Hiking through Castellón - Day 8 to Ares del Maestre

It is possible to walk all the way to Morella in a day, but it is a very big day (I’ve done it twice).  The total walk is 34km and takes around 10 hours. If you like a challenge, it’s an epic way to finish the walk through Castellón but it does mean rushing through Ares del Maestre.  Ares del Maestre is lovely and, if you have any appreciation of hilltop towns, is a place to enjoy.  It also features a nice hotel.

Sensible people will make a leisurely start, have a late breakfast, have a look around Benasal, then set off to Ares del Maestre which is just 11km and between 3 and 4 hours away.  Although I haven’t stayed in it, the menu in the little town’s hotel looks very nice and of course you don’t have to start it until about three o’clock.  If you need more exercise, there are some excellent circular walks from Ares del Maestre with the attached just one example.

Benasal

Hiking through Castellón - Day 7 to Benasal

After a day spent in Vistabella del Maestrazgo, with a little detour up the Penyagolosa, it’s back to business as usual and another march across the wild and almost empty uplands of Castellón.

Hiking through Castellón - Day 5 to Vistabella del Maestrazgo

Walking through Castellón is getting better and better.  Day 5 was wonderful and it’s hard to see how it can be topped.  The weather was perfect, it was a tough, challenging walk, and the scenery was absolutely amazing.  The only thing not to work was the discovery that the anticipated lunch stop, a restaurant in an ancient monastery, is only open at the weekend.  Even this wasn’t a disaster, however, because after a rushed last hour we managed to get to Vistabella del Maestrazgo before they stopped serving lunch. The drama of being the last people to arrive (3-30!) only added to the sense of achievement.

Hiking through Castellón - Day 4 to Villahermosa del Rio

If you’re on a relaxed schedule than Montanejos is an excellent place to stay for an extra day.  There is a good choice of great value accommodation and some brilliant local walks.  In particular, if you decided to visit Montan on the previous stage, and missed the Barranco de la Maimona, than you can complete an exciting, but quite short circular walk up the gorge on your ‘day-off’.  An excellent description of the route can be found by following this link.  It’s an 8km walk and can be combined with a swim in the springs.  The springs, which used to be the private preserve of a 13th Century Moorish King (and his harem), are supposed to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter and give Montanejos its spa status.

Day 4 itself is a full day’s walk, 27km long with around 1,000m of ascent and descent.  The walk splits neatly into two halves with San Vicente providing an ideal half-time stop-over point. The first half is tougher, involves a route that passing through densely wooded countryside and crosses a deep valley.  With all the hard climbing done the route then crosses a fairly flat, arid and open upland plain before making a steep descent into another valley accommodating the beautifully located Villahermosa.