The Barranco del Infierno – Getting into Hell is Easier

Last August (2009) we told you that the Barranco del Infierno was closed for a month for a wee bit of TLC. We also warned that a Tenerife month isn’t the same as a month in other places. Unfortunately time has proved that comment was somewhat of an understatement.

The bad news is that it’s now March 2010 and guess what? Hell’s Ravine is still shut.

Prompted by a comment on another blog I called the medio-ambiente people in Adeje to find out what was happening. Not only is the Barranco del Infierno still shut, details of when it is likely to re-open are as clear as a February day at Los Rodeos (i.e. not).

The medio ambiente person on the other end of the line mumbled something about verano (summer), but when I pressed he did a sort of soft shoe shuffle as he backed off adding ‘tal vez, tal vez’ (perhaps, perhaps).

In short, we don’t seem to be any further along since the last time I called them a few months ago.

To be fair, the torrential rains which affected some parts of the island in February, including Adeje, sent raging rivers rampaging through the island’s ravines. A lot of the work to improve the Barranco would have been destroyed, so in this case nature has to shoulder some of the blame rather than a lackadaisical approach to completing jobs on schedule (although, work was already months behind schedule before the storms hit, so they don’t get off scot-free).

Clearly this is bad news for walkers, but the good news is that although the Barranco del Infierno is a pleasant enough walk, it has become quite manicured and a bit like a hiking version of the TF1 motorway. If you’re someone who prefers their countryside a bit wilder and less populated, there are plenty of other great walks around the south of Tenerife which aren’t ‘closed for business’.