I walked up the side of Dumbreck after lunch, hoping to get above the mist. Halfway up I realised that the pea soup was still too thick, and with not having the energy to climb all the way to the summit, I decided to drop down into the gorge and traverse to the waterfall.
Campsie Glen has become even more of a hot spot for walkers due to Covid lockdown with parked cars backed up all the way to the main road at Haughead. But on an early morning or a late afternoon, it can still, at times, be reasonably quiet.
Our late Sunday afternoon wander along the Kirk Burn and some scrambling along the rocks along the burn allowed us to explore the Campsie fault line. This is one os several very interesting geological features dating from the Glacial and Post-Glacial period in the area.
The Campsie fault line or scarp is the effect of a normal fault crossing the gorge that displaces lava intersecting with another plane of movement. Landslips and the torrent of the Kirk Burn over time have exposed large sections of the fault line along the burn.
The road to Puntallana from Punta de Avolo along the sheer, towering cliffs tumbling down to the sea from Banda de Avolo to Baya de Avolo is an absolute gem for anyone interested in geology and/or saturated colours. Even though, we have walked this road at each of our visits to la Gomera over the past years, the walk still leaves us in awe of this spectecular place.
The road itself is very precarious, clinging to and widing alongside the steep cliffs, and is closed to traffic at present. Rockfall and flushing rain water have damaged the protecting wall and washed away some of the wooden barriers in places. A walk along the road from the end of the tarmac at punta de Avolo to the start of the winding decent to the flats at Puntallana is more than worthwhile.
Due to the carving out of the road at the side of the steep cliffs, the geology of this area is laid bare and very visible. The bands of sandstone ranging in colour from bright red and bright orange to a more purple red and even yellow. Combined with fastastically formed/shaped grey quartz and black volcanic rock that flank the sandstone, and at places even cross the sandstone bands in the form of dykes, the sights are absolutely stunning.
The following sixteen images show the photographic opportunities for striking intimate landscapes or, as others would call it, visual poetry. The colours shown in these images are realistic but often do not do the actual bright saturated colours one can appreciate along this road full justice.
To appreciate the setting of these intimate landscape images, I have included the following eight images. Hopefully these give an appreciation of the road and its precarious nature, although these images do not do the scale of the cliffs and their steepness any justice.