Ascension to The Pike

“About five in the morning we mounted again, and travelled slowly about a mile, for the road here was rather too steep for travelling on horseback, and our horses were now fatigued. At last we came among some great loose rocks, where was a sort of cottage build of loose stones: the name of this place our guide told us was Estancia de los Ingleses (i.e. the English pitching-place), so called, I imagine, from some English people resting there on their way to visit the Pike, for none go that journey but foreigners and some poor people of the island, who earn their bread by gathering brimstone; the Spanish gentry having no curiosity of this kind. […] After travelling about a quarter or half a mile upon the great stones or rocks, we came to the bottom of the real Pike, or sugar-loaf, which is very steep, and to add to the difficulty of ascending, the ground is loose and gives way under the feet, and consequently extremely fatiguing; for although the length of this eminence is not above half a mile, yet we were obliged to stop and take breath I believe thirty times; at last we got to the top, where we lay about a quarter of an hour to rest ourselves, being quite spent with fatigue.”

George Glas