Weekend Trip Into The Mountains Of Gran Canaria And How To Set Up The Roof-Tent
Three month ago in July we made a small trip to the mountains here on Gran Canaria. To get there we had to drive up a steep serpentine road, which took us about 1.5 hours. Unfortunately it was very hot this weekend, we had a Calima, which is a hot desert wind coming from the Sahara. The higher we drove, the hotter it got, because the Calima always goes up, therefore it’s usually hotter in the mountains. Although Lenny has an air condition we couldn’t use it because it didn’t work. So when we found a beautiful place, which is near by the spot where we stayed on our very first trip, we where totally sweaty. But it was worth it.
This location is perfect for an 4x4 overlanding trip because to get there you have to drove some gravel roads which are not the easiest and it has as well a beautiful surrounding.
Until now we tried 3 spots on Gran Canaria, which are suitable for a perfect overloading trip. But we would like to find more spots on that Island to complete a full overloading around-the-island-trip for one week or more. As soon we have done all the weekend trips of every single location, we gonna prepare an overloading travel guide especially for Gran Canaria. But it needs still some time. For now I just would like to report the trip we did in Juli 2020 after the lockdown.
Once we have found the best parking position without being inclined, we have to get some shade as soon as possible, because in the afternoon when we arrived, the sun was at its peak. So we set up immediately the roof tent. Luckily, the roof tent from Frontrunner can be set up very quickly.
Let me explain you how it works:
First you had to remove the safety belts around the cover of the tent.
Then you have to open the zipper all around the square to loose the cover.
Remove the cover and let it fall down at the side.
Pull out the ladder and by pushing down the ladder you will unfold the tent.
Roll the cover sheet up and attach it to the top plate.
When the ladder is securely placed, climb up into the tent and set up the metal tent poles at all four windows.
Now you only need to cover the mattress with, which is already in the tent, with a sheet and put pillows, sleeping bags or blankets into the tent.
Afterwards we attached our outdoor shower, which is a long flexible tube with a little shower head, to our 40 liter water canister. The water canister is installed on the roof, so that we can quickly treat our dog Nica, with a cold shower. At first she didn’t like it, but then she was grateful for this refreshing cool down.
The next step is to get everything out of our aluminium box, which is also installed to the roof rack. At this time it was just the foldable bamboo table and camping chairs. Now there is a bit more added. I will inform you little by little about all the camping supplies we need.
Since Lenny isn’t converted inside yet, at the moment we are living out of plastic boxes. We have a food box, a kitchen utensils box, a box for the camping gas stove and the Dometic fridge, which we are very happy about to have finally a proper fridge. Before we had only a small cooling box filled with ice cubes. As you can see on the pics. It was fine but after the second day the ice cubes were completely melted and everything was floating in the water inside the box.
After we have set up everything we were thirsty and hungry, so we took a seat and I sliced a watermelon for us. Nica always goes crazy for watermelon, especially when the watermelon is well chilled on hot days. That’s why we shared it equally by three.
To cut the watermelon I used the knife of the Primus campfire prep set. It’s a utensils set with wooden salad servers, cooking spoon, knife and grater in a pocket to wrap.
Well refreshed I chilled in the hammock until it got a little colder in the evening, then we took a little walk to check out the surrounding.
Just before it got dark I started to prepare the dinner. It was a salad with in honey caramelized grapes and fresh goat cheese. The roasted chicken breast, which I sautéd in the pan of the Primus campfire cookset, we bought from an artisan butcher which guarantees free-range chickens without antibiotics and conservatives. We don’t eat a lot of meat but if we do, we are willing to spend a little more money to guarantee that the animals are well kept. In addition we drank a well chilled white wine out of the enamel mugs. So it was a pretty delicious dinner in camper style.
After we talked for a while about what we have planned for Lenny, regarding conversion and travel destinations, we went for a last walk with our dog Nica before we went up into our tent to sleep. The very hot summer day made us exhausted and tired. But due to the high temperature and the full moon at that night, we couldn’t sleep well. Because it was not only very hot in the tent but also the moon was shining very bright. But after a while somehow we fell asleep.
Next day we woke up early we let Nica out of the car, were it was actually cooler then outside or in the tent, since we already did the isolation inside the car. We took a small walk with her and after that we prepared first two big cup of coffee.
After the coffee everyone took a refreshing outdoor shower including our dog Nica followed by an extensive breakfast. When we took a shower we only use biodegradable solid soaps for skin and hair. To dry I used the turkish towel which is optimal for that heat, because it’s not so thick but through the good quality of cotton it absorbs the water very well. It’s also great for beach days, barbecues, an extra layer on the flor, for changing, or just as a throw.
Since we didn't sleep so well we decided to have a little nap after cleaning up everything. Dani in the hammock and me on the floor with the Turkish towel.
For some reason Nica doesn't like to lie on her pillow when we are outside, maybe because it’s too warm, but I have noticed no matter if it’s hot or cold, she just loves to lie on the floor and roll around especially the on the forest ground.
From the evening until the golden hour we took some photos that we would like to capture for Passenger Clothing, from whom we got all the cool tees, shirts and tops you can see on the pics.
After we got the pics and we watched a magnifique sunset we went back to Lenny and baked some pan-pizzas with selfmade pizza dough.
During the cooking we noticed that the wind was picking up and around 10:00 pm, when we actually would like to sleep, it got so windy, that it was quiet noisy inside the tent. Normally we wanted to get up early to watch the sunrise. But again we only could dream about sleeping. Unfortunately, this is the disadvantage of a roof-tent and that's why we would like to continue with the conversion of Lenny, if you have wondered why. But I think it will probably be possible next year. That’s totally ok, because anticipation is famously the best joy.
In the end we left that place at night to drive home, which was definitely the right decision. Nevertheless it was a really nice weekend, even a bit shorter than planned.
In this sense, although our Lenny isn’t yet finished, we are always looking forward to another trip with Lenny, where we can enjoy the freedom of the nature, what we really need from time to time.
I hope you like the little report about our overlander trip in the mountains of Gran Canaria, so that you can imagine what we do all day long and which items we need for the everyday overlander life.
Tomorrow it will leave again for a trip on the small island El Hierro. Keep your fingers crossed that we will get suitable conditions.
Hope you had lovely weekend and I wish a good start into a new week.
Love,
Katy
Pics by Daniell Bohnhof
Test by Look2 Ocean.