Presa de Las Peñitas

The usual start is the church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña in Vega de Río Palmas, where there is room to leave the car. From there you cross the FV-30 road, drop into the bed of the Barranco de Río Palmas and follow it for about 500 metres to a multi arched bridge, where the signposted path branches off to the right. The SL FV 27 itself is little more than 1.5 kilometres and takes around half an hour, while the full return walk from the village comes to some 4 kilometres and about two hours. The ground is loose stone and bare rock with almost no shade, so grippy footwear, water and sun protection are worth carrying.

The dam was built in 1937 to store the runoff of the ravine, but sediment from a bare catchment filled it within a few decades, and today only a seasonal sheet of water remains. Beyond the wall the path threads the granite gorge along the right bank to the hermitage of the Virgen de la Peña, also known as del Malpaso, where tradition places the appearance of the island patron and where pilgrims arrive on the third Saturday of September. The rocks around the chapel expose the oldest geological materials on Fuerteventura and in the whole archipelago, and the crags shelter birds of prey such as the Egyptian vulture. The site is a restricted use zone of the rural park, so stay on the marked trail, leave stones where they lie and keep out of the bed when rain is forecast, because the ravine can carry water without warning.