Hiking & Biking in Artana

We woke up late this morning. 8:30am is late for us but we had a great nights sleep. It was cooler here in the mountains of Valencia and very quiet.
We had nowhere in particular to be today, we weren’t going to be driving and had planned a hike up to the old mercury mines about 3 miles away, so there was no rush this morning.
After a couple of Coffees and Ellie having breakfast we packed some drinks in our rucksacks and headed off down the track that I rode yesterday. Through the olive groves and orange plantation. It was very quiet with nobody else about. We passed an old water fountain dedicated to a saint on the way with a little picnic area and then we passed a makeshift shrine to another saint a little further along. Once we got to the end of the olive road we turned left and headed up the unmade gravel tracks into the forest and mountains.
A couple of mountain bikers passed by, greeting us as they did so but apart from that we had the place to ourselves and we scouted the ground and trees for animals and footprints.
Around 15 minutes later a mountain biker came towards us and as he passed he said something but not speaking Spanish we didn’t understand him but I had heard the last 2 words he spoke “El Pelegro “, I just couldn’t place where I had heard them so as he passed we said thanks and continued. 10 minutes later just before we got to the trail where the mines were there was a sign in Spanish that said “ Attention- wild boar hunting”. Now I remembered that El Pelegro meant hunting. Ellie didn’t want to risk going further and as 2 gunshots went off very close by we turned around and headed for Wanda. The bangs were incredibly loud echoing off the mountains.
We got back to Wanda just after 1pm and thought we’d head over to the hermitage restaurant for lunch. There we ordered some sautéed potatoes with bacon and a cheese sauce. We did order 1 each but only 1 meal turned up with 2 forks but it was extremely filling and really tasty.
After lunch we headed back to Wanda to chill out for a bit and then the locals started pouring into the car park.
Almost all of the picnic tables were being used and some even brought there own tables and chairs and they were all doing lunch. Some even had tablecloths and at one table it was a birthday party and they balloons, music and singing. It was very sociable.
Just after 4pm I decided to go for another bike ride up to the mines.
I donned my cycling gear and loaded my water bottles and set off down the olive track, turned left at the end and then headed up the gravel trails into the mountains. It took me about 20 minutes to reach the trail where the mines were signposted and then I diverted down that trail and into a deep wooded area and the terrain took a nasty incline upwards.
After around 500 meters of climbing at 15% I came to the old miners houses but I couldn’t find the mine entrance and wasn’t prepared to climb any further so I turned around and headed back to the gravel trail.
Back on gravel I followed my intended route climbing higher into the mountains before reaching a left hand fork which I took and started rapidly descending. It was a 6% gradient almost all of the way down and once I left the gravel and the road became tarmac I was flying down the hairpins.
At the bottom I had intended to cut across the olive plantations but these have now been fenced off so I had to come back along the main road. It was quiet so it didn’t really bother me and it was brand new tarmac so again I could get some speed up.
I got back to Wanda around 5:30pm and was gutted to see another 2 motorhomes had pulled in but as Wanda was blocked in by the locals I guessed we were going to be safe from neighbours.
Whilst we were having dinner another 2 camper vans turned up and they had trouble finding a flat spot but still our local friends stayed put in there cars with there tables and chairs out so the areas around Wanda have been free of vanlifers so far. My only concern is, that when they leave if a van does turn up late the only free spaces are right next to us now.
At 7:30pm, with the sun setting the locals left. Everyone seems to be shut in the vans and motorhomes having dinner or watching Tv.
It had been exhausting day for not having much planned.Weiterlesen