Then before you know it... you are sweeping down into the refreshingly undisturbed village that is to be your temporary home.

Around and about For walkers, Santiago represents an ideal base: numerous footpaths criss-cross the island. They are – almost without exception - brilliantly signposted, with routes to suit all levels of fitness and ability.

And a number of accompanied walking tours - such as the Rain Forest Walk, which takes place each Sunday – are available, offering coach-collection from the Santiago. Just one note of caution, however, before you set off…

Take along good walking boots, water, a camera, with plenty of spare memory or film - for the infinite number of inspiring views that you’ll want to capture – and a waterproof jacket. Yes, a jacket. As you bask in the Canarian sun, contemplating your first peripatetic adventure, you’ll most likely mock the very suggestion. Don’t. The temperature can drop, dramatically, following even a short drive into the mountains. And rain is not unusual. You have been warned.

Less athletic visitors will be pleased to learn that cars are available for hire, and fuel is cheap (EUR 10,- will comfortably cover your diesel costs for a full circuit of the island). The roads, though narrow and winding, are quiet and recently tarmacced, making this a great way to explore Gomera’s hidden nooks and crannies. (Just remember to sound your horn, as you navigate those all-too-common blind corners.)

You might also consider joining the full-day island excursion. This informative coach trip, which takes in a stay at the Garajonay National Park Visitor Centre, as well as lunch at the Castillo del Mar (a restored 19th century banana trading station, that stretches out into the Atlantic), will doubtless reveal numerous sites of interest to which you’ll wish to return.

Essential Gomera Whatever your preferred mode of transportation, a visit to the ‘Parc Nacional de Garajonay’ is essential. There, the near-constant temperature and humidity has created an almost eerily tranquil 3,984-hectare environment made up of laurels and lichen, mosses and ferns, freshwater springs, streams and spectacular rock formations.

Protected since 1982, and achieving UNESCO recognition in 1984, Garajonay is home to one of the world’s largest continuous areas of laurisilva forest - a habitat that has almost disappeared from southern Europe and North Africa.

Weather permitting, a boat trip to San Sebastian is likewise recommended (though it’s best avoided, when the sea is rough). The port-town and capital was visited by Christopher Columbus, in 1492, before he set out on the voyage for which he is best known. (Indeed, a notice at the local well records how the explorer drew its water to ‘baptise America’.)

Like all the neighbouring towns, San Sebastian is quiet, friendly, and very well-kept: you’ll see no graffiti on the walls, few cigarette butts on the pavement. With a population of 2,000 or so, it is the largest municipality. The mountain and the hills dominate the west; the port lies in the east. And within that port, the beach, which – though rocky – is both clean and safe.

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