Walking off the beaten track on the world’s edge

GOMERA shops offer 20 island walking guides in German and just one in English — the latter costs 14 and falls apart.

At least two concerns, one Austrian, one German, offer guided walks and, often, in the mornings, especially in winter, we see strings of ramblers following a favourite path up the other side of the valley to the villages 3,000 feet above.

We, ourselves, walk alone or with friends and, sometimes, the best walks turn into adventures whether one intended this or not. We are not hill trekkers or mountaineers; we wear lightweight boots and carry a bag with a map, a camera, binoculars, a sandwich and a bottle of water. We rarely even carry walking sticks, although these are particularly useful when descending steep Gomera paths. We regularly come across untrodden ways and enjoy the novel or nail-biting thrills of the unknown.