How I traveled to the Canary Islands by bike alone

Now, it’s nice to be at least mentally transported back to the carefree March 2020 of two years ago. Then, to travel, all that is needed is a foreign visa, a visa and preferably a little money, although many people successfully do it without the latter.

Then, in early March, only the first countries started closing their borders due to the now non-endemic disease, and my beloved Spain was not yet on their list. My visa was open from the summer, so after my birthday, which ironically coincided with International Women's Day in my life, I flew direct from Moscow-Tenerife to the Canary Islands. The plan was to rent a bike and circumnavigate as many islands in the archipelago as possible in two weeks.

This is what my bike looks like when I rent a bike and load it all up. Overall, at first I wanted to tow my bike from Russia to the Canary Islands, but then I decided not to, and as it turned out, I did the right thing.

Of the necessary items, I just brought a couple of side bags that fit on the trunk of my bike, a lightweight sleeping bag, a tent, a camera tripod and a small backpack with equipment and all the little stuff Travel backpack.

It doesn’t look like there are that many things, but the luggage weighs fifteen kilograms. Carrying canned food, bicycle tools, a burner to heat food, and not so much clothing in the Canary Islands is a very respectable burden.

Typical Canarian landscape

The problem is that the Canary Islands are volcanic islands. Most of it is just a volcano, the gentle slope of which is the entire island. For cyclists, this means you are constantly riding up or down.

Anyone who has ridden a bike uphill at least once in their life will definitely know what I’m talking about. Only we usually ride bikes without a pound of weight on the trunk, and the slides on our fairly flat terrain don't always look like the volcanic roads of the Canary Islands.

This photo clearly shows how the road goes up

If you go down, not everything is smooth sailing. The first half of March in the Canary Islands is, by local standards, quite cool - the sun does not exceed 30 degrees during the day. So the possibility of not braking on the next descent due to overheating is slim, but still.

You know the very unpleasant feeling: you're driving and you don't know if your car's brakes will work after going downhill for three hundred meters. The brakes on the serpentine are very necessary...

The scenery is a bit like Crimea on a hot summer day

Looking ahead a little, I would say that I have to compare An earlier evacuation from the Canary Islands is planned. I had to lose a lot of money on returning the rental bike early, buying new tickets to get home, and everything else.

A new era of "revisiting" has begun and has lasted for two full years. I don't know how long it will last...

Have you ever traveled by bicycle? Tell us about your experience!