After the most stress-free journey from Bristol airport, this young stoke searcher found herself away from society’s claws, away from a busy, crowded, grey, dull and very rainy lifestyle back in the UK and in what seems like a small slice of paradise.
Fuerteventura is almost like… Well, In all honesty, I can’t compare it. It’s simply. The town of Corralejo is sun, sea, sand and skating.
My board was securely packaged with ‘FRAGILE’ stickers all over the packaging and on board the plane along with its proud owner. Why on earth I decided to state my piece of retro smashed up wood as fragile, I don’t know. I mean, man, it’s had more knocks and slams than a 45 year old singer on X-Factor! However. My old and faithful pintail made it safely to its destination. Whereby it was to revive a ‘good and proper’ endurance.
Corralejo in Fuerta, a hotbed of blistering sun and volcanic ash.
Corralejo in Fuerta has proved to be one of the lushest and safest places to skate in my eyes. Endless paths with slight declines and pathways to cruise to your heart’s content. What more would you want? However. There has appeared to be a lack of hills to bomb…. The first two days of being here, I found immediately the best paths to cruise and carve, but after a week of simply carving… I was craving adrenalin.
Asking the locals will forever and always be, the best and most sensible thing to do and for anyone who suffers with finding the confidence to do so – really, go for it. Ask away! And trust me ladies, there’s nothing more impressive than a women asking where the best hills to skate are?! So, a very kind young man directed me to a hill in Corralejo that is best for blasting.
I headed up to the volcano, whereby you can see the entire of Corralejo and even over sea to Lanzarote in the distance. The hill was literally, a hill. That was it. So sadly, there is a slight anti-climax to this hill blasting business. No pun intended. After a few wazzes down the small, yet steep slope. I soon realised, that unless your board is fully slidable – the hill wasn’t for you.
However, a couple of cheeky shut downs and the hills are your oyster! So the secret volcano proved to be a nice surprise.
As for the culture over here, well In the space of two weeks, I could already picture myself entering their annual downhill event – a day of speeding through the town of Corralejo like bats from hell! The locals really are awesome people. They have this ‘laid back, free vibe’ with hints of extreme adventure frequently surfacing.
What I also found here in Fuerte was the acceptance and variation to their skate families. Unlike testosterone filled Cornwall, or the UK for that matter, there appears to be no ‘beef ‘ like there is at most of our skate parks…
There’s no gangs with their ‘lead skaters’! Or ‘kids to be scared off’ - because let’s face it, every town has its skater jock who makes skate park and life on the hills, a total nightmare.
In Fact there’s a warm welcoming feel! Corralejo’s skate park was definitely needing a re-vamp, but the spirit of the locals made it 10 x brighter! And the nicest part? The ages. The ‘big kids’ help the ‘little kids’ and share experiences and knowledge. The older guys seemed to embrace the young children and almost nurtured them into the world of skateboarding.
Also, not forgetting to add, the pure reasoning behind the skate culture here. Transport. It seems that Longboarding is the most popular type of boarding here, and why not own a board to get around, when the Tarmac really is amazing.
And a little note for any adrenaline aspiring, stoke searching long boarders; when skating Fuerteventura, or any Canary Island for that matter, always carry a sweeping brush to sweep away those pesky little lumps of volcano rock that make your sesh hell, and also, skate near aloe vera plants so when you fall – you can apply some free lotion straight from the plant, straight onto your cuts and burns. Man it’s good.
And before I get carried away with frothing about how amazing it is here, I’ll add some knowledge for you.
Fuertaventura is given its name as Fuerte means strong and Ventura means adventure in Spanish. Strong adventure - pretty cool huh. And an adventure it really was.
Words and images Rocky Poole see more of her work here.
Sweaty, bloody and bruised… You try and stop me
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