(beyond 4)
To start a zoo, you need at least two pandas, a grizzly and three polars. That’s the bear minimum.
tenerife – day 14
So we have wheels again for the last part of this break. We picked the car up this morning. Would it be a Fiat Panda? If only my horse racing selections were as certain as this. On the plus side it wasn’t the same one we had before. This one has a good 30,000km more on the clock. Despite that, it does feel a little bit punchier than the last. Which is just as well as we’re heading upwards to Teide National Park. The road levels out at around 2,000 metres, but you can add another 1,700 metres to that if you’re going to the top of Mount Teide via the cable car.
We’re taking the long route via the TF1 towards Santiago del Teide. I miss the cut-off so we get to do a little tour of Santiago del Teide itself. We drive back down the TF1 to the TF82 cut-off at Chio and then on to the TF38. The final part of our ascent begins. The road is pretty decent. It’s a gradual climb. The landscape and scenery is stunning. It’s only when you look around that you realise you’re above the cloud level.
We drive through pine forests, lava fields and finally the road levels off. There aren’t many places to stop to take in the scenery, so the viewpoints that are there are busy with cars and tour buses.
Mount Teide towers above the road. You can just about make out the cable car on the volcano’s slope.
It’s at this point we make a U-turn. The road is busy. There’s no place to park. But it’s worth the effort.
beyondtheratrace 