Distance - 24 kms (approx. 15 miles)
Duration - 4 1/2 – 5 hours
Grade - Non challenging

Leave Corralejo bus station and take the track sign posted Majanicho Potabilizadora

Head out past the water desalination plant you should find the sun warming up on your back.

The track follows the north shore with fantastic views of Lanzarote to the right. Peppered along the shoreline are surfers in search of good waves.

As the track continues it turns left and right many times with the sun position at various points between 6 o’clock (on your back) to 11 o’clock. Montana de la Mancha (152m) will soon be in front of you as you start to head south on the track. If you vary off the track as I did several times you will stumble across the odd isolated shack made up of volcanic rock and driftwood materials. Some of these are evidence of original settlers to the island, even back to prehistoric times. Many are now adopted by surfers or we even know of a few “locals” living in them. Virtually all along the track you see continual evidence of the old days of land division with volcanic stones being used to form boundary walls.

After approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours you arrive at Majanicho, a little hamlet of fishermen which is almost half way into the walk. As you arrive you will see the track veers around to the left which leads inland to Lajares. This is the route that the majority of “traffic” will take (mountain bikes and hire cars). We take the right hand fork up a slight hill then dropping back down again.

This track continues to hug the northern shoreline until you come to a surf spot known as El Hierro, about 1 km west of Majanicho. This is a popular area for the serious surfer with excellent conditions mid or high tide, or so they say.

After a short while you catch your first sight of the lighthouse at El Cotillo. This acts as a landmark close to the end of the walk.

Over to the left are the rooftops of the new development under construction known as Origo Mare. You will have this sight with you most of the way on route. Further on in the walk you will arrive at a small horseshoe shaped bat with golden sand and a blanket covering of seaweed. As I took a break here I disturbed a large bird which appeared to be a heron but after checking with a friend I am informed it was possibly a Guirre, a close relative to the Egyptian Vulture and a bird very near to extinction
.

I strolled over the dry crispy seaweed towards the waters edge then the crunching stopped and my sandals disappeared into a soggy mass of fresh seaweed. I quickly realised that unless I tread carefully the slimy stuff will have me flat on my back so I retreated to the sandy area with care. My leather sandals now really do smell rotten, so I have nicknamed this area as Seaweed Bay.

Now with the sun in front we head round the sandy track until we arrive at some rocky pools formed in the sea, and when the tide is out you may choose to take a break from the walk and go for a paddle, or as I did a spot of skinny dipping for 10 minutes and then let the sun dry me off on the rocks. Within a few minutes I was away again to finish the last stretch of the journey.

Then you see the first sign of vandalism (oops I mean civilization) with the distant rows of new lampposts dotted along the new road leaving El Cotillo.

A quick detour off our track you may want to pop over to the lighthouse built in 1938 and now being opened as a maritime museum. Then it’s back on track to head over to the famous lagoons of El Cotillo.

A final stroll along the beautiful beach of El Cotillo (keeping your eyes on the route) we head over to the bus station by the Marquita Hierro Hotel. This brings our journey to an end. You may want a refreshing drink at one of the many bars down by the harbour or up at the new harbour. Salud!!