Over three months of van life (in Tenerife) is enough! We've split up!

Of course, that was just a cheap trick (so-called "clickbait") to get as many clicks from you as possible on our travel blog! We'll get back to it in a serious way soon! Of course, we're only leaving Tenerife and on good terms! After a total of 105 days on Tenerife, it was time for us to move on. Portugal is calling!

But back to Tenerife (= TF): On April 12th we are "alone" on the island again, the whole family has left again (see Travel Blog Diamonds on Tenerife ). We sort ourselves out for a few days and then set off to explore the rest of the north coast of TF. A longer period of good weather is forecast, the thick clouds and rain showers that are more common on the north coast are not coming for the time being. First we go to Puerto de la Cruz and Orotava. At the port of Puerto de la Cruz we find a parking space in the public car park right next to the small port and a few meters from the water and the old town. As everywhere on TF, parking is free here, parking fees are completely unknown on TF! The coast here is protected by a huge concrete wall with concrete blocks in front of it, which make the tetrapods from the Sylt beach look like children's toys. Nevertheless, the gigantic Atlantic waves tore away part of this coastal fortification some time ago and there is a huge hole in the wall. We are lucky and the waves are lower at the moment, but the spray still splashes several meters high over the wall and Betty gets a thick crust of salt.

Puerto de la Cruz is only somewhat beautiful. This is where the first mass tourism on the island of Tenerife occurred. The concrete brutalism of the 70s and 80s has clearly left its mark here. Much of it looks old and you can tell that the streams of tourists are now heading south to Las Americas and Los Christianos. But the seawater outdoor pool on the coast, designed by Cesar Manrique, the area around the old port and the old town are really worth seeing. The old port, which is no longer in use, is used by the local population as a "swimming pool". We also take the opportunity to sunbathe in the evening sun on the warm harbor pier and jump into the harbor basin from a height of around 4 m. A light "cloud of grass" hangs over everything; the pier is mainly frequented by younger people, and we drive the average age up considerably.

In the evening we are approached by a woman who is walking along the coastal fortifications in the evening light. She recognized our van, or rather the "SRF_EX" logo. We also remember meeting her and her friends on a mountain hike above Benijo. They parked their bus right next to our van. This is also typical for TF, although it is not that small, people meet again and again on the island. She gives us a number of tips for the area and then walks away. What we notice a lot about Spain: On the beach promenade, people usually wear sportswear and do sporty things, regardless of whether they are young or old or fat or thin. The German way of strolling is largely unknown here!

The next day we go on a bike tour to Orotava, about 500 meters above Puerto de la Cruz. Orotava dates back to the 16th century and is one of the oldest and formerly richest cities in Tenerife. The city has many magnificent houses with artistically carved wooden balconies. Lush gardens offer views over the Orotava Valley, Puerto de la Cruz and the Atlantic. In Orotava there is an excellent information center about the Teide National Park and the volcanic history of the island. We are almost alone in the information center and at the end we get a private screening of the Teide film from the super nice national park ranger in the large cinema hall. By the way, we got so lost on our bike tour to Orotava that our tour recorded on Komoot looks like a plate of spaghetti...

Over the next few days we continue "up" the north coast. We spend the night in small villages (El Pris and Playa de Jover) deep down by the Atlantic, with roads that are so steep that when we get to the bottom, Betty's brakes start to smoke in protest! Because the Atlantic is so rough there, these places all have small seawater swimming pools dug into the rocks. We do our morning exercises at these pools. We are almost alone until an older lady comes along, looks at us very confused and then sits down a little further away from us on the surrounding stone bench. As more and more older ladies come, we realize that we are probably doing exercise in exactly the same place where these ladies meet (probably for decades) for early morning exercise and swimming. We move a few meters to the side and everyone is happy, muchas gracias!

From Punta del Hildago we plan a hiking tour to Chinamada in the Anaga Mountains. The path is classified as S3 ("challenging"), after a few kilometers I unfortunately have to give up on the exposed sections of the path where it goes "deep into the abyss" on the right. Suzi doesn't mind the exposed passages, it's all in your head, the path isn't really technically difficult. So we turn around and do a harmless coastal hike that leads to the super-futuristic lighthouse of Punta del Hildago.

There is a lot of wind/trade wind forecast for the next few days, so we are heading back towards El Medano, but not without first paying a visit to our friends Isabel and Sönke in Abades. It is also washing day for the van (removing the salt crust) and clothes, which we will do at our SUPER gas station (see travel blog We are stuck on Tenerife ).

Well, and then it's back again, the trade wind! I now have 25 days of wind and waves on TF in my logbook, so you can pick out the best conditions and your body can't cope with more than 3-4 hours a day on the water (anymore). On April 30th, I fell somewhat unluckily with my chest hitting the boom. A bruised rib like that is a long-lasting relief, but with foam padding under my neoprene and two 400 Ibuprofen, I carry on for the next few days. Suzi, meanwhile, is doing an alternative program of biking and hiking. When the trade winds are blazing, a stay on the sandblasted beach is only possible for the hardiest of people.

Once the wind dies down, we go on bike and hiking tours, preferably along the coast. No matter how beautiful it is in the mountains of Tenerife, after two days at the latest we have to go back to the sea!

And suddenly it's the beginning of May, the end of our time on TF is fast approaching. But first we have to say goodbye to our good friends Sascha and Zhaoyang, who have been on the "island" since the end of December. We experienced a lot together, went biking, hiking, cooked together in the evenings and I spent quite a few hours in the waves of El Medano with Sascha. Thank you both for the great time we had together on Tenerife! We spend our last evening together in the wonderful fish restaurant Aqua y Sal in Tajao. Right next to the restaurant there is a wonderful parking lot by the sea for our vans. It's wonderful when you come out of the restaurant full and slightly tipsy!

Just in time for the couple's departure, the trade winds slowly die down again and we set off on our farewell tour. First we go back to Teide National Park. The ranger in the Teide National Park Information Center had given us the tip that it is spring in the national park at the beginning of May. And indeed, everything is much greener and many things are in bloom, completely different to our last visit in April. The absolute highlight is the red-flowering viper's bugloss with a flower stalk almost 2 m high. Very photogenic! We spend the night in the official camping area of the national park and in the evening experience a wonderful sunset at an altitude of 1,700 m. We are high above the clouds and the volcanic peaks of the islands of La Gomera, El Hierro and Pa Palma rise up from the clouds. Unique! The next day we drive down the ridge road to La Laguna in the best summer weather. Last time (see Diamonds on Tenerife ) we had storms, rain and the temperature went down to 2° C. Now we can look from the ridge road to both sides of the north and south coast of Tenerife. The extensive complex with the snow-white star observatories is also an eye-catcher. Within an hour's drive you cross several climate and vegetation zones. For us, one of the dream roads in the world!

From La Laguna we head over Las Teresitas one last time over the mountains of the Anaga Mountains (thank you Betty for bravely conquering all the mountains of Tenerife!) and one last time to our personal dream beach of Benijo on the north coast. We spend three nights there, just a few meters from the roaring Atlantic. We hike and bike a little and also enjoy the unique beach and the great waves while swimming. In the row of vans is "Edith", a 1958 Dormobile made by Bedford in England, which now belongs to José, a Canarian. An incredibly beautiful car, look at the pictures!

TF or El Medano then bids me farewell with two great days of wind and waves. Here in El Medano I meet Andreas and his wife Linda again. I had already spoken to them briefly on the beach a while ago when Andreas came in from the water and we liked each other straight away. As so often happens, we parted ways without exchanging contact details. We're making up for that now and we spontaneously arrange to meet up for a beer on their sailing yacht on our last evening on TF.

And the nice thing about travelling is getting to know new, nice people and their lives! And it's something very special for these two: they have organised their lives so that they can spend half the year travelling, including on their yacht. They also chose their place of residence on the Danish side of the Flensburg Fjord so that they are as close to the water as possible. Respect! After a few beers and Ron Miel (Canarian honey rum), we balance over the yacht's mooring lines back onto the jetty towards our last night on TF.

And then it's suddenly here, the last day on Tenerife! Our ferry is due to set sail from Santa Cruz at 8:30 p.m. One last walk through El Medano, one last swim in the warm Atlantic... As we turn onto the TF-1 driveway towards Santa Cruz, each of us has a little tear in our eye. Incidentally, Tenerife also has a little tear in its eye; as we are on the ferry and leaving the harbor, it is raining (but only a little)!

All in all, the time in Tenerife exceeded our expectations by far. There couldn't have been a better start to our part-time exit. Cracias Tenerife por el gran momento!

SEQUEL FOLLOWS