La Gomera Day 4

Targa – Imada

Hiking: 9.7 km Ascent: 451 m Descent: 359 m Max Elevation: 811 m

Accurate height profile
Click here to download GPX file

We started early in the morning to avoid the hot midday sun. It was a slow and steady ascent. A huge red and white telecommunication mast was always in line of sight. Besides a few palm trees and cactuses there was barely any vegetation. After just 4 km we decided to make a small break, two big palm trees were the perfect spot for our hammock. While attaching the rope to the palm trees, the whole rope became black: huge parts of the palm trees where burned from a recent fire.

The view was amazing from up here (750 m), the whole ocean became a miniature wonderland. With small toy sailing boats bobing up and down. The deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean is still fascination to us and cereal bars taste even better in a hammock. If someone could serve us a beer the world would be even more perfect.

Targa

It was time to begin the final ascent to Targa. 30 minutes later we reached the quiet village, unfortunately there was no supermarket or other store to buy supplies, so we had to push forward. We had two options to hike to Imada, an easy walk without any height difference or a brutal way down to Guarimiar and then up again to Imada.

Descenting to Guarmiar

We chose the difficult path. The descent was crazy. The path was dropping down, while it wasn’t possible to see the path in front of us. After 1.6 km that felt like an eternity, we reached the bottom of the barranco and Guarmiar. Our knees where hurting from the steep climb downwards, but there wasn’t time to rest.

The ascent was just like the descent, crazy. With our 15 kg backpacks we slowly climbed upwards.

We heard a few people coming down the path, laughing and enjoying the hike. A group of older french hikers was passing by. Bonjour …. and they were gone already. Hiking without heavy backpacks must be amazing. The laughing made us optimistic that the ascent will become easier. The volcanic stone formations truly show the force of nature that once formed the island.

Imada

The valley looked amazing and the temperature wasn’t as hot as on the ridge. Soon we could see Imada popping up in the distance. Before making the same mistake twice, we began to search a camping spot outside of the town. The fast rising hills made the search complicated. Finally we found a nice spot on an old terrace, we hid our backpacks in a bush and walked into the village. Well, we were jumping actually, without the backpacks everything was feeling easy, and we could enjoy Imada even more.

We found a small bar in the middle of the village, Bar Cefeteria Arcilla. We ordered Papas Arrugadas with Mojo and two beers. The perfect pre-dinner after a long hike. For a late night snack we bought more beer and some chips.

On our way down we were already a bit drunk, so we ran downhill while laughing ridiculously. The location of Imada, in connection with the breathtaking view into the pictorial landscape, obtains a feeling of boundless liberty.

After a few more beers the night was approaching and it was time for another meal. During my childhood vacations with my family, where we stayed at a campground in Greece for 6 weeks every summer, we had 2 standard meals, Menu 1 and Menu 2 … maybe there were more, but this is all I can remember. In Playa de Santiago we bought all ingredients for Menu 2: Corn, Creme, Corned Beef, Noodles….. and all cooked them all IN the tent. (Never do that!)

I was in childhood heaven. Combining this particular taste with the sound of a tent zipper made me a little boy again.

Time to call it a day …