Roque de los Muchachos

We had decided to risk the drive up the mountain that day, in the hope that the weather would improve in the afternoon or that the clouds are hanging low enough. The road is good but very steep. We had 15% of increase and narrow hairpins all the way up. To be as light as possible, we had a nearly empty water tank and not a lot of Diesel either.

When we reached the area of the telescopes, we had no view at all, and it was freezing cold with strong winds. We therefore visited the museum about the telescopes first.

The Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, (ORM) is an astronomical observatory operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, based on nearby Tenerife. ORM is part of the European Northern Observatory.

The seeing statistics at ORM make it the second-best location for optical and infrared astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere, after Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. The site has some of the most extensive astronomical facilities in the Northern Hemisphere. Its fleet of telescopes includes the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias, the world’s largest single-aperture optical telescope as of July 2009, the William Herschel Telescope (second largest in Europe), and the adaptive optics corrected Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope.

We drove further up the mountain and waited for the weather to change, when suddenly blue skies and a big telescope appeared next to us! We were so excited that a cup of tea was toppled over to get to the door in time to take a picture.

And it didn’t take long, and some clouds closed in again. But we decided to drive to the highest point of the mountains now and wait there for the next window with some views.

We parked at the Roque de Los Muchachos, old volcanic vents that have withstood erosion by wind and water. We expected them to be big and impressive, but they were just little stumps, but very high up.

That’s how the whole mountain looks like, we were standing on the highest point of the caldera in the north.

We had underestimated the Diesel consumption for driving up such a steep road, and were on reserve when we had reached the top. We were driving down carefully, but we luckily made it to the next petrol station without a hick-up.

At the bottom of the mountain it was sunny and warm again, and we could enjoy a nice sunset from Tijarafe. We found there an official camper parking next to the cemetery, which had a service station and a balcony with unforgettable views.

We hadn’t regretted driving up the mountain that day, as we got impressive views in the end and the clouds circling the mountain gave it a mystic atmosphere. The forecast for the following day was much worse, with heavy winds and rain.

We are now working a little before we will visit the area of the eruption of 2021 – looking forward to that!!