El Hierro is the smallest and most westerly of the Canary Islands – it was once considered the end of the earth (it was the zero meridian before that was moved to Greenwich). Columbus sailed by here into the unknown to ‘discover’ new lands. It still retains that wild frontier feel – windswept, remote, beautiful.

The ferry boat  from San Cristianos in Tenerife to El Hierro was surprisingly big for a destination of about 11,000 inhabitants. There were queues of lorries and trucks waiting to board the daily two and half hour crossing..but very few passengers. The crossing was also surprisingly smooth. We arrived in darkness at the only ferry port on the island and walked up a dim road with few streetlights to a couple of waiting taxis.

Our taxi was a clapped-out wreck but that didn’t stop our silent taxi driver from roaring past the ferry traffic on the narrow winding uphill road, belching fumes all the way. We peered out the car windows into blackness having no notion where we were.  He deposited us outside the house that we had rented and pushed his card into my hand before roaring off into the night. Our landlady wheezed alarmingly walking up the four steps to the house….not good on an island where everything is uphill. When she got her breath back, she gave us the keys and a quick tour in barely comprehendible Spanish( our inadequacy, not hers)and then she too disappeared. The house was large, smelt of damp and the wind rattled the windows. But that didn’t keep us awake…..the crowing of a time-warped cock nearby was responsible😯

The following morning, opening the front door, we looked out at a blue sea, framed by a bluer sky….we had no idea from the night before that we had sea views (but in reality most places have sea views even if you are many kms from the sea because of the mountainous terrain) The back door opened onto a little verandah with towering mountains obscured by cloud and mist. We could have been in Connemara….with cacti and Aloe Vera plants😀 where the stone walls were made of volcanic rocks, where the turf banks were lava stones…..a strange familiarity  around Mocanel in El Hierro.

In Valverde, we walked around the Opel Corsa that we decided to hire for a day, noting all the dents and scratches. The car rental woman laughed and said no need to worry about dents, this is El Hierro! The tyre threads would certainly not have passed any NCT inspection. There was no talk of deposits or credit card details, we just paid €30 and the car was ours for 24 hours.

Valverde may be the capital but it’s  a small mountain town known primarily for its fog and wind. One guide book had warned not to expect Manhattan🤣…but it did have a fine church and plaza and a really helpful tourist office.

In the north of the island, we drove through a tunnel almost 2500 m long. We were so surprised as we didn’t know anything about it and had difficulty getting the lights of the rental car to work😲. We were now in the region of La Frontera in warm sunshine,  sweating in our jeans and jumpers. El Hierro is a very small island but it feels much larger with such diverse landscapes and micro climates. We drove through pine forests, along barren lava cliffs that fell steeply to the sea, through high heather fields with the occasional goat and cow.

We swam in rock pools with the clearest green
water….El Hierro lacks real sandy beaches but has plenty of clear rock pools for swimming.    We tried to have a coffee in the world’s smallest hotel – a 4 bed exclusive place but they wouldn’t let us in (residents only)

But the real stars of the island are the amazing trees. We drove to the desolate western end where trees have adapted to the constant wind by burying their heads- bending, not breaking is the motto here. The islands symbol is a wind – twisted juniper tree from the El Sabinar region. 

The area around Saint Andres, the highest village on the island at 1100m, is home to swirling mists and a sacred tree, El Garoe, one that filtered water from the clouds and supplied the inhabitants of the island with fresh drinking water….saved them from dying of thirst by dripping water from its leaves which collected in pools in the impermeable rock underneath. No wonder the tree was considered divine _ a blessing from the heavens. On a dry island, water IS life. Science might explain away the mysticism but there was still magic in the air…with moss wrapped trees, fragrant pines, giant Aloe Vera plants and above us, restless billowing clouds of fog and mist. This was the Ruta del Agua (the Water Trail), a gorgeous hike.

I always thought that electric bikes were for the lazy or the unfit or the elderly(I know I’m in that latter category now😯 but still … ) but since we hired ebikes here, i’ve changed my mind. They are fantastic and not just for the super hilly terrain of El Hierro. The wind was so strong – there was a storm – that at times even going downhill, we were almost at a standstill💨💨. But e-bikes are the way to go- allowing you to go further, to bike with people of different fitness- there are several modes and you can always turn off the battery.

We arrived in La Restinga, the ‘resort capital’ and warmer side of the island on a sleepy Sunday afternoon….don’t expect a party town. It was small and quiet…the 2 supermarkets, the bazaar and gift shop were closed. A handful of bars and restaurants were open along the harbour but sitting in breezy sunshine at an outside table drinking a beer, we couldn’t have been happier. Our apartment on a side street had stunning views and was full of light. La Restinga has a reputation for the best food on the island….especially the fresh fish which is delicious. Desolate volcanic peaks of every red and brown hue form the backdrop to the town. There were lots of natural  swimming pools with ladders attached to the rocks for easy entry. Along the coast, lava flows have solidified forming strange patterns of folded whorls…..it looked like it could have happened yesterday but it was millions of years ago. The most resent volcanic activity was out at sea in 2011, a couple of kilometres off the coast, when there were small underwater eruptions but the town of La Restinga was evacuated for a short time.

And for a dry island where rain  is infrequent, we were shocked to open our door to drenching drizzle on the first morning. It didn’t last long and gave us rainbows…..and was much-needed in the area.

El Hierro is an island for taking it easy,  a place for nature lovers, hikers, swimmers and divers or for simply hiring a car and  driving through the most amazingly diverse scenery. The bus service is reasonably good – it links most of the villages but the buses are fairly infrequent…but it worked fine for us….as long as you’re are not in a hurry. It was very quiet while we visited in mid-February,  the high season  is the summer months but even then tourist numbers are low. It the sort of place where people leave their car keys in the ignition and don’t lock their house doors and where we were told not to bother locking our electric bikes. A Spanish TV series called Hierro, was filmed on the island in the last couple of years and has been responsible for an increase in tourism…..we haven’t seen the series but apparently the island looks amazing. It’s about a murder- all fiction of course because there’s no crime on El Hierro….apparently.

El Hierro was declared an UNESCO World Biosphere and Geopark in 2014. It aims to use only completely renewable energy….it certainly has the wind power….its windmills were always turning furiously . Unfortunately, the centre that explains the islands sustainability plans was closed when we visited – also the info is only available in Spanish which is a pity. But this small island, 100kms off the African coast in the wild Atlantic Ocean has big plans

Onwards for us to La Gomera, another small island. We have to take the ferry from El Hierro back to Los Cristianos in Tenerife to pick up the ferry to La Gomera. We weren’t too impressed with Los Cristianos when we spent the afternoon there waiting for the ferry to El Hierro. The setting was nice but there was lots of high rise apartments and a whiff of sewage along the promenade – often a problem with high density tourism – and practically everyone was speaking English but we did have some really nice fish ‘n chips there 😀.