Hiking through Castellón - Day 3 to Montanejos

Jerica is a good place to start a journey north through Castellon.  Located on the southern border with the province of Valencia (Valencia confusingly is an ‘autonomous community’, a province within that autonomous community and a major city) it’s the first of the chain of hilltop towns that make this walk special.  It’s easy to get to from the coast by train and has plenty of accommodation.

Approaching Caudiel

The day as described goes all the way to Montanejos is 28km long and with over 1500m of climb takes at least 8hrs.  There are two shorter options: the first a 14km walk to Mas de Noguera; and the second, a 22km walk to Montan. There is interesting accommodation at both places.  There are also two routes.  One, followed by the El Cid trail, tracks the GR160 and the other the GR7.

The most important difference is that the GR160 goes through Montan which the GR7 misses. The GR7 however heads into Montanejos via the fabulous Barranco de la Maimona, a gorge famous for its cliffs and water sports.  Montan is a lovely place, a personal favorite,  but the walk from Montan to Montanejos on the GR160 is pretty average compared to the GR7.  If you have enough time stay at Montan and next day retrace your steps slightly and then pick up the GR7 and head through the gorge to Montanejos.

Hiking through Castellón - Days 1 and 2 to Jerica

Although I'm really pleased with the walk through Castellón as a whole I wouldn't do the first two day's of my itinerary again.  It's a flat, fairly monotonous route with the first day in particular involving a lot of road walking. Cycling along this route, particularly given the wonderful weather we enjoyed, would have been brilliant. 

The roads followed on the first day were minor rural ones, which in Spain are virtually traffic free, and on the second day the route joins a disused railway line which, with its gentle gradients, was a perfect for cycling. The first three days of the walk through Castellón are based on the relatively new 'El Cid' route which extends over 1,000km and goes all the way from Burgos in NW Spain down to Elche on the SW coast.  The route is probably designed as an alternative to the popular Camino de Santiago and as well as walkers has been developed to attract road and off-road cyclists and even motorists. The website is brilliant providing trip notes, accommodation suggestions, and GPX trails with variants  for each type of traveler.