El Hierro: The Quiet Canary

John Collins · Issue 6, Apr/May 2002 · pp. 12–15

Products mentioned: Nikon F100, N10 housing, Agfa Scala film

Mention to people today that you have just been to El Hierro and most will immediately reply ‘where’s that?’. A few hundred years ago, however, any traveller worth his salt would certainly have known of the smallest Canary Island. From ancient times, when Ptolemy declared El Hierro to be the ‘edge of the world’, it was considered to be the last point on the ‘flat’ world, right up to the middle ages. The zero meridian of Longitude was established at Punta Ochilla on the western tip of the island and retained this title right up to the mid-nineteenth century. The Greenwich of it’s day, as it were. Since then, however, this beautiful island has slipped quietly intoobscurity. It has even managed to escape the mass developement of its neighbours, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. The mountainous terrain and lack of big beaches has proved to be it’s saviour. The result is an uspoilt haven …