ft
Leave the barranco to the right
33_Rinne (4)
Beach
16 ft
Playa de Barlovento
33_Playa de Barlovento (5)
Waypoint
343 ft
Small electricity plant
land
Comments (14)
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Hi,
Thanks for the detailed description of the walk.
I just wonder whether it would it is possible to start the walk counter-clockwise, but then continue along the beach all the way to Cofete. I had a look at Google Earth and the satellite images show a sandy beach all way through apart from one or two very short sections shortly after the start of this walk, but this may be free as well at low tide (which is the time I consider to go). On my Kompass hiking map, this trail is indeed marked all the way through this way. I just wonder how easy it would be entering he beach for this walk near the Punta de las Eras (the point where your walk leaves the beach). The entry/exit seems the be the point where cliffs have broken away over a section, but it is not quite clear from the Google Earth images how difficult it is to get down to the beach (I don't want to do something that would not be covered by my travel insurance).
Hi Thomas, that's indeed also a nice option if you can arrange transport between the starting point of the walk and Cofete. Coming from Punta de las Eras the path towards Playa de Barlovento (my track counter-clockwise) is from time to time a narrow path on the cliffs. I would not recommend it to people with fear of heights or in wet weather, but apart from that, I don't consider it a dangerous path for people who are used to walk in the mountains and are wearing suitable footwear. I did it with a group of 9 people and a few times someone who was not very sure-footed needed a hand, but it went well. It's an "official" path, not in the sense that it's maintained by the the municipality or any official government agency, but in the sense that it's clearly visible in the landscape. It's also mentioned in different walking guides such as the Rother and the Kompass Wanderführer. As far as I could judge it from above, you have to be especially aware of the tide between my waypoint "Playa de Barlovento" and the wide beach "Playa de Cofete". It's only a stretch of about ± 800 m. So, if you see that the sea level is too high to continue safely, you should always be able to go back and e.g. continue my track counter-clockwise or return completely. You have some margin in the sense that water levels don't change that much one hour before and after the low tide point. This stretch of ± 800 m is of course not an official path : it's not visible in the terrain because it's just a beach which is flooded twice a day and it's not in walking guides or on maps because it can only be done a few hours a days. Enjoy the walk and if you have completed your counter-clockwise variant to Cofete, please let me know on this forum how it went.
Hi Yves,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I intend to try to do it by public transport, taking the first or second bus in the morning from Gran Tarajal (I will based in Las Playitas nearby), getting off at the exit 74 (the bus gets off there anyway to go on the FV-602 to stop at Barranco de los Canarios, so maybe the driver lets me get off there, otherwise I have to hike back from the official bus stop), then hiking via Barlovento beach to Cofete , then to Morro Jable through the Barranco de Gran Valle, and taking the bus back from there. I should arrive at the west coast pretty much at the time of the lowest tide (around 9-10 am) if I take the first bus in the morning for the dates I will be there (late June). Going early in the morning also should give me the highest possibility of avoiding cloud cover in the mountains. There is only a window of a couple of days though in the two weeks I am there where the tides will be at the right time.
Your path to Barlovento beach (taking it counter-clockwise) leads over the cliffs for quite some distance (1 km or so), but I wonder if it is not possible to get down there earlier.
Have a look this photo
Photo 1
Would you think it is possible to go down along the cyan coloured arrow where the cliffs have apparently collapsed into some more gentle slope? I copied a better satellite photo from Google Earth
Photo 2 ,
this also shows that at low tide there is no water at this point. From a different perspective in 3D you get a better idea of the heights involved
Photo 3 ,
and these 'Streetview' images shows how this looks actually from the beach, looking up and down from near the bottom of this slope
Photo 4
Photo 5
And further down the beach, there are only a couple of small spots where the sea gets close to the cliffs. This is right after your trail goes back from the beach up the cliffs again (going counter-clockwise).
Photo 6
Photo 7
Photo 8
This looks pretty much passable to me, especially as I would be there at the lowest tide possib
Hi Thomas, on your picture barlovento2.jpg you see the course of the path at the top of the cliffs. If you like scrambling and have the right footwear, you can probably descend on the spot indicated with your cyan coloured arrow in the first picture. This is definitely not an official path. I would recommend staying above the cliffs : from there you have also a nice view of the beach and from another perspective. Later on you walk on the beach for a few kilometers, so you'll also have plenty of time to enjoy the feeling of walking on the beach itself. Your picture barlovento6.jpg indicates perfectly the spots where it wouldn't be possible to pass when the tide is high, but it's only a short stretch. Depending on the day, you can pass there at least 1 hour before and after the low tide point. I stayed there one hour to eat my picknick just after the low tide point and I explored the beach. Walking on the beach was perfectly possible.
Hi Yves,
I would not mind a bit of scrambling. I won't be carrying a heavy backpack and my shoes would normally be able to cope with inclines (I always hike with trail running shoes). But after having a more detailed look at the available photos, I fear that all the lose stones, gravel and rocks might cause problems at this sort of incline (I estimate it at about 45 deg) regardless of the shoes, even if I scramble backwards on all fours. I am not even sure how stable this slope is in the first place, considering it it was obviously formed by a section of the cliff having collapsed into the hollow space that you can see in the cliff sections to the left and right of it (which seems to have been washed out by the sea). There could still be hollow spaces underneath this section which this rubble could further collapse into it once disturbed.
On the other hand, the path over the cliffs really looks quite precarious to me in some sections You can see it on this 3D- satellite photo taken from Google Earth (I have marked the path with arrows)
Photo 9
and further towards the right it gets even wilder
Photo 10
Photo 11
Based on this (and the fact that I don't have much experience in the mountains or similar terrain) it would probably mean too much stress for me having to negotiate sections where you have a margin of error of maybe only a foot or two. After all, a strong gust of wind, slippery surface, or a seagull attacking you (which has happened to me before on a hike when I apparently came to close to its nest) could easily spell trouble here, especially as I would probably be doing this alone.
I think I may instead just be doing Cofete beach from Morro Jable as a safer (and more relaxing) alternative. I could then also spend all day there to take photographs under different lighting conditions. I think for Cofete beach you don't have to worry about the tides cutting you off? There should always some width of beach remaining to let you go back from where you are?
Thomas
Hi Thomas, I can't judge it for other people, so I don't want to convince anyone to do this hike, especially not alone, when (s)he is not confident. I was there in November and I saw no bird nests. I know that especially in the breading season this is something to take into consideration. From above (satellite pictures) it's not always easy to judge the difficulty of the path. I have at least 8 pictures of the path above the cliffs, but I don't see how I can add pictures in my posts just like you are doing. Could it be because I'm not a Premium member ? If you post your email address in a comment, I can send you the pictures. You can add spaces or use e.g. "at" instead of the symbol @. Once you have received my pictures, you can delete your post with the email address so that it's no longer visible to anyone. On the Cofete beach you shouldn't have any issue with the tides.
Hi Thomas, I've sent you 8 pictures of the path. If you have received them, you can delete your previous post with your mail address.Thanks for the tip with the url / link tag of Google Drive.
Hi Yves,
Thanks, I received the pictures. The path does indeed not look that bad here. Is this all the part of the cliff path after you left the beach again (going clockwise)? Is the path always clearly visible? In the satellite images you can't really see it anymore in some places.
Thomas
Hi Thomas, my pictures are representative for the whole stretch between the point where I left the beach (clockwise) and the point where my clockwise path left the coastline. The path is always clearly visible. Most of the time the cliffs are not 90° vertical as you can see and you have enough space to walk "normally". Only at a few points you have to look where to put your feet. If you have enough profile on your shoes and you don't suffer from fear of heights, those few points shouldn't pose a problem. I would only avoid the path if it has rained recently, but this is very rare, especially when you intend to go (late June). The path is not more difficult than a normal waymarked path in the mountains of e.g. Austria or Switzerland. You don't have to be mountaineer or an adventurer. If it would be that difficult, publishers wouldn't describe this walk in their books.
OK, thanks Yves, I'll ponder over it. I have still got enough time to make up my mind.
By the way, how long do you reckon it would take me to actually be on the beach walking from the FV-2 exit 74 (that is you backward leg to the trailhead from the beach)? I have to factor in that the bus driver doesn't let me get off there, but possibly only at the Barranco de los Canarios bus stop (the bus turns off actually at exit 75 for this, not 74 as I said earlier). From the official bus stop I would have to factor in at least an extra half an hour to hike back along the road to exit 74, and I need to sure that I can make it all along Barlovento beach before the tide comes in again. I am not quite sure yet though how I should get to near exit 74 on foot from the Barranco de los Canarios bus stop. Getting to exit 75 on the FV-602 would not be a problem (I basically did it last year when walking to Mirador del Salmo and Sotavento Beach on the other side), but from exit 75 to 74 would only be the FV-2 motorway and I doubt it is allowed to walk along there, and there doesn't seem to be a suitable path cross country either)
Hi Thomas, going counterclockwise, from the FV-2 exit 74 to the beach (Playa de Barloventa) I reckon 2u30. First you follow a dirt road (± 1h20) where you can walk at least 4 km/hour, but afterwards there is stretch where you'll feel in the desert with loose sand (± 40 min). Luckily for you, it's downhill. The path on the cliffs has a stable surface, but you have to look where you walk and you'll take definitively some picture. Reckon ± 30 min. for this stretch. Once you are on the beach it's 100% flat of course, but due to the sand, you will walk max. 4 km/hour.
Regarding the possible bus stop at exit 74, you could contact the bus company : gestion@maxoratabus.com.
FYI : To have an idea of the path on the cliffs, I've also found some pictures on Google map, e.g.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ysM3wsH5ivvBBymZ9
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZZpQ5cRyS5ncsD7T7
Thanks Yves for those links to additional photos of the path. They do no appear to show the more difficult sections of the path though. Do you not have yourself photos of these? From the Google Earth satellite images it appears that there are 2 regions that look quite adventurous (with irregular terrain) and where I can't make out the path anymore. See the following link
Photo 12
There is a 'Streetview' image relating to the left region (taken by the same person who took the photos in the 2 links you gave), which I can't make much sense of either.
Photo 13
You can see the path in the top right of the picture but I don't understand the terrain closer towards the camera and where the path would be. Are these dark areas gaps/holes or just shadows?
Hi Thomas, I've already shared most of the pictures I had of the section above the cliffs. There are no large gaps or holes in the path. There is no steep climbing involved. The dark areas are just shadows. The path is not more difficult than an average "non-technical" path in e.g. the Alps. When I walked clockwise, I found in general that the path before my descent to the beach was more difficult than the path leaving the beach (the section which you would do when you'll descend to the beach if you walk the route counterclockwise).
Hi Yves, I have now a reply from Maxorata Bus, and unfortunately they say that the buses only stop at the official bust stops because of safety reasons. So it looks like I could get to the starting point only by taxi from Costa Calma (which is the last bus stop before that)