5. The unintended road trip 🤣

Although sad to leave Sierra Espuna we were excited to be heading back to Benigembla in the Vall de Pop, where we were at the start of our trip, but sadly struggling then with gastric flu. With a couple of days to get out and explore before we were due there, we headed a short distance to the coast to Puntas de Calnegre, recommended by Roldon at our previous camp. 

Although the cove and beach turned out to be lovely the main camping area looked awful! A sprawling mass of vans and caravans - definitely not our cup of tea, and as the coast was a protected area, sadly we weren’t permitted to camp off grid either 😢 So settled on a lovely picnic lunch on the beach, a roll and dig in the sand for Rubes, and a quick swim for Dave 😃 The temperature was rising, registering 27 degrees on the van (admittedly parked in the sun), so far too hot to leaves Rubes in the van and us go for a walk, decided to move on then, and spend the night elsewhere.

Enjoying the picnic 🤣

Rubes couldn’t understand why Dave wanted to go in!

Time for a good dig 😃

Ended up for the night a little further north, just outside the (nondescript) town of Novelda on an interesting small farm and animal sanctuary. Run by a really friendly and welcoming couple, we spent a couple of nights there, enjoyed watching and feeding the animals, especially the retired circus water buffalo, sadly blind 😢 Although billed as a major wine producing valley, all the vines were dormant for as far as you could see, and that together with somewhat grey skies made the whole area seem quite bleak.  Did manage to get out on the bikes and explore a bit though (I didn’t really enjoy the ride as the roads were too busy 🤣), visited the regions most famous tourist attraction, the Gaudiesque Monastery of Santa Maria Magdalena, but weren’t disappointed when it was time to move on 😃

Horses coming in for the night at the farm

The water buffalo loved our stale bread!

Lovely bar area at the farm

Monastery of Santa Maria Magdalena

Dormant vines around Novelda

Heading north our first stop was back to the bike shop in Denia, to return the (“rubbish”) rental bike and retrieve Dave’s knackered bike. The transaction successfully completed, we settled for lunch at a lovely fish restaurant in a beautiful old square nearby. Sod’s Law though, the food had just arrived when there was a mad flurry of activity from the staff, quickly moving all unoccupied tables and chairs inside, as the heavens opened! Since Rubes was with us there was no transferring inside for us, so after a very quick, and soggy lunch, we moved on quickly 🤣 The food was lovely though!

Delicious prawns - the best so far!

The last couple of days had been a bit disappointing, so we were extremely pleased to be heading back up to Benigembla,  somewhere where we knew we wanted to be, and with lots of plans for what we would do in our last 12 days in Spain, before starting the long journey back. But as the saying goes, the best laid plans…….and all that. Arriving at Benigembla we were faced with disastrous news. Maria who owns the site had just 2 days before received a notification from central government that the campsite needed to close while an environmental impact assessment of tourism in mountain regions was conducted! She was given 2 weeks to clear the site, and that very morning had received further notification that the site needed to close tomorrow! We, and everyone else there were devastated. We were allowed to spend the night there, but all had to leave the following morning. A huge fine was being threatened for Maria for non compliance. It was a dreadful atmosphere, everyone frantically looking for alternative places to move on to (not many in the region, and all fully occupied now), and staff visibly distressed at losing their jobs overnight 😢 

The abandoned site at Benigembla 😢

Bang went our much anticipated 12 day “holiday “ up in smoke! Minor in comparison with what others were having to deal with, but devastating for us nonetheless 😢 We’d invested so much in coming here, particularly after our earlier disappointing visit - had (yet another) rental bike lined up for Dave, were keen to do some good rides and walks together, visit some lovely cafes and restaurants in the area, and of course have access to our very own tennis court! But it wasn’t to be. So along with everyone else, we quickly identified somewhere else where we could move on to, about another hour further north, which had availability, and looked like our cup of tea 😃

The new campsite was just to the west of Gandia, and sadly, on arrival, we both took an instant dislike to the place, and area. A really unfriendly welcome and just not a good vibe about the place or area. Tried going out walking in the surrounding hills but even all footpaths were annoyingly blocked off by locals building across them 😡 We developed a pros and cons list - but couldn’t tip the balance in favour of the former 😢 Having booked for 5 nights there was no way we wanted to stay, so despite the lovely warm weather (the only pro) after a couple of nights we decided to move on, happy to forfeit the already paid camp fees - both feeling extremely deflated 😢

Interesting fruit trees on our walk - persimmon 

Walking the lanes as the footpaths blocked off 😡

Knowing where to move onto now was somewhat challenging, as moving any further north we were likely to lose the warmer weather, and now insufficient time to turn around and head south, again (not that we really wanted to do that). So on another recommendation we decided to head more inland to the ancient city of Albarracin - with some promised sunshine ☀️ 

Realising we were on the “Route of the Monasteries “ we called in to visit a couple, the final leg taking us down the most winding and narrow unpaved roads you could imagine, only really fit for farm vehicles, and at one stage probably driving along a “walking only “ route, as we got many funny looks from people out walking! Needless to say Dave proclaimed this to be one of the trickiest drives yet in the van 🤣 Successfully navigated though, we arrived at the beautiful Monastery of Santa Maria de la Valldigna. Extremely picturesque, a mixture of gothic and baroque styles, and set against a stunning mountainous backdrop. Also turned out to be quite a tourist magnet, but pretty sure others found a more direct route there! 

Monastery Santa Maria de la Valdigna

Very ornate inside the monastery ruins

Extensive grounds and arches of the Monastery 

Monastery gardens

Unfortunately the forecast sunny weather didn’t materialise at Albarracin (until the day we left), but we did enjoy a good walk in the surrounding hills, extremely ancient and with well preserved cave paintings dating back to prehistoric times. The old city is interesting too, visually spectacular, with a well preserved medieval and Islamic flavour.. Extremely steep narrow streets, old city walls, and an imposing castle at the top. Great to experience this place, but quite touristy, chilly, and not an ideal place to camp / hang around, so again decided to move on after a couple of nights. 

Albarracin 

Albarracin

Albarracin

Albarracin 

Albarracin 

Cave paintings at Albarracin 

Moving on, Dave had read about The Silent Route, a 60 km road which winds through the province of Teruel, through a beautiful landscape of rugged rock formations, vast plains, deep gorges, wildlife, and a few ancient small villages. The idea behind it is around “slow driving”, to experience the grandeur of the environment. Ironic really then that the route has become extremely popular with motorcyclists, not something you tend to associate with quiet, slow driving 🤣 Anyway, we decided to give it a whirl, and driving south to north through the most amazing landscapes, even seeing a family of Ibex, we eventually arrived at the small town of Ejulve where a lovely area had been created for campervans to stay.  Very remote, and with the one and only bar in the town closed, we spent a quiet and peaceful night gazing out at the stars and the stunning landscape. 

Starting out on The Silent Route

Family of Ibex trotted across the road in front of us

Stunning landscape on The Silent Route

Camping at Ejulve

Again, knowing where to move onto the following day was challenging - trying to find the right combination of factors, like somewhere decent to stay, options for walking, some warmish weather, and possibly somewhere we could get a bite to eat - how difficult is that 😃 Unfortunately, with limited opportunities, we came across a newly developed campsite, designed specifically for MTB, Ciclo de Cevera, about 30 minutes inland from the Valencia coast. Sounded just right for us (again 🤣) so off we went. And to be fair, it did turn out to be a lovely place, still under some development, and run by a really friendly and welcoming couple, set within ancient olive groves, surrounded by beautiful countryside, bikes to hire, and a lovely cafe / restaurant too 😃

Spent a lovely couple of days here, walking through the almond blossom groves (my favourite), and Dave putting his trust in yet another rental bike - this time with more success, and enjoyed a fabulous ride through the surrounding hills (thank goodness 🤣). The onsite cafe was lovely too, really friendly staff, and good basic Spanish food - seems well used by locals from surrounding villages too. What else could we want! Well if we’re being honest, a bit warmer weather 🤣 Unfortunately the promised brightness didn’t materialise, and what we got instead was a thick blanket of  grey cloud for our time there - a shame really as it did make it quite cold, and we obviously didn’t see the area at its best. But, we did like the place and area, and would definitely return in the future.

Walking through the blossoms around Cevera

More blossoms around Cevera

The road to the camp crosses the river bed - thankfully dry for most of the year!

Potentially poisonous caterpillars everywhere - the bane of our lives trying to keep Rubes away from them!

Ciclo de Cevera

A successful bike ride 😃

Tasty basic Spanish fare 

Around Cevera

So now was the time to start to think about our journey home. With less than a week before we needed to get the train, a decision had to be made as to which route we’d go. Looking at the weather map for the forthcoming week, it was a no brainier - head straight north to San Sebastián, and up the west coast of France - much more sun and warmer temperatures promised - again 🤣 

So what we originally planned, being settled somewhere we wanted to be for @12 days, turned into a bit of an unexpected nomadic road trip of exploration and discovery. Great to find new and interesting places, and also increase our knowledge of places we’d want to avoid in the future! As well as not particularly feeling settled anywhere, perhaps the main disappointment was the weather - not that we were looking for extreme high temperatures, but what we ended up with was a lot of grey cloud and very little sunshine, which can make things quite chilly when travelling with the van, and spending large amounts of time outside. But I guess all the ups and downs of travelling, and probably still better than the weather back home 😃 Interesting as we travel realising what is important to us, and what we are prepared to compromise on. So not our favourite 12 days, but still feeling very fortunate to be away, enjoying travelling, and being able to get outdoors, even if things don’t always work out as we might have hoped 😃

Hasta luego 😃

Cevera