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(>Pictures at the bottom!)
…gravel roads on Fuerteventura
Since Morocco has been practically untravellable for individual tourists since 2 years, we looked for our desert experiences on the Canary archipelago to the west. And, on Fuerteventura we were more than surprised. Compared to the other Canary Islands, Fuerteventura has a somewhat different image due to its long volcanic history, and the landscape is often reminiscent of areas bordering or lying in the Sahara. In addition to Spanish traffic laws, there are also the tourist considerations, so that not everything was immediately banned. Thus, whole groups of tourists are guided with their ATVs and quads on approved trails through nature parks or areas worthy of protection. These routes are of course also open to individual travellers with their vehicles. Outside the regional and nature parks, which actually applies to the whole of Spain, all passable paths may be used where this is not expressly forbidden or the landowner does not permit it. In national parks, on the other hand, the restrictions are very restrictive and monitored accordingly.
Back to Fuerteventura; since Iceland we have been almost addicted to the gravel roads. After studying many maps, we kept finding roads far away from any roads with a solid surface and thus reached areas where probably only the locals know the right turn-off. Apart from the many motorcyclists and quad bikers who scurry through the vast landscape at weekends, we were often alone in this desert-like landscape.
Already in the south, the “Parque Naturale del Jable” surprised us, where interesting paths were open and we were allowed to dig through the sand. After the tourist strongholds in the southeast, we bumped along countless dirt roads through wide valleys towards the sea. Further north, i.e. on the east coast south of Puerto del Rosario, the main town of Fuerteventura, we meandered along the coast on ATV trails and amazed not only the wandering tourists.
On the west side, we were able to follow almost the entire coastline, with a few exceptions, and in the evening we always reached dreamy places to spend the night in some bay. To our surprise, we were also able to follow various paths marked as hiking trails on our map very well with our jeep. On other marked paths, however, we had to give in; the still visible tracks were too washed out and large boulders made our passage impossible. On the other hand, many of the hills were easily negotiated with our jeep on the existing ATV and quad tracks.
Yes, there would also be developed road connections on Fuerteventura, but they are only half as much fun with a four-wheel drive vehicle. With a good map – we are using the map from Locus-Map – and a vehicle that is not too high and wide and has an off-road reduction, many adventurous roads are open.
Of course, we also had to turn around again and again and look for a new way. But we had fun and felt almost like we were in the desert; only in miniature.
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