Tenerife 2024 -hike in the Reserva Natural Especial del Barranco del Infierno

After spending far too much time relaxing, we decided it was time to get back in the saddle and attempt a proper hike.

While we were in the Barranco del Infierno, S had spotted an aqueduct and recalled a walk he had read about that involved it. It looked very picturesque so we found the walk instructions and off we went.

We parked at the cemetery in Adeje, (a wonderful bit of foreshadowing), and followed a rough track that took us into a scrubland between two barrancos. It was so quiet and peaceful. This part of Tenerife reminds me of the Cabo de Gata near Almeria in Spain, and although I’m not a huge fan of these scrubby, cacti-ridden wildernesses, seems no one else is either so they have a pleasant serenity about them.

We headed for the covered pipeline that this hike is all about. I couldn’t find out much about the pipeline but I think it starts in Adeje and could provide water for agriculture in the south. However, neither of us could hear any water flowing through the pipes so I can only assume it’s defunct. The cover is a metre wide concrete pavement that stretches far into the distance.

Walking on a concrete pavement sounds easy but many of the slabs had been broken by rockfalls and required careful foot placement. Tripping and falling into prickly pear cacti isn’t an appealing prospect. Neither is a tumble down a very steep mountainside peppered with volcanic rocks and rubble.

Still, we persevered until we arrived at the aqueduct.

Now usually I have a head for heights and vertical drops don’t phase me. I started walking across the bridge and about a third of the way over I decided this wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the drop so much, it was the lack of any rail, anything in fact to stop me from falling into the ravine. I managed to walk back without giving in to my body’s desire to crawl on all fours. In complete contrast, my usually vertigo-prone husband had almost made it to the other side. Annoyingly for him, having got his head in “the zone” he had to walk all the way back. Proud of S but not of myself, we decided to abandon the hike and made our way back.

Vertigo is a strange thing. You never know when it’s going to strike. But one thing I do know is that this really is quite a challenging even dangerous walk. Compare this to the completely unnecessary coddled safety of the Barranco del Infierno hike and you start to realise what a very strange world we live in.