Hillwalkers hit the heights on stunning paths in La Gomera

If Irish walkers keep coming to La Gomera in the numbers that arrived with the Bishopstown Hillwalking Club this week, they’ll wear down the paths and stone-made steps climbing the mountains out of the fecund valleys, routes laid down hundreds of years ago.

Originally, they were made with great care and vernacular engineering skills for the use of mules and donkeys carrying produce from the green terraces and river basins to bigger tracks that would take it to the sea for shipment overseas.

The Bishopstown group numbers 43 and members can chose the routes that will best suit them during their five days of enjoyable and industrious trekking on this stunningly beautiful and spectacular island, with its forests, fields, hills, mountains and seashores. Local guides accompany them on graded itineraries.