215 kilometres of trails and two sea-swimming circuits: the south's plan is only waiting for the money

Two hundred and fifteen kilometres of waymarked trails across the south of the island, and two sea-swimming circuits: one at Puerto Calero, one at Playa Blanca. It is called «Yaiza, senderos de jable y sal» — trails of sand and salt — and on paper it is the handsomest thing Lanzarote's most touristic municipality has put in writing for years.

The technical specification is ready. Only one thing is missing: the money.

What it covers

This is not a new footpath: it is the surfacing and signposting of the whole southern trail network, 215 kilometres of it — the routes people currently walk by guesswork or off a downloaded track. It also includes the two sea-swimming circuits, of which the island has none anywhere.

And there is the piece that got the council arguing: the path to the crown of Volcán Montaña Roja, at Playa Blanca. People climb it already, but the access has never been made good.

The standoff

On Thursday the council approved a motion from the Coalición Canaria group calling for that access to be designed. Mayor Óscar Noda said yes — but insisted one condition be minuted: that the Cabildo formally commit to financing the whole project, not just that one path.

His words: «From the very start of this term, when I presented the project alongside the sports councillor, Ángel Lago, the president of the Cabildo assured us the money for it was there. But we are still waiting for an answer made more of deeds and less of words, because words get carried off by the wind».

Translated: the Coalición Canaria councillors in Yaiza should persuade their own party colleagues at the Cabildo — where they govern with the Partido Popular — to fund the lot, not a fragment.

Why it matters

Because the south of Lanzarote lives off tourism that arrives, stays in a hotel and leaves. A properly waymarked trail network is the difference between an island you look at from a coach and an island you walk. And the two swimming circuits, if they happen, are the kind of thing that elsewhere — Sardinia, Croatia, the Balearics — shifts whole seasons.

For now there is a specification in a drawer and a line in the minutes. The rest depends on a meeting in Arrecife.