My wife Liz and I have spent many two week February breaks exploring the various Canary Islands, situated in the Atlantic ocean just off the west coast of Africa.
And although our primary reason for going is to fend off the welsh winter blues for a while, we don't spend our time lounging round a pool.
No, instead we take a hire car and set off to explore as many of the hidden gems that the Canary Islands have to offer as possible.
In February 2025 we were on Tenerife, and over our two week holiday we managed to get to almost every corner, driving along twisting mountainous roads through the dramatic and beautiful volcanic landscapes that define the island.
And one of the most mountainous and twisting of those roads is the TF-436, running from Santiago del Teide, up through the old pirate village of Masca and on northwards, ending up at Buena Vista del Norte on Tenerife's beautiful north coast.
Liz and I were enjoying driving this challenging road, and had almost reached Masca, when we saw a large coach coming towards us, trailing a line of cars in its wake, and getting jammed up in oncoming traffic trying to get around one of those hairpin bends.
Discretion being the better part of valour, we pulled off the road into a convenient layby to wait until the traffic circus had passed us by.
But the view down the gorge towards Masca was so lovely we decided to have our picnic there and, of course, shoot twenty minutes or so of stills for this time lapse video of clouds wafting over the high cliffs while the traffic continued to battle it out around the bends just next to us.
Filename - tenerife masca timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS6DMK2
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/800 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/800 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Filters - 2 stop neutral density graduated filter used to reduce the brightness of the sky relative to the land.
Shooting interval - 2 seconds
Location - Near Masca, Tenerife, Canary Islands
Music - Humidity - Silent Partner
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 17 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.