Playa de Aldea:

Somewhere between the steep cliffs and dropping mountains on Gran Canarias westcoast there is a barranco that had enough water flowing to create some sort of beach. There is lots of tomato plantings and a little town who´s name You have to find out Yourself. The town has a small fishing port and is protected by a harbour wall from the often raging northwest swells that come to this coast. The “beach” is a narrow stretch of cobblestones for about two third of the length. This part is boardered by the wall of a beach promenade, which is allready partially destroyed by the waves. The south end of the beach is again cobblestones which stretch from the rivermouth to the cliffs. Inside the harbour there´s a small area of sand beach.

The town is very nice with some bars and restaurants. There are also some holiday houses but they might belong to Gran Canarians.

To enter sea You can use the rivermouth, a staircase in the middle of the promenade or, very reccomended with bigger swells, use the sand beach inside the harbour and paddle out from there.

surf: waves break over stone reefs very close to shore in very shallow water. North to northwest swells produce hollow lefts which have a tendency to close out and some longer rights. Wipeouts can get nasty as the shallow ground has some extra stones who wait to hit You. It´s mainly a bodyboard break but if You´re good enough You might sneak into some nice left tubes with Your surfboard. The right is easyer to handle. Winds from easterly directions come offshore with some strengh as they get accelerated by the barranco. Winds from northerly and southerly directions are held off by the steep cliffs.

This is a semi secret spot which gets surfed only by a handfull of locals. It´s fairly difficult to reach so crowds shouldn´t become a problem. Still, if You happen to stumble upon that place, be respectfull and keep Your secret.

windsurfing and kiteboarding: this is not a place for the wind folks. The beach is too small and too protected by the cliffs.

mountainbiking and hiking: the mountains and barrancos in this area offer a superb playground for the ones who want to get up and down.

Some more pics at the galleries (the place, surf)