The first two long-distance trails in Gran Canaria have been inaugurated

 

GRAN CANARIA TRAILS WEBSITE

ROUTE GR 138

ROUTE GR 139

 

The Cabildo of Gran Canaria has made available to the island society and its visitors the first two long-distance trails on the Island, GR 138 and 139, which run through practically all of the Unesco World Heritage areas and the Biosphere Reserve and that allow you to know in depth and enjoy all the natural and ethnographic values ​​that both spaces have, in addition to promoting sustainable mobility between the different rural settlements and livestock exploitation linked to transhumance.

 

“Until now, the Island has not had long-distance paths and that has been a demand from hikers, from people who love our natural spaces and who required paths approved at the European level,” he said. “And, today, Gran Canaria, within these tourism sustainability actions and with an investment of more than 400.000 euros, inaugurates these two roads, the GR 138 and the GR 139, one of 70 kilometers, which occupies the Cultural Heritage space. and another of 100, in the Biosphere Reserve that reaches Tauro, in which the necessary conditions have been adapted, but always respecting the cobbled floor, the stone walls and even the ways to avoid the stepped slopes.”

 

He also stressed that these new GR trails cover the entire southwest, center and summit of Gran Canaria. “Some paths through which you can reach Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountain and that later allow you to connect with all those spaces, since they frame those territories and, from there, others emerge so that it is possible to access the different spaces that form the World Heritage and the Biosphere Reserve,” he concluded.

 

 

 

 

Unique pieces from the pre-Hispanic era

 

The Institute's team of technicians makes it clear that the GR 138 and 139 trails contain very relevant values ​​for Gran Canaria, since the paths are structural territorial elements and are part of the ethnographic heritage of the Island, and also emphasizes that both roads have numerous sections characterized by traditional cobblestones and steps or by dry stone walls built, many of them, in pre-Hispanic times, which make up singularities that make them unique pieces of the Gran Canaria historical heritage and make them stand out within this fragile island space. 

 

Specifically, the GR 138 of the World Heritage of Gran Canaria has a circular route, with just over 70 kilometers organized into six different stages, which cover a large part of the area declared by UNESCO in 2019 and runs through all the municipalities that They are located within the Cultural Landscape, whose spaces include, among others, the Tamadaba massif, the Bentayga mountain range, Barranco Hondo or the Llanos de la Pez area.

 

For its part, the GR 139 Gran Canaria Biosphere Reserve is also a circular route of approximately 100 kilometers, which runs through the central and southwestern area of ​​Gran Canaria, and its main purpose is to unite the different towns that are part of that Reserve. of the Biosphere, where synergies can be generated between the local population and the people who visit it. In this case, the route is planned in five stages, in which the great diversity of landscapes and ecosystems through which they pass stand out, such as the Tauro massif, the Tirajana pine forest or hamlets such as Casas de Veneguera or Timagada. 

 

The experts also emphasize that the two trails are completely signposted and conditioned and, therefore, can now be used by the local population and visitors. Furthermore, they indicate that the Institute currently has a Landscape Conservation and Maintenance Plan, in which the GR are the main elements to maintain, among other areas and infrastructures for public use that are found inside both spaces. UNESCO.