Máguez – Yé – Máguez
Difficulty: Medium. Distance: 15.4km.
Duration: Approximately 3 hrs 30 minutes.
Route: Circular. Car or Bus: Own transport or the local Arrecife Bus route numbers 7 & 27 & 26, the latter arriving and departing from Yé (for those of you who only wish to do a linear walk).
Additional note: This walk can be partaken in three different ways. 1. A circular walk with a difficult descent down a volcano face on the return leg. 2. A circular walk with a gentle amble on the return leg. 3. A linear walk to Yé using the public bus service, or second car, from the centre of the village to return you to Máguez on the return leg.
Essentials: Suitable clothing (depending on the time of year), walking shoes/boots or trainers, water, suncream, mobile phone, snacks and/or picnic, hat.
We start this hike from the local church located in the small northern village of Máguez. Leave your car in the little carpark next to this building on Calle el Dice. Begin walking up this street into the village itself where you will pass the local Post Office (Correos) on your left handside. To your right you will notice a street called Calle el Callejon, you need to turn down here and follow it to its end, where you will turn left walking gradually uphill leaving the village. As you walk, take time to enjoy the silence with the only noise coming from the occasional dog barking. You can see that many of the villagers take great pride in their gardens and exterior plots of land, with pretty flowers and neat rows of vegetables clearly visible. You will pass a driving school on your right (Autosescuela) and second road will join yours from the right also. Continue out of the village bearing right onto a dirt track as the road forks shadowed by a group of solitary palm trees behind of which lies a scrub covered hillside. The track underfoot is one of loose gravel and is lined on both sides by high, dry volcanic stone walls speckled in places with an orange covered lichen provided splashes of colour on these dark stones. You will pass several whitewashed houses on your left as the track gradually bears right where you can now see the trail continuing directly ahead of you towards the foot of the imposing Monte Corona standing at 609m. The view for us seemed uncharacteristically green due to the amount of rainfall that we received here on the island a couple of weeks ago. The wall lined track continues gradually upwards as you walk, passing a mixture of scrub land and individual farming plots on either side of the trail. You can see how fastidious the local farmers have been in their plating with neat, perfectly straight rows of vegetables whose bright green leaves make a stark contrast to the black picon that they are growing in. A glance behind will now show you the large, spherical ball of the military radar station perched on top of the Risco de Famara, one of the two mountain ranges here on Lanzarote.
To your left as you follow the trail, you will notice the steep sides of Los Helechos (581m) and the road leading to the north of the island running parallel to you. As you progress, you will be offered views down towards the east coast and the ocean. As the trail splits, continue ahead towards the foot of the volcano where you will notice to your right shoulder high semicircular walls that have been built out of volcanic rock each protecting individual trees from the strong trade winds that at times lash the island, these include palm trees and fig trees. At the summit of the trail (2.4km, 32 minutes.) you will notice an old, stone building to your left with barred windows, behind of which, built on the side of the volcano, is a large paved area surrounded by low walls, which in the past, was used to collect rain water as it fell. Here the trail begins a gradual descent and ahead of you on your left you will notice, set in an extremely elevated position, a cream coloured house. This is infact going to be a seven star hotel and wellness centre which plans to offer its guests some of the world´s most exclusive accommodation and facilities. It is called La Torrecilla. The small island of Roque del Oeste is now visible out towards the horizon to your right. This small island makes up part of the island group of Chinijo Archipielago.
As the track progresses downwards, you will find yourself at the foot of the volcano where you notice that the picon of its walls is a deep brown and red colour, a contrast to the black of its surroundings, scattered with hardy, scrublike plants. As you look back you can notice the lip of its jagged crater at its peak with cacti at its foot being protected by low volcanic walls. You will see ahead of you, the dirt track finishes and is met by a main road, the LZ201 (3.8km, 52 minutes.) Join this main road, and make the gradual ascent up the slight hill, keeping to left side facing the oncoming traffic. Elevated La Torrecilla will remain to your left with, on your right, the unmistakeable semicircular volcanic rock structures protecting plants and vines down as far as the eye can see towards the coast. As this asphalt road bears around a corner to the left, you will notice on the righthand side a further dirt track descending downwards. Take care in crossing the road and take this trail. (4.5km, 1 hour) You can see down to the distant coast from this elevated vantage point including its white sandy beaches. The trail again features volcanic rock walls covered in burnt orange and pale green lichens as you head towards the volcano of La Quemada. The track meanders downwards, where you need to bear right when the track forks, through cactus and individual planting areas where some of the small, protected fruit trees this weekend were in bloom with pretty pink blossom, delicate flowers surrounded by jagged, black stones. You will also see as you progress individual figs trees to your left, sitting in a field of perfectly groomed volcanic picon. You will pass on your left, a high volcanic walled area with a gate housing a multitude of fruit trees and colourful flowers, and a dog that doesn´t sound to pleased to be in there! (5.5km, 1hour 20 minutes). The trail heads downwards bearing slightly left gradually flattening out as you pass a set of large gates with a set of concrete pillars to your right and a high wall. As you look to your left you will see the rugged open crater of La Quemada. You will progress past a large house that is in the process of being built, one that has been this way for some time due to lack of planning permission, and a private residence called Windsong on your right.
The trail will soon meet an asphalt road where you will need to turn left (6.2km, 1 hour 27 minutes) and follow this road past a large private house to your left called Casa La Breña. You again can see Roque del Oeste out on the horizon. On the second bend of the road, take the dirt track that bears uphill on your left, past the boundaries of this property. This track is quite steep at the onset as you head towards the craggy crater ahead, but soon becomes easier as you climb through the open scrubland. As you reach your first view point across the open valley ahead you can see, down to your right on the valley floor, lines of aloe vera plants thriving in the dark picon below. There is a steep climb now up a rugged track as you progress up the side of the valley, but it offers nice view behind down to the east coast as you take your time to walk. At its summit you will see a secluded dwelling on your left, pass here for approximately 50m and take the track down to the left heading towards the floor of a second small valley (7.8km 1 hour 48 minutes). As you descend, you will be walking down into a small valley with scrub like plants clinging to the sides of its walls.
This trail will take you past an old stone, sandy brown coloured building to your right with the inscription R.RNOBE 1949. The trail then meanders through this shallow valley bearing left sheltered on the left side by tiered volcanic walls and cacti. Follow it as it begins a gradual climb up the valley side and bear right when it forks. You will pass a small stone building on the left with barred windows before progressing across the second valley floor. Here you will notice a scattering of houses at the top of the hill ahead of you shadowed by the gaping crater of Monte Corona. Follow the trail past a small white building, a begin the gradual climb up the hillside. At its summit, you will reach a road with a signpost for Mirador del Rio on your right. You are now in the village of Yé. Across the road from you, you can see the restaurant Volcan de la Corona which is a nice place to stop and have a drink, or a bite to eat (9.8km 2 hours 15 minutes).
It is here that I will split the walk in two. For those who wish a gentle amble back, turn left at this point and follow the road downhill for approximately fifteen minutes, where you will soon see the elevated La Torrecilla to your right. As the road gently bears left past this building, you will notice ahead of you the dirt track that you used on the outward part of this walk. Turn here, and follow it back to the village of Máguez as before. For those of you who don´t have a fear of large dogs, and who fancy skirting around the face of a volcano on a regularly used hunters trail, take the road that runs slightly uphill to the left of the restaurant and make your way through the village. Stay on this road, Calle La Corona, through the village where to your right you can see in the distance the car park for the viewpoint of Mirador del Rio. When the road comes to an end, and it joins another one, turn left. Again you can see that some of the gardens are extremely well maintained featuring abundant vegetables and blooming flowers. This road is signposted as a dead end and will via slightly to the right and then to the left before you can see that the asphalt road finishes and leads onto a narrow track again. It must be noted here that the last house in the village, preceding the gravel track, has an extremely large dog outside. The dog is on a long chain and does bark ferociously as you pass the property so it is advisable to move as quickly as possible past this house.
On reaching the gravel track you will proceed through a flat, picon covered area with numerous low volcanic walls and abundant cacti. Bear right when you pass the house and then left, the trail is quite visible. You will then take your next left, all the time walking past these low walls and loose volcanic rocks. At the crossing, turn right and head towards the volcano, the track straight in front of you and is now wide enough to accommodate vehicles of the local farmers. At the shoulder high wall, cross through the opening and bear left following the wall around (11.5km, 2 hours 35 minutes). You can now see below you to your left, the cream coloured La Torrecilla that you encountered when you started the walk. The view from here is a sweeping one right down to the ocean and the east coast. The track runs parallel with this wall and at its corner you begin a gradual ascent up to your right. The trail you are wanting to follow actually begins at this corner, but on the other side of the wall so you need to follow it upwards until you find a place where you can cross over to the other side. Once on the other side, you need to turn left and follow the wall downwards to this point where you will soon notice to your right, the start of the track. This is a narrow, hunters trail, used by local men and their dogs hunting rabbits. Following it you find that you are now walking on the outer wall of Monte Corona. The ground is one of loose volcanic stones and picon, burnt red and brown in colour, and can be unsteady underfoot. This trail runs around the contours of the volcano about midway up its height. Care should be taken as you walk, as in some places, plants need to be negotiated that have sprung up in the middle of the trail. As you walk, you will notice that you are gradually descending the volcanoes face and the path eventually makes a turn to the left to take you down to its base. Care should be taken on this last part as the ground is very loose underfoot, a slow walk down sideways is a good way to tackle this part. When you reach the bottom, you will find yourself back on the trail that you took initially. Here, you turn right and make your way back through the small farm plots and open scrubland to the village which, on reaching the crest of the track, is visible ahead. On reaching the asphalt road at its end, head down into the village again, bearing right where you see the sign for the post office (Correos), Calle el Callejon, and at its end, a left back down to the church and your vehicle. (15.4km, 3 hours 25 minutes).
I hope that you enjoy this walk and the wonderful views that it offers, whichever option you choose to use for your return leg. Please feel free to leave a comment or sign up to either my RSS feed or email subscription list so that you are advised when new walks are added to the site. If you enjoyed this walk, then maybe you would also enjoy one on our neighbouring island of La Graciosa. Happy hiking 
Tags: Máguez, Monte Corona, Yé
