After crossing Tenerife on foot in 2018 and Fuerteventura in 2022, this time Gran Canaria was on the planning. Like the previous times I would follow the Gran Route 131, which is a long distance route covering all the Canary Islands.

With a backpack filled with a tent and camera and food I walked the roughly 95km route over days. It's great to see the differences between the islands. But also the differences on the small islands themselves. Gran Canaria is pretty much a circle, only 50km across and a highest point of nearly 2000m in altitude. The north side is green and wet. Very wet if you're unlucky like me. And the south is dry and sunny. At the peaks at the centre it can be really cold and windy. So in January it wasn't a sunny warm holiday for me and because of a storm I spent a full day sitting close to the fire in a nice hostel

Contrast

For me Gran Canaria is an island of contrasts. A day's walk away could be a difference of cold and wet or hot and burning, lush and green or dry and dusty, wild nature or civilisation, mass tourism or the solo experience in the middle of nowhere. It's all interesting together.