Hill walking at its best

Tuesday 20 March 2018 - Day 16

The rain and hail continued until the early hours and the very strong winds carried on all night and through today.  But we woke to clear blue skies, although it felt chilly in that wind. We remain for a second day and night at the large are in the village of Ricote.

We needed some groceries so walked into the village, stopping first at Pepe’s Panaderia to buy some bread and a couple of cakes, then up to the ‘only supermarket in the village’. This was an Aladdin’s cave of hardware and foodstuffs and was clearly a social meeting point for villagers.  We spent some time checking out the goods, including buying some bags of dried chillies, herbs and paprika.  We found all we needed except for fresh milk.  The array of frozen and tinned seafood was amazing.

I’d noticed a sign for a circular walk that ran from the aire, so with a rucksack and some water we set off.  The first part was through the lemon groves and kitchen gardens of the village, following a well-signposted trail.  There were literally thousands and thousands of lemons; we were tempted to pick one or two, but only picked up a few that had fallen on to the path, which we thought were fair game!  The track soon started to ascend steeply past fincas large and small.  Further on we came across the old  ‘dhoby shack’ where the ladies would have gathered to do the washing.  It was quite high up and we weren’t sure if it was for the use of those who lived up in the hills, or for the ladies of the village who would have had a long walk uphill (and back down) to do their dhobying.  The concrete path was really steep near the top, before it joined a wide gravelled track. At this point there was a map showing the whole walking route of about 8km, so we continued on.  The wind was very strong and quite cool, so we were glad of our warm tops and kept up a good pace, stopping occasionally to admire the amazing views; the route is very well marked and easy to follow.  The views down to the lemon groves and fincas in the valley of Ricote village (and the aire) were breathtaking.  The track took us around the sides of the mountains, looking down on small hamlets and larger villages.  It was very quiet (aside from the wind) and we only came across one other couple during the whole walk.  There was an abundance of pine trees and fresh herbs, particularly rosemary and thyme.  We even came across a pink peppercorn tree (we remembered the pepper trees as we had some in our garden in Pakistan).  Samples of all these herbs joined the ‘scrumped’ windfall lemons in the rucksack!

There wasn’t a great deal of wildlife, although a few birds were heard later in the walk, including a couple of birds of prey high on the mountain top (heard but not seen) as we approached the village.  Further around, the views were even more spectacular - a cross between Utah and the mountains of the Afghan/Pakistan border.  There was more evidence of water though; we saw a large river running through a town that fed into a large lake.  It was a truly beautiful and peaceful walk and I recommend it all those who visit the lovely Ricote Valley.

We walked back through the quiet of village (siesta time!) and enjoyed a well-earned cuppa in the van - plus one of Pepe’s lemon buns each.  Despite the strong, chilly wind, we walked mainly in bright sun and we’re feeling the afterglow.  It’s been a truly relaxing day, walking in the hills and seeing some of the best of Murcia’s countryside.  I think we’ll sleep well tonight….so far no sign of last night’s rain, hail and stormy winds.  Only the village’s single church bell tolling every 15 minutes breaks the silence.

An outdoor oven - I'd love one of these

The village 'dhoby shack'

Just chillin' enjoying the peace and views

Rosemary everywhere

The 8km circular walk is well marked

Checking out some juniper bushes - sadly none were good enough to add to gin!

Yellow pigeons - I kid you not!  We also saw blue and purple ones.

Onwards to Murcia

Monday 19 March 2018 - Day 15

We’re parked up in a large aire in the village of Ricote, up in the hills in the Province of Murcia.  Actually, it’s a large area of packed earth with service facilities.  We’re surrounded by lemon groves and jagged mountains on three sides, with the village filling the fourth.  There’s plenty of room for more vans if they turn up.

We didn’t sleep well last night.  The fiesta drums banged all night, along with the very loud explosions of what sounded like IEDs and gunfire.  They were still going full pelt and no-stop when I finally got up at 0730 this morning; only later did I find out it was both Father’s Day and St Joseph’s Day in Spain, hence all the shops and supermarkets being shut today.  I wandered off to the showers and endured a very cold dunking; the water is heated by a solar panel and at that time of the morning, there wasn’t much solar!  

We made a decision today.  The Costa Blanca doesn’t do it for us.  Its over-developed, high-rise hotels and apartments, scruffiness, noise and graffiti are not what we want out of this trip.  Plus the aires seem to be stuck out on the periphery on the edge of industrial estates and half-built urbanisations. So we decided to give it a miss and head for the quieter and wilder province of Murcia.  I filled up with LPG on the way out. This was the first time I’d filled outside the UK, using the adaptor for Spanish pumps.  It took me a couple of attempts to get it hooked up but eventually I successfully filled our tanks. I was pleased to see that, over 2 weeks, we’d only used just of £5 worth of LPG, despite only being on electric for 2 nights.  So, when it comes to a cost/benefit analysis, not paying for electric hook up (which can be up to €4 per night) is a wise choice.

The sun shone as we drove along the coast, past the ugly skyline of Benidorm (*shudder*) and Alicante, before turning off towards Murcia.  The landscape was dry and barren. We’d noticed the river beds were still dry, even at the end of winter and a bit of online research showed Spain was suffering its worst drought since records began over 150 years ago - it’s going to be a tough year (and many more to come if things don’t change).  Having said that, as I type, the rain is torrential and I’m thinking outside will be a muddy quagmire by the morning if this keeps up!  

We’d planned a stop in the town of Archena, to stretch our legs and take a look around; it was supposed to have some interesting Roman architecture. The aire was quite full but, after a short walk, we turned back; the broken glass on the pavements and graffiti everywhere put us off.  As the UK has a litter epidemic, so Spain is suffering similar with graffiti, even all over some of their ancient monuments.

We drove up the hairpins bends, past some lovely green, oasis-like areas of fruit and palm trees, before arriving in Ricote.  After a cuppa we had a walk around the village; plenty of our favourite narrow streets, plant-strewn balconies and courtyard gardens to nosy at.  Families were in the restaurants and sat outside the bars (in thick coats and scarves of course, as we wandered past in shorts and t-shirts!), making the most of the public holiday.  After a few days of one night stops and a long drive today to leave behind the (in our view) over-rated Costa Blanca, we hope to spend a couple of nights here.  If it’s dry enough I may get out for a bike ride, plus we want to walk around the lemon groves that surround us.

In the meantime, the rain is mainly where we are in Spain…..but at least there’s no snow and ice like at home.

Tonight's stop

I think this might be the equivalent of the village drunk tank!

The aire in the middle of the photo

"Compact and bijou. Would benefit from some modernisation"

View from my galley door!

Loads of lemons - just need some gin and tonic to go with it

Rice, Rice Baby!

Sunday 18 March 2018 - Day 14

Nido’s squeezed into the aire in Daimus, about 750m from the beach.  It’s a busy stop, mainly filled with French and German vans, with a couple of Brits and a lovely couple from Northern Ireland in a panel van opposite us.

I was awake early so popped out to fill up our loo flush and fresh water tanks.  It was a grey start to the day so after breakfast we drove out, with a stop at a Dia supermarket for a few victuals.  The first part of the day we doubled back a little on yesterday’s journey, driving through some small villages and the first natural wetland areas we’d seen, to the La Albufera information centre and parking area.  La Albufera is about 15km south of Valencia. It’s a huge freshwater lagoon separated from the sea by a narrow strip of sand dunes and pine forests known as La Devesa.  The lake and surrounding areas are a breeding ground and sanctuary for migrating birds and have been protected as a nature park.  We parked up at the visitor centre and walked down the restricted path (only a small section of the lagoon is accessible) to the information centre. There we learned about the history of the lagoon, including the rice fields surrounding it.  We followed the well-marked pathways, past information boards that helped us identify some of the plants we found on our walk up to Castello de Mauz a couple of days ago, including juniper, wild asparagus, myrtle, mock privet, sarsaparilla and mastic.

Back in the van, we drove backpast the rice fields. Albufera is the birthplace of paella.  We drove through the villages of El Palmar and El Perellonet, both specialising in paella and other rice and seafood dishes.  At this time of the year the rice fields are dry.  They are flooded up in January/February, then left to dry out and turned to increase fertilisation.  In May/June they’re flooded up again before planting, with harvesting in September/October. Although we only saw them in the dry state, it was easy to imagine them green and fertile.

We stopped at the town of Curella for lunch, parking with a great view of the sea looking towards Calpe.  After eating we walked along the beach, only annoyed by men setting off fireworks - loud explosive bangers and rockets - have they nothing better to do?  These have continued day and night over the last couple of days.  On the way out of Curella we hit some diversions and realised a fiesta was in full flow, with bands, floats and young girls dressed in local costumes - it looked fun!  I turned off and, in an attempt to escape, ended up driving up some steep hairpin bends to the top of the mountain above Curella.  The views were excellent but the steep drops by the side of the road weren’t so enjoyable.

Back on track we eventually arrived at the ‘Dunes Camper Area” in Daimus.  We hadn’t booked and all the pitches were taken, but we managed to park in the middle area with a couple of other vans. The reception was closed (lunch/siesta), so we took a walk past the high rise apartments to the beach.  We walked along the waterline (noting a few rip currents along the way) and back down some of the old, narrow streets to nosey at the villas and gardens!

At the aire, I turned the van around so we could sit in the sunshine with a cup of tea.  I also checked in with reception and we had a chat with a lovely couple from Northern Ireland in a van of a similar size to ours. Being in the Valencia region, I of course had to cook paella for dinner.  Washing up later,  I chatted to a couple who live not far from where we used to live in Gosport, and who knew well the cafe me and my cycling buddy used to stop at in Lee on Solent - small world.

This part of the coast today has been quite agricultural, with a few large resorts breaking up the flat fields and waterways.  From here, we’ll hit the more built up, tourist areas.  Tomorrow I want to top up with LPG to see how much we’ve used in a fortnight. Then, after a stop around Calpe, I think we’ll make a long run past the tacky resorts and into Murcia.

Looking at Twitter, our home in Anglesey (along with most of the UK) has suffered snow and ice, so no complaints from here.  Although windy, it’s been warm enough for shorts and t-shirts and I can feel I’ve had some sun on my face today.

La Albufera national park and lagoon

Nice view from our lunch table

Squeezed in on the Daimus aire

Oranges, oranges and more oranges

Saturday 17 March 2018 - Day 13

Nido’s parked up at another free aire, in the town of Simat de la Valldigna. It’s just on the edge of this typically Spanish town, surrounded by orange groves and on two side by mountains.  It’s also about 200m from the ruins of the Monastery of Santa Maria.  

It was very cold in the night and we woke this morning to a hard frost on the van, a first for us - we’re generally fair-weather tourers.  So we didn’t hang about, quickly eating breakfast before driving on.  The journey here, once off the winding mountain roads, was mainly motorway, by-passing the city of Valencia.  This is very much citrus fruit growing country, with trees as far as the eye can see.  We arrived at Simat at about 1130, which seems to be our average arrival time these days.  Firstly, the 2 hour drive is about long enough, although preferably shorter; longer commutes may be needed to get around cities.  Secondly, any later than this and it can be a struggle to find a pitch.  Today there were about 3 or 4 to pick from and, as we’re in a small panel van conversion, there’s usually a spot we can fit in; the large motorhomes (and some are huge) struggle to fit in some places.  Since we’ve arrived I’ve seen a few vans turn up and have to leave due to no spaces.  Arriving around midday also allows us to settle in for a short while, decompress from the drive and have some lunch, then we’re ready to explore.

We had a good walk around the monastery ruins, which are free to enter.  It’s in various stages of renovation and the footprint is huge.  The first monastery was founded on 15 March 1297 by James II of Aragon, who reputedly fell in love with the beauty of the valley. The current monastery was built in the 16th Century, run by Cistercian monks.  As well as restoring some of the buildings and stonework, it looks like the gardens are being re-developed in their original style.  It’s certainly worth a visit.  We had a good walk around the town too, which has a tourist trail you can follow, marked by horseshoes sprayed on the pavement, with various information boards dotted around.  We enjoyed our usual walk along the narrow back streets, with the small shops and bars and people going about their daily lives.  Young boys were letting off very loud bangers in the street, not for any fiesta reasons, but just because they can!

Back at the aire, some people were stood out chatting, no doubt swapping ideas of places to visit and stay.  Cathy had a snooze and I chilled out, looking out at the view  of the orange groves and mountains from the cab seat and doing a bit of research for the next few days.  We’d like to visit La Albufera, a huge freshwater lagoon about 15km south of Valencia, surrounded by rice paddy fields, so making it the birthplace of paella.  I have a great little paella dish I bought in Barcelona but left it at home!  We also fancy a drive along the coast road around Denia, Javea and towards Calpe.  I’ve noticed there’s currently plenty of free or cheap parking right alongside the beaches in many of the towns; as it’s low season parking’s easy.   

Nido's spot - again the smallest van in the aire!

My day dreaming position

Catching up on the local news in the paper

Now that's a proper dhoby shack!