The route of Los Nacientes de Marcos y Cordero is a must if you are thinking of doing a walk on La Palma. It includes everything that the nature of the island can offer. You will see mist, lush vegetation, rocky terrain, ferns, wild grasses, caves, springs and fresh air, all combined in a single 10 mile drive.
Preparation
- Water (if it is a sunny day you will need it)
- Boots (make sure they are good, my boots split 5KM from the end and it seemed like an eternity for the route to finish – if you have them better raincoats or maybe a sock change for when you pass tunnel 12)
- Raincoat (Only in tunnel 12 do you get wet and quite a lot – water falls from the tunnel roofs and the ground looks like a river)
- Flashlight (I used the mobile – but it is much more comfortable to have a flashlight attached to your head, you don’t see anything through the long tunnels.
- Some cane for the descent that the unevenness tires the knees (even if you are in shape). There are usually sticks at the beginning that you can pick up.
- 15EUR / per person – We did the route by taking a taxi at the Los Tilos visitor center – which takes us to the house on the mountain where the route begins. You can take the taxi daily if you arrive early, or you can always reserve your place (at no additional cost) using services such as those of Taxi Norte La Palma
We went in June (low tourism season) so we don’t see many walkers and we were able to book the taxi one day before the walk by phone with the company mentioned above.
We go by rented car to the Los Tilos Visitor Center and just before the last climb, we see parked cars and this is where we left the car. This is where the route ends, you can see the parked cars and this is where the taxi was waiting for us.
The taxi has 9 seats and usually wait until it is completely filled to go up to the house on the mountain. We went upstairs with the taxi driver (Jose) to pick up the others who were in the visitor center (we went from inside, but it is fine for those who want a map, information or questions) Once the taxi was full, we left towards the house of the mountain
Starting up!
The taxi takes about 1 hour to get to Casa del Monte due to road conditions (there is no paved road). Going up, the taxi driver (Jose) guides us through the laurisivla, you can see various types of plants and higher up the Canarian pines.
Once at the top, if you see that there is a group, it is better to start the walk so that you can stand alone and enjoy the views and the path itself without noise.
The walk is pretty straightforward – follow the course of the trail. At all times we did not know whether to pull to the left or right, we continued a little ahead and if we did not see the two white and yellow stripes we would turn around. The only point of confusion was when the dirt road reached the ravine, I did not know whether to continue on my side, go down the ravine or cross and go the other side – you had to cross the ravine and go down the other side – having said this, the 3 roads were going to the same place.
After the starting point, it is time to walk, enjoy the fresh air, the views, the greenery and the passage through the tunnels.
Tunnel 12 is the main attraction without a doubt, it is as if it were raining inside a tunnel – I leave you with some videos.
We took lunch from home. We knew we weren’t really going to be hungry, however there is something else to having a sandwich in the middle of nature. The stream of Marcos & Corderos fresh water was passing by to the right, we filled our water bottles to quench the thirst.
After the break there is a small climb that leads to the next and last tune – tunnel 13
That was quite a nice meal there. I repeat, we weren’t hungry but with the sound of the stream, the birds & peace, it went down smoothly. After the break there is a small climb that leads to the next and last tunnel – The tunnel 13
The last streak up you are walking by the last of what you will see of the stream, after which you reach a slight moment of calm to come to see some amazing inland greenery views. Take your time to admire it, this is the highest point you will be at from now onwards, it’s time to descent into the forest greens. The “difficult” part of the journey.
When you start to go down, the views change. We are entering the laurel forest where ferns predominate on the walls, we will pass through pinillo paths, giant rocks through the ravine until we reach impressive views.
There will come a point where we will have the option of continuing down the ravine or diverting towards the centre of the linden trees and passing the viewpoint of the breakwater crossed – we pulled towards the centre – my boots had broken!
Although it is a detour, there is still a long way to go.
Well, after the detour, there is a little more forest, where ferns and linden trees are appreciated. This path is quite cool and it is nice to be surrounded by so much greenery.
Once past the intersection above, we head towards the visitor center, but first, we have the opportunity to go up to the viewpoint of the breakwater crossed.
Well, at this point, with broken boots, with the unexpected descent we were a little fed up with so much nature – we were also thinking about potatoes, mojos, roast beef and that didn’t help at all. After quite the walk more, at the end you could see the parking lot in the distance, there was our beloved car.
All in all the trek is great, I have been on it several times now, its a good laugh if you go with a bigger group. There comes a time though a lot of the same becomes a bit mundane, unless youre super into it. I actually started getting fed up because my boots broke which made walking just plain uncofortable. They do recommend to check your gear before leaving.
In regard to how tough? – It’s a basic route. At points, it can get tiring as you have to climb – though the descent is harder and I would recommend to anyone with climbing issues to take a pair of sticks with them.
