The name Lanzarote used to be a byword for lobster-red torsos, winter sun, gallons of cold beer and all the other things generally summed up under the term package-holiday, and there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy a week or two of excess in the heat just 72 miles off the coast of Africa. But anyone who goes to the Canaries and ignores the natural beauty is missing out on a very great deal indeed. 

Lanzarote is unique. There is nowhere else like it unless, in some places, you imagine the surface of the Moon. There are black mountainsides dotted with green oases, wild lonely beaches, ancient towns in the hills, forms of agriculture that haven’t changed in centuries, dramatic gorges, remote villages…

The island’s 327 square miles hide myriad surprises. There are massive lava flows, iridescent green pools, rare birds, hidden inlets, sea-caves, historic farmers’ markets, tiny restaurants in villages that rarely see tourists, intriguing forms of architecture…

I could go on listing the pleasant surprises that Lanzarote has to offer beyond the human honeypots down on the coast. The 37-mile-long island, which is just 16 miles wide, is a vast volcanic enigma - and as such it makes a fabulous location for those of us who love to hike. 

Timanfaya National Park is, quite simply, one of the weirdest places on Earth, being made almost entirely of vast volcanic lava flows.

On this occasion we walked for miles across the strange black rocks - and very difficult going it was too.

But we ended the walk with a fantastic seafood lunch at the little fishing village of El Golfo, and then, just around the corner when the sun came out, we explored the coast just south of the village and discovered the remarkable Playa de los Ciclos and its weird green lake, El Lago Verde. El Golfo is built on a half-submerged cone of a volcano, which over centuries has been eroded by the sea, leaving behind only the striated wall of the crater displaying a myriad of red and russet colours.

At the foot of the crater wall is Lago Verde, a half-moon-shaped striking green lagoon filled with volcanic minerals and micro-organisms that are believed to be unique in this lake.