The Erjos Pools in Santiago del Teide are one of our favourite spots on Tenerife but for many a year events have conspired to prevent us from hiking them.
We first ‘discovered’ the pools in 2006 and enjoyed a fabulous walk which we then vowed to take our friend Sarah on when she next came to visit.
Unfortunately, on the day we chose to take Sarah, dense low bruma (cloud) shrouded the whole of the Santiago del Teide Valley and the Erjos Pools and we couldn’t even see the pine forest, let alone navigate our way to the path that led up through it. After wandering aimlessly in the drizzle whilst nursing serious hangovers (one of the side effects of a visit from Sarah), we abandoned the walk and headed to the Las Fleytas bar instead.
The following year forest fires devastated the entire area, destroying the forest and the undergrowth which led to the pools drying up and for the next two years we kept an anxious eye on the Erjos Pools to see if they would recover. Thankfully, they did.
A couple of weeks ago we spent an idyllic weekend at the Rural Hotel Señorio del Valle in Santiago del Teide and we took the opportunity to finally hike around the Erjos Pools again and this time, to record our route so we never lose the trail again, regardless of the weather.
After navigating our way through the maze of paths that riddle the pools, we set off to climb to the ridge…only to find that we weren’t on the same path we’d taken on our original walk! But we decided to persevere and see where it would lead us.
The path turned out to be a really lovely one that climbed above the pools and through the welcome shade of tree heathers before finally taking us to the ridge above Valle de Arriba with breathtaking views of the valley to Mount Teide and Pico Viejo.
We were very pleased with ourselves; not only had we finally returned to hike one of our favourite spots, but we’d chronicled a whole new route – an even better one than the one we originally did. We’ve called it Pools and Pines and it’s now part of the ‘Into the Valley – Erjos to Arguayo’ Island Walks.
And here’s just a little snippet of this lovely walk…
Hope it was ok to borrow your photo. I have linked back to you and commented how much I enjoy your blog.
Absolutely no problem Nikki and thanks for the comments and for publicising the site.