Off Road Track

Magoo · September 07, 2014, 22:43:28 PM

Back on the island next week & looking for something different to do. I see from Google Earth that there is a muck track running from Corralejo to El Cotillo along the North Coast that has some interesting photo ops. Is it doable without trashing a regular hire car? Yes, I know about the insurance aspect of things.

I usually keep my off road activities to the South along the Jandea Peninsula & the odd trip to Cofete is this along similar lines?

fifi · September 07, 2014, 23:21:33 PM

Hi Magoo we drove along this route recently in a Jeep.I think it is a lot easier than the drive to the end of the Jandia peninsula. It is a photographers dream. You will come across little shanty villages, goats and a few mad dogs who don't like having their photo taken. I think I'm a very nice person but one little dog didn't agree lol . Its fabulous, the real Fuerteventura, wild and wonderful. Go for it.

zedzedeleven · September 07, 2014, 23:27:22 PM

I did it once, I wouldn`t do it again because it`s fraught with hazards and although I managed to escape unscathed another guy was unlucky and got two punctures. The hire car company turned out and brought him a spare and fitted it, he then went to their office and picked up another wheel. The local windsurfers use it all the time but they usually have VW vans. I didn`t think it was as daunting as the Cofete road., just more opportunity to get stuck in deep sand.

Magoo · September 07, 2014, 23:29:54 PM

Thanks Fifi

I take it that you can't sleep either? I have the excuse of a Fuerte trip to look forward to & a 4 hour sleazy jet trip that I am not looking forward to

Magoo · September 07, 2014, 23:38:37 PM

Thanks Zed

Being a bit of a chancer, I may give it a go. I see there is a bail out point halfway around. I once had a rather nasty experience trying to get to Playa Juan Gomez off the Jandea Peninsula, which resulted in one very pi$$ed of Mrs Magoo & a hire car that most likely was never the same again. So I am not afraid to say s0d it & turn back

fifi · September 07, 2014, 23:47:50 PM

Oooh, maybe you should listen to ZedZed and not me because he did it in a car. I didnt even notice the deep sand in the Jeep. It was lovely though and I would love to go back there. Actually I loved the area so much that I wished that I could have just stayed in one of those little huts. I love those kind of places. Not sleepy yet Magoo, late lie in this morning.

Bon voyage.....enjoy your trip.

PS.....I may be wrong here, but I remember my friend (who was doing the driving) said that the road wasnt long "finished". I think he meant the part heading into Corralejo. Perhaps it had been improved since ZedZed was there? I dont know really because it was my first time there but it didnt seem as bumpy as the last 10 km towards the end of the Jandia peninsula. Hopefully some other people will come along with their views.

TamaraEnLaPlaya · September 08, 2014, 00:51:59 AM

Sorry to go 'Off ~~Road~~ Track' here but I just wanted to say how lovely it is to see Fifi posting again. Hello Fi, I've missed all your great informative posts and links to things Fuerte/Canaries that I would never have found on my own.
Sorted out your plumbing?

fifi · September 08, 2014, 00:58:31 AM

Hi Tamara, how are you? Thanks for your kind words. You are the second person to mention plumbing to me....and im lost......I need enlightenment.....please?

Again.... thank you. Nice to be remembered.

Elite of the forum · September 08, 2014, 07:49:32 AM

Done it 4/5 times in just an ordinary car never a problem but it can get a bit rough and there is the insurance to worry about(if your that way inclined

),cycled it a couple of times and walked it once,so nice places for photos,even take one of the roads that go inland and walk to the top of Hondo volcano great views

lionfish · September 08, 2014, 09:06:27 AM

Hire cars are plying that road all the time - but they will not be insured. Please consider what happens if you get hit by one driven by a penny-less surfer dude. If you accept the insurance risk................. go for it.
As with Fifi, I have driven the road in a Jeep and now we have our own car on the island I would probably be willing drive the road occasionally - but our car IS insured!
We have also cycled from Corralejo to just beyond Majanicho and back (sore bums would not allow us to do the full return distance!!). So you could consider hiring bikes once form Corralejo and once from El Cotillo which would allow you to cover the whole road and be easier to make regular photo stops.

TamaraEnLaPlaya · September 08, 2014, 09:47:40 AM

Quote from: fifi on September 08, 2014, 00:58:31 AM
Hi Tamara, how are you? Thanks for your kind words. You are the second person to mention plumbing to me....and im lost......I need enlightenment.....please?

Again.... thank you. Nice to be remembered.

PM sent xxx

bluefox · September 08, 2014, 11:47:37 AM

i have my own car and done that run many time's, never a prob, the worst part i find is the last bit going into corro, the track get's very rough especially at the back of the wind turbine's, you come across a few "ripple's" along the way, so you just take it easy, some grand spot's to pull in on route, hav'nt done coffete yet, got a quarter way there once but it was getting abit late so that'll give it a go next time we're down there.

Magoo · September 08, 2014, 13:07:24 PM

Sod it! I'm going for it. The push bike ride sounds fun, but out of the question as we will be based in the South. I am sure that if we get stuck in the sand, a passing German will tow us out

Jock719 · September 08, 2014, 15:01:18 PM

There's no problem going from Corralejo to Cotillo in a normal car, I use the track regularly for photography especially in the dawn light you can get a nice picture of the lighthouse from the coast. I use my pickup truck just to move all my gear but I travel the track most weeks and it's perfectly passable, there are a few ruts but they're not deep, just slow down a bit! There's all sorts of cars vans etc going up and down there every week so you'll be fine!

Magoo · September 08, 2014, 15:13:49 PM

Thanks Jock

Seeing as we will be coming up from Jandea, I doubt if we will be catching dawn's early light

To be honest on my trips to Cofete, it's been other cars coming around hairpins like a bat out of hell that puts the fear of God into me, not the road it's self.

Looking forward to trying out my new Cannon on Fuerty, & having a dip in the Cotillo lagoons

Jock719 · September 08, 2014, 16:03:13 PM

Hehe! Maybe not! Bit far! The part between Corralejo and Manjanico is good for Lanzarote and Lobos landscapes......

Snowdrop · September 08, 2014, 22:14:30 PM

You won't get stuck in any sand!!! We have done this route a few times in a car - just take it slowly. Lovely journey - sometimes just a shame the debris that gets swept in :-( And to car drivers bear in mind that cyclists get the dust storm from cars so go easy when passing them :-)

Magoo · September 28, 2014, 20:33:43 PM

OK. Been there, done that & got the T shirt. Must say that the rental car rep's dire warning about 'Offroading & rallying' was buzzing in my head, but I avoided the surfer dudes & the sand traps. Got to admit that if I had started from the El Cotillo end, I might have had second thoughts.

As the rental car was blathered in dust, I thought "to hell with it" & did Cofete & Playa Juan Gomez a few days later. Never seen so many folk at Cofete, swimming as well!

I also note that it has a bus service now