Alpera to Higueruela; 22 km

In stead of going the same way back to the Levante the way we came yesterday ( to avoid the long walking on the road ), we learned from AJGuillaume’s notes that there was an alternative.
I looked in my GaiaGPS app, my route guidance on many occasions, and indeed there was another route joining the Levante after approximately 11 km.
First part was on a silent local tarmac road, and second half on natural surface. Close to the end it followed the rail track (no need to walk close to the tracks this time) and then went underneath it thru a little tunnel joining the Levante. Apart from staying away from the busier road, it also saved us about 4km. I will put it on wikiloc when i get home.

We started walking at nine o’clock as we thought we could afford us a breakfast with lovely cafe con leche. It was very cold, we needed gloves and hats and our raincoats for blocking the wind. The wind was doable still but it would definitely not be a walk in the park. Luckily the predictions were that the wind would be less in the afternoon. How we were wrong…

The wind got stronger around ten o’clock and we wondered if we should go on. We decided to go on as predictions were it would get better. At that time the wind speeds according to the weather app were 40 km with wind gusts up to 70km. And the thing is, there were no gusts, it was 70 km constant wind straight in the face. And the second thing is: the wind never stopped, the predicted smoothing of the wind force in the afternoon did not happen. There was almost nothing to protect us from the wind, no elevation differences, no bushes, no trees. By the time we got to Higueruela we were done. Debi was exhausted, at dinner she was still too tired to eat. She force fed as she knew she needed it.

We will see tomorrow. We were planning to do the long 29 km trip to Chinchilla. The wind will be less and laying down in the afternoon but we now know that weather predictions in this area or in this kind of weather are just not reliable enough. We may choose for the safe side.

Accomodation: hostal la Posada, basic, nice hot water. Good sturdy beds. 60 euro for two persons including breakfast.Read more