Gran Canaria looks like a small island, but the interior is one of the most dramatic mountain landscapes in the Atlantic. The centre is a collapsed volcanic caldera, split by deep ravines, with crags like Roque Nublo and Roque Bentayga sticking out of it. For the island's pre-Hispanic people, who arrived about two thousand years ago, these rocks were sacred, and the whole area is now a World Heritage cultural landscape. Risco Caído is a cave complex where the early islanders carved out shrines and granaries, one of which seems to be aligned with the sun at the equinox, when a beam of light moves across the painted walls.
The village of Artenara, on the edge of the caldera, is among the highest on the island, with many houses cut into the volcanic tuff, cool in summer and warm in winter. Even the church is partly carved from the rock. The roads here are exceptional for riding, with long climbs, hairpins and shoulders of pine forest, and views that on a clear day reach across to Tenerife and the great cone of Teide.
Be prepared for changing conditions. The north side of the island is frequently covered in a layer of cloud, and the sea of cloud below the summit can look beautiful while making the road damp and cold. The south is dry and bright. In winter there can be frost at the top, and strong winds on the exposed ridges.
Artenara and Tejeda are small villages, with about fifteen hundred and twenty-three hundred people, so fuel is best taken in the larger towns closer to the coast. Tejeda is famous for almond sweets and cakes, and the almond blossom in late January and February turns the valleys pale pink. Plan for slow riding, plenty of photographs and a walk to one of the viewpoints at sunset.