Running Across the Canary Islands: Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera

Janie Oates joins Notes from Big Trails to talk about a self-designed running adventure across the Canary Islands.Starting with a race trip to Gran Canaria, Janie and three friends came up with the idea of running across multiple islands — Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera — using ferries to link them together. Over the course of a week, they crossed volcanic landscapes, climbed ridgelines above the clouds, stayed in unmanned mountain refuges, and carried everything they needed between towns.In this episode, we talk about:Designing your own route rather than following a known trailRunning across three islands in one week — and what that really involvedThe contrast between Tenerife’s heat and tourism, La Palma’s high ridges, and La Gomera’s cloud forestsManaging water, food and pack weight in hot, exposed terrainFell running skills and long days of climbing and descentWhy La Palma left such a lasting impressionTravelling and running as a group of women — and the reactions they met along the wayThis is a conversation about curiosity, contrast, and the quiet satisfaction of linking places together under your own power. Enjoy!