Thursday 7th April Bocairent to Vallada

Having spent most of my working life suffering from chronic lack of sleep (inability to disengage the brain), one of the joys of massive amounts of exercise is that this isn't normally a problem. Even in a different bed every night, with a lot of unfamiliar noise, I'm dead to the world. For some reason, however, it didn't work like last night and for once a 26 kilometre walk with 1500 metres of climb didn't feel like the best thing to be doing.

As usual had agreed to meet Christine Durrant, my walking companion at the moment, in a bar at eight in the morning for a coffee kick start, and two coffees were enough at least to get me moving. It was a lovely morning, the old part of Bocairent looked great, but soon we were out of the town and travelling across a huge expansion of what looks very similar to moorland in the UK accept it was dry and had been burnt to a cinder by a disgruntled bombero (nicer word than fireman). He started three separate fires to prove to his ex-workmates that they couldn't do without him.


Bocairent

Fire damaged mountain side
After that it was a long descent into a broad valley via some ancient Moorish mule tracks, brilliant walking particularly as by now we had left the cinders behind. The only problem was the initial boost provided by the double coffee shot was a long way behind me, the temperature as we descended into the valley was shooting up and there was a middle distance and slightly depressing challenge of having to climb up the other side.


Ancient Moorish mule track


No option but to bring out the big guns - Van the Man - aka Van Morrison. Pull down the hat, plug in the Ipod and let the heat do its worst. With Astral Weeks and the rest of the catalogue, the walk was transformed and I was motoring.

Suspect I could get a few days of this sort of walking, huge wide open countryside, wide tops and wide valleys. Not quite so dramatic as the last few days but the long views provided by this moorland type of scenery make it very attractive and you can crack on.


Hot and wide open countryside approaching Vallada
As it was today's walk was a good one, particularly liked Moorish mule track already mentioned, the well restored "fincas" (big farm houses) in the valley, and having climbed up to the moor again, crossed it, the really steep descent down into Vallada. Vallada doesn't have the magic of Bocairent but has everything you need. We are staying in the Giners tourist apartments which were fine.


Finca near Vallada









2 comments:

  1. I clicked on the map and up came a vast file of your blog photos including a number that us readers haven't seen. The map's the last one. Hadn't realised you were now so close to Alicante? Could almost pop over for the weekend.
    Don't bump into Dave and Sam. He's treated her to a Ryan Air flight to southern Spain to celebrate her 40th birthday.

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  2. I love the map, thanks

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