#24

A week in Tenerife

A winter excape from Europe, for a week of great cycling in warm Tenerife.

General information

ROUTE: I was based in Puerto de la Cruz in the central north of the island and took dayly unloaded excursions from the base. See the blog for detailed route description.

ROADS: Roads are paved, but they're not always the prefect pearls as you might conclude from some YouTube videos. Be prepared also for some cracks, patches and rough stuff. This is not at all a problem, I just give a hint to the reality.

MAPS: I dowloaded a general road map of the island from this site. It's as good as any map that you'll get for free upon arriving on the island. There are smaller scale maps that you can buy, but I really wouldn't bother with them. Their scale is still too big to show what you only really need: how to get out of the towns. To do that, I printed a few pages from Google maps, followed the signs and asked the people.

TRAFFIC: Traffic is dense around settlements and thins out at the altitude. But the drivers are very polite and considerate. However, take a bandana or a scarf to wear over your mouth as exhaust fumes can be disturbing.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Great! I took bus airport shuttle from my home in Ljubljana to Bologna, a Ryanair flight from Bologna to Tenerife South and a local bus to Puerto de la Cruz - started at 5:00, arrived at my hotel at 21:00. Even faster on the way back. There are local buses in Tenerife covering every possible corner.

ACCOMMODATION: Hotel. Clean sheets and towel every day. See the costs.

FOOD AND WATER: Tenerife is populated, this is not a desert. You'll get everything on the way in pubs, bars, tiendas or supermarkets. When cycling I never carried food nor energy bars and had only one 0,75 l water bottle.

COSTS: Flight from Bologna 115 Eur, airport shuttle to Bologna 75 Eur, hotel in Puerto Cruz with breakfast 25 Eur/day, hire of a bike for 6 days 104 Eur, bus for 100 km in Tenerife 10 Eur, beer 1.2 Eur, dinner - depends on what you eat.

VISAS: I am an EU cityzen, so no need for a visa, nor a passport, just an ID card.

WEATHER: Warm and dry. Temperature was constant around 20 to 22 deg C along the coast and a bit less, down to 17 dec C, at the altitude above 2000 m. When there are cloudy days, the clouds tend to occupy the middle portion of the altitude (800 m to 1700 m) and it can drop down to 9 deg C in the cloud. Wind is not a particular problem, except on high exposed ridges.

SITES: Volcano El Teide and the surrounding moonscape are obvious attractions. But anything outside of the bigger towns looks nice - including small hillside villages.

ANNOYANCES: Nothing.

EQUIPMENT: I had a hired road bike. Click the bike icon above for details.

REPAIRS: Nothing.

LINKS: There's lot of information - cycle related and general - on this site.

Teden na Tenerifih
Zimski pobeg iz hladne Evrope v zameno za en teden poletnega vremena in odličnega kolesarjenja na največjem Kanarskem otoku.
Splošne informacije
POT: Bil sem stacioniran v Puerto de la Cruzu, na sredini severnega dela otoka in sem iz te baze sem dnevno napadal okolišne vzpone. Glej moj blog za podroben opis poti.

CESTE: Ceste so asfaltirane, toda niso vedno taki biseri kot se da zaključiti iz YouTube videov. Bodi pripravljen tudi na razpoke, luknje in mestoma grobo cesto. To ni noben problem, samo opozarjam, da ne bo razočaranja.

ZEMLJEVID: Splošen cestni zemljevid otoka sem si zlodal s te strani. Ta je prav tako dober kot karte, ki jih boste zastojn dobili ob prihodu na otok. Videl sem tudi bolj podrobne zemljevide, a jih jaz ne bi uporabljal. Ti zemljevidi so še vedno preveč grobi da bi prikazali tisto kar zares rabiš: po katerih cestah priti izven mesta ali zaobiti avtocesto. Za to si je najbolje sprintati nekaj strani iz Google maps, slediti kažipotom in vprašati ljudi.

PROMET: Promet je gost, zlati okoli naselbin in se razredči ko prideš zadosti visoko. Toda vozniki so izjemno strpni in prijazni. Zaradi gostega prometa pa je včasih zrak kar zoprn, zato priporočam kako ruto okoli ust, dokler se ne dvigneš zadosti visoko.

JAVNI TRANSPORT: Odličen! Z letališkim shuttlom sem se peljal od doma do letališča v Bologni, nato z Ryanair-ovim letom do južnega letališča na Tenerifih iz z lokalnim avtobusom okoli otoka do Puerto de la Cruza - začetek poti ob 5:00, prihod v hotel ob 21:00. Nazaj grede še bolj hitro. Lokalni avtobusi na Tenerifih te lahko zapeljejo (in tudi tvoje kolo) do kateregakoli kraja.

PRENOČIŠČA: V hotelu. Vsakodnevno čiste rjuhe in brisače. Glej stroške.

HRANA IN VODA: Tenerifi so obljudeni, to ni puščava. Lahko dobiš vse kar potrbuiješ spotoma, v barih, trgovincah ali supermarketih. Med kolesarjenjem nisem nikoli s sabo nosil hrane (pa tudi ne energijskih ploščic) in imel sem samo en bidon 0,75 l.

STROŠKI: Let iz Bologne 115 Eur, letališki shuttle do Bologne 75 Eur, hotel v Puerto Cruzu z zajtrkom 25 Eur/dan, najem kolesa za 6 dni 104 Eur, avtobus na Tenerifih za okoli 100 km 10 Eur, pivo je 1.2 Eur, večerja - odvisno kaj ješ.

VIZE: Vize jasno ne rabimo, niti potnega lista ne, vse se opravi z osebno.

VREME: Toplo in suho. Temperatura je bila dokaj konstantna, 20 do 22 stopinj C ob obali, nekoli manj, do 17 stopinj, na višini 2000 m. Ko je dan oblačen, se oblaki zadržujejo na sredini višine po otoku (800 m do 1700 m) in v tem pasu lahko temperatura pade do 9 stopinj. Veter ni poseben problem, nekoliko močnejši je na izpostavljenih slemenih.

KRAJI: Vulcan El Teide in okolišna vulkanska pokrajina so običajna atrakcija. Toda tudi vse kar je izven večjih mest je lepo, tako borovi gozdovi kot majhne vasice na pobočjih.

NEVŠEČNOSTI: Ničesar!

OPREMA: Izposodil sem si cestno kolo. Klikni ikono bicikla za podrobnosti.

POPRAVKI: Nič.

POVEZAVE: Kar nekaj informacij - kolesarskih in bolj splošnih - je na tej strani.

Stuff

I had a rented aluminium road bike with aluminium fork, compact double chainring (50/34), 10 speed cassette (12-25) and tyres 700Cx23. I made day tours from my base in Puerto Cruz, without most of the luggage. I was carrying about 1500 g of stuff (mostly clothes and shoes), beside the bike.

Stvari
Izposojeno cestno kolo z aluminijastim okvirjem in vilico, dvojno kompakt šajbo (50/34) in 10-prestavno kaseto (12-25). Gume so bile 700Cx23. Delal sem enodnevne ture iz baze v Puerto Cruzu, razen kolesa pa sem imel okoli 1500 g stvari, veźinoma v oblaźilih in źevljih.

Cycling data


Day Date Trip Time Speed Total Climb Accom Notes (daily end-stop) ***
                    Avr                
    d/m   km  h:m  km/h     km     m
0  16/12   0  0:0      0     0     0  H   to Tenerife
1  17/12 101  ?:?? ??.??   101  2535  H   Puerto Cruz
2  18/12 111  ?:?? ??.??   212  2439  H   Puerto Cruz
3  19/12   0  0:0   0      212     0  H   Puerto Cruz
4  20/12 104  ?:?? ??.??   316  2620  H   Puerto Cruz
5  21/12  82  ?:?? ??.??   398  1590  H   Puerto Cruz
6  22/12 114  ?:?? ??.??   512  2740  H   Puerto Cruz
7  23/12   0  0:0   0      512     0  a   Ljubljana

Days   Trip   Time Speed Climb
                    Avr
         km   h:m  km/h      m
8       512  ??:??   -   11924  Sum
5       512  ??:??   -   11924  Sum, cycling days
-       114   ?:?? ??.?   2740  MAX, cycling days
-        82   ?:?? ??.?   1590  min, cycling days
8        64   ?:??   -    1491  average per day
5       102   ?:?? ??.?   2385  average per cycling day

*** Legend
12 10/7 - cycling day
38  5/8 - non cycling or rest day
Trip    - daily cycling distance
Time    - daily cycling time (while in motion)
Speed   - daily cycling speed (while in motion): Avr - average; Max - maximal.
Total   - cumulative distance
Accom   - accommodation: a: airplane; m: motel; H(h): ho(s)tel; c: camp; w: wild camping

#23:

A week in Tenerife

General information

Teden na Tenerifih

Splošne informacije

Stuff

Stvari

Cycling data

Travelogue

Potopis