España Andorra Francia EspañaPlatja del Trabucador40°37’58” N 0°44’44” E
27 de octubre de 2022, España ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
We survived the night. Yes it was as creepy as creepy gets and just after Ellie put her headphones on and went to sleep I heard footsteps outside. They probably weren’t human. Maybe a cat or a fox or some other creature of the night, but in the middle of the night, in the pitch black it doesn’t matter how old you are, your mind still plays tricks on you.
And I’ve watched a lot of the x files recently.
Apart from that we both slept like babies. It was dead quiet and it was cool which helped.
At 7am I was awake and I’d planned a 30km bike ride but I actually ached from our little jaunt yesterday which is unlike me so I’m putting it down to not being recovered from covid fully and I scrapped the bike ride.
We left Castillo just after 9am and took a 50 mile journey across the other side of the Deltaebrè. The furthest point you can drive a normal vehicle right to the beach at Ampolla to hopefully see the Flamingos on the salt flats. We had tried finding them the other day but ti no avail and Ellie was desperate to try again before we left the area.
It took us just over an hour to get to the rice paddies and with water either side of us and the sea looming closer in front I suddenly saw a sea of pink on the left out the window. We pulled over and there they were. Thousands and thousands of flamingos. It was literally a pink sea as far as you could see and the noise was incredible. Atlast we had seen them, no wonder they call it a flamboyance.
We carried on driving another 1/2 mile or so until we came to the beach and then we drove on to the beach and parked up, opened all the windows, had some lunch and then fell asleep for an hour listening to the sea.
After our quick nap and feeling refreshed we headed for Ampolla town to do some shopping. Lidl was our first choice but it was tiny and had a tiny car park so we settled on Mercadonna which was easier but it’s more expensive. Luckily, except for fruit juice we just needed salad items.
Just off the roundabout by Lidl the was a huge Chinese outlet, these places sell absolutely anything and everything and we wanted a long reach squeegee to clean the solar panel, we found one and also replaced our smashed up draws that broke when everything fell out of the cupboards in Andorra. That was a right bonus because now we could put our packets and tins back into draws and free up cupboard space again.
From Ampolla we headed back to Roquettes and to our favourite little Airè with free electric. It wasn’t that we needed electric but tomorrow is going to be a washing day and I wanted to ride some more of the Viaverde greenway.
We parked up at 4:30pm, sorted the draws out and rearranged the cupboards back to normal. Then at 5:15 I set off down the Viaverde baix greenway heading away from Roquettes, passing through Aldover, then Xerta, and out to the Xerta hydroelectric damn about 25km away. There I stopped and grabbed a couple of pictures and then turned around.
Again I was amazed at how easy it is to cycle here. Pedestrians and cyclists are steered away from traffic at every convenience making it a real pleasure to cycle or walk anywhere and from one cycleway you can branch to another and another covering hundreds if not thousands of miles all across Spain.
Chasing daylight I arrived back at Wanda at 7:15pm just after the sun had set, very sweaty. I showered while Ellie made a salad for dinner and after we had eaten it was TV time until we both fell asleep around 10pm.Leer más
EspañaArtana39°52’57” N 0°16’35” W
28 de octubre de 2022, España ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We were up at 8am bright and early. Today was washing day and moving day.
By 9am Wanda was packed and ready to move and after helping a Dutch guy sort his water filler out it was our turn at the fill and dump station. We emptied our grey and refilled the fresh water and we were ready, then it was off to the eroski supermarket where the washers and driers were to wash our clothes and get some last minute supplies and then route plan.
We only had a few bits to wash so the small washing machine got the abuse this time and while that did it’s job I planned the next airè for the night.
We were moving area completely today. I’ll be sad to leave Catalonia and this area in particular. The people have been really friendly and the sense of freedom is amazing. Everything has been geared up to get you outside doing things, whether it’s on a bike or foot, and to top it off most of it is free. Free parking, free trails, free castles and free museums. We’re going to miss this place but the road beckons and there’s lots more to see.
Our next destination for this trip is Valencia and the caves of Saint Joseph but after checking online and booking tickets we’re going to have to wait until Wednesday to visit them which gives us a chance to get to the area and explore a bit first.
I found a few Airès on park4night that have been set up as a community organisation in really small towns. All are free and most offer water and a dump station. Including the caves of Saint Joseph. I chose one in the small mining town of Ardena that had good reviews, said it was quiet. Once the washing was finished we headed out of the car park turned right onto the one way system, done a U turn at the first roundabout and pointed in the direction of Valencia and promptly came to an abrupt stop as a protest got underway on the next roundabout. We obviously don’t know what it was about but it seemed every farmer on there tractors were protesting about something important and to prove that point they tipped dead of clippings all down the road and across the roundabouts stopping all traffic. It was a nightmare and the police just watched.
It took us 30 minutes to get going again, and as we were driving out of Roquettes a string of tractors tipping olive clippings behind them were coming on the opposite side of the road and it went in for about a mile.
Once we got onto the motorway of the AP-7 it was plain sailing. We had 70 miles to go and 60 of them flew past with no hold ups. The AP-7 runs right the way down the west coast and as we neared Valencia we could see the tourist resorts with there high rise hotels looming over the sea in the distance. We wouldn’t be going near them.
Leaving the motorway we headed into the Valencian mountains, hitting winding roads and passing ancient churches and the remains of castles as we neared our park up in the small mining town of Armena.
We drove right through Armena on the main drag and as we came out the other side our stop was down a little hill on the right and as we pulled in we could see it was going to be nice.
We would staying at the Ermita de Santa Christa, or the hermitage of Saint Christa. It’s an ancient church with a font or water source flowing from it and our parking spot is set in amongst the olive groves. It’s beautifully kept and really quiet with a free flowing river next to us. There were already 2 motorhomes here and another one pulled up just after us and now with the 4 of us here it seems full. But we all have our own private space.
It was now around 2:30pn and after a light lunch we checked out the church which is locked but we could still see inside. Then we checked out the river and headed back to Wanda deciding on what our plan of attack was going to be for tomorrow.
I checked google maps and there were a few possibilities, including the castle in Armena, some mines which are open to explore and various hikes.
Ellie didn’t fancy the castle so I said I’d ride to it and check it out so I unloaded the bike, got changed and headed out.
From the Airè there is a track running all the way through the olive groves that leads to town about a mile away so I took that and was at the town within 10 minutes. I ride through the cobbled streets that were ultra tight even in my bike. We would never be able to get Wanda down these, it felt claustrophobic on my bike. I kept cycling all the time ascending until I came to a lonely track on it’s own at the far end of town that led up to the castle and it looked like a wall of concrete. It was 3/4 mile long and a 13% gradient all the way. Why did they have to build castles up high?
I was up for the challenge, dropped to my last gear and went for it. It was an ultra killer climb and half way up I felt like I was having an asthma attack and it was that point I realised that covid had probably affected my chest after all. My legs felt fine, my mind was straight, my gearing was good. I just couldn’t breathe and by the time I reached the top I was gasping.
I took my breath and a couple of photos before making the scary decent down. 13% in a straight line for 3/4 mile is super scary especially with a 180° 20 meter hair pin bend at the bottom and a brick wall.
From the castle I rode further out, leaving the town and the roads and heading onto gravel tracks through the woods to one of the old mines.
It was a couple of miles and I found the trail to the mine saying it was another 500 meters and as the sun was beginning to set I started to head back taking a different path. I hadn’t realised how far up I had come and going back a different way I did some crazy descending and crazy speeds over really rough and rocky terrain before finally emerging from the woods back onto tarmac. Then it was just a couple of miles back through the olive groves to Wanda where Ellie had made a dinner of chicken wraps.
After dinner we sat and watched the darkness take the mountain view before closing the blinds and settling in for the night.Leer más
EspañaArtana39°53’35” N 0°15’52” W
29 de octubre de 2022, España ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
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.Leer más
EspañaPlaza de España39°58’6” N 0°15’50” W
30 de octubre de 2022, España ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
At midnight last night some kids passed down the olive grove track and were screaming and shouting. It went in for ages and I could here them getting closer and closer. I was worried we were going to be in for some confrontation but eventually they passed us all by and we could hear them wandering off and shouting really loud in the distance. Ellie heard them again at 4am but by that time I was well asleep.
The clocks went back last night so we gained an extra hour in bed and woke up at 7:30am which would have been 8;30 real time, and that extra hour was needed after the commotion of the night.
We both had a shower first thing and then breakfast and by 10am Wanda was packed up and ready to leave.
We only had a short journey to take to our next town but first we needed diesel and that turned out to be a right faff.
The first garage we went to was automated but didn’t have any English instructions which is unusual. To top that off they had 2 pumps at each pump station and they all said Gas A or Gas B. Not diesel or petrol or gazoile as in most garages. After we figured the pump out we realised we could only put in a maximum of €40 which filled us up to just under half. So we settled on that and hoped we put the right fuel in.
A mile down the road we came to a repsol garage and that was also automated but they do have English instructions. The strange thing was again it just said Gas A or Gas B. We put in €50 this time and luckily the pump readout said Diesel so we had guessed right and now we were almost full.
We reset the sat Nav and then drove the 3 miles to our next park up in the large town of Onda.
The park4night reviews had said that this place was quiet and tranquil but first impressions were anything but that but we decided to bite the bullet and stay anyway.
Onda is a huge town and a huge sporting town with it’s own football pitch, Olympic swimming pool and velodrome. A huge sports complex and a gymnasium. It also played host as the start of stage 7 in the 2019 La Vuelta and every single cycle path through the city is marked up with that fact.
Driving in, it looked very industrial with warehouses and retail parks all around but as we came in the main roads off of the motorway that was kind of expected. Onda is actually steeped in history going right back to the 10th century with a massive castle, huge church and hundreds of historical streets right in the old part in the town centre. It also has a festival running throughout October called the fear of Onda where there are fairs, street artists and performers, food stalls, arts and crafts and even bull running.
We parked up around 11:30am and straight away locked up and went for a walk down a a street market we had just passed. We thought there would be food on offer but really it was just toys and Chinese crap so after 20 minutes we headed back to Wanda for some lunch.
Around 2pm as I was sorting out cycling routes for later in the trip hundreds of fireworks started going off. They lasted for about 20 minutes but we couldn’t see them but they were the loudest fireworks we’d ever heard. Once the fireworks were over all the cars that were parked on the road left and the town suddenly became a lot quieter.
At 4pm we decided to go for a walk and see where the castle was. We knew it had been closed today but plan on going tomorrow so checking out the route seemed a good idea.
We headed off down past the sports park and then turned right up a huge high street where all the shops were closed for Sunday except cafes. Before long we came to the old part of the town and continued up a maze of winding streets and narrow allyways which was a complete contrast from where we had just come from. At the top of the Narrow allyways was the castle but it was completely fenced off by the police for the castle of fire display. This was obviously where the fireworks had come from.
We turned right following a walkway around the castle and then dropped down some steps back into the narrow allyways and then we noticed that every single door and window had a metal gate across it. The streets were super narrow now, with what seemed like coloured streamers hanging from the balconies and some of the streets now had metal barriers across them so you could close some streets off. Then Ellie noticed that the streamers were infact firecrackers and as we rounded a corner we came to the bull enclosure. These were the streets where the bull running takes place and it had happened a couple of days ago. It was fascinating to see the streets and the aftermath.
We then came to an old church with a highly decorated facade and even it’s doors were metal to protect them from the Bulls horns.
Slightly disoriented now we decided to head back for Wanda down the rat runs of little streets until we eventually passed through the town square and back into civilisation and major streets. The town is a funny mix of new and old.
It was now 5pm and we’d had a good walk and knew where to go tomorrow. Back at Wanda we had dinner and listened to a guy beating the biggest drum from a marching band at the local football match. It was annoyingly funny. He was very enthusiastic especially when his team scored a goal.
At 9:10pm the second lot of fireworks were released from the castle and this time we could see them. It was a spectacular display and once again the bangs were deafening as they ricocheted off the nearby mountains and bounced back and fourth. The whistles sounded very weird as they too bounced around the mountains gradually fading away. It lasted about 10 minutes in total and managed to set off every dog barking within a 20 mile radius and they carried on barking long into the night and the early hours. This place is far from tranquillity the reviews mentioned.Leer más
EspañaEslida39°54’2” N 0°16’60” W
31 de octubre de 2022, España ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
This morning we were awake at 7:30am thanks to heavy traffic starting to pass, probably on there way to work. We had breakfast and a couple of coffees and then couldn’t do much until after 10am.
We had plans to visit the castle today and it didn’t open until 10:30am so at 10:10am we packed our bags and took the 1 1/2 mile trek through the busy streets of Onda and up through the historic old town to the castle.
The castle dates back to the 10th century but over the years it has been home to the moors/Muslims, romans and the Christians. In it’s original condition back in the 10th- 11th century it was called the castle of 300 towers as there was once a tower for every day of the year although this is not the case now. But there are still lots of towers.
We approached the castle up a steep slope and saw the remains of last nights fireworks scattered all over the access ramp, then we walked over the old drawbridge and through the gates into the castle. We were greeted by a Spanish lady working there asking us our nationality. She was very smiley and told us our visit was free. It still amazes us that these castles have been restored, artefacts are on display, walkways and lighting and information boards have been erected and it costs nothing for people to visit.
Inside, the grounds of the castle are massive and some parts have faired much better over the years than others. The newest parts being that of the church and school building erected by the monks who lived in the castle in the 1920’s. This is now the castle museum.
The oldest parts are really just foundations now but you could clearly see the layout of rooms and the old steps and archways were still present. It must have been an ominous sight in it’s glory days high up on the hilltop.
After our visit to the castle we went back through the old town looking at the old buildings and visiting the ancient town square before heading back to Wanda. Then it was shopping time at Lidl, and this Lidl was huge and well stocked so we managed to do a whole shop and refill the cupboards.
From Onda I decided we would head back to Artana because atleast we would be able to sleep and it was closer to the caves where we would be heading tomorrow so we pointed Wanda in that direction and drove the 13 miles back to our little park up in the olive groves at the hermitage of Santa Christa.
We had lunch and then I suggested going for a walk as it was only 2 o clock in the afternoon so we once again packed our bags with drinks and headed off through the olive and orange trees down the olive track scrumping orange’s as we went. They were the sweetest oranges ever.
At the bottom of the olive track about 2 miles from Wanda we took a left and followed the gravel track up into the mountains to the old mercury mines. It was a steep trek to get to the footpath that led to the mines but finally on our third attempt of getting here we had made it. No hunters this time.
We headed up the trail for the Mines and the gradient got steeper and steeper, then we came to the old houses that I had visited the other day on my bike.
We carried on climbing higher and higher and now we were well above the canopy of the tree line and we could see for miles. The path was loose gravel and boulders and is the same path the miners used back in the 1700’s it was treacherous with a sheer drop of the side into the forest below on one side.
After almost a kilometre of climbing we eventually came to a sign that said galleries with 2 arrows. One further up and one to the side. I chose the one that went up and after another 150 meters of climbing we came to the mines.
We both expected a couple of holes in the walls with a grate to stop us going any further but these mines were actually open. There were no safety barriers, nothing to stop us entering, no hand rails, no lights.
We could hardly believe our luck that we had found a real place to explore and as we entered the first mine it just went miles back with passages leading off in all directions.
We only had our phones for light but I did have my proper camera and set it for 4 second exposures. The place was vast.
The second mine we went in was even larger and at the entrance there was a ventilation shaft with a rope across it that said danger, Ventilation. We looked down but couldn’t see the bottom. We were 500 meters up so the shaft could be hundreds of meters deep and after throwing a few stones down it, it sounded hundreds of meters deep.
We followed a path around the shaft and down a tunnel and it opened up into a huge cavern with more tunnels leading from it. As I set the camera up and shone my phone down the cavern we could hear the bats. They sounded like they were whispering to each other.
Finding the mines and being able to explore them on our own and in our own time was a real wow factor. That’s what makes these trips so special, and today was a really special day. There’s not too many people that have explored a real mine from the 1700’s on there own, and I don’t know that many people that could have made the journey just to get to them.
We made the even more treacherous journey back down the path taking it slow because one trip or slip could have been fatal and once we had reached the end of the track back onto gravel we headed back for Wanda, it was a 13km trek scrumping more oranges on our way and by the time we got back the sun was setting and we were ready for dinner and settling in for the night. Our planned, not so busy day had been packed with adventure.Leer más
Españala Vall d'Uixó39°49’27” N 0°14’32” W
1 de noviembre de 2022, España ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We were woken up early this morning at 7:30 by the same mr noisy that walked past us shouting on Saturday night. I had assumed they were drunk then but now I’m not so sure. I climbed out of bed, threw my jogging bottoms in and a T-shirt and then jumped out the door. I do hate being woken up by noisy inconsiderate people so I was quite up for giving this guy a piece of my mind.
I could still hear him as clear as day as I moved further away from Wanda into the olive grove but he was nowhere to be seen. Then I climbed up onto an old wall and I could see him.
There were 2 men walking up the main road about 150 meters away and they were just talking. These 2 must have the loudest voices in Spain.
I went back to Wanda and told Ellie how far away they were. She couldn’t believe it either because they did sound like they were right outside the window.
At 8am after a couple of coffees we unmade the bed and had breakfast and at 9:30am we left the olive groves of Artana for our next destination.
Today was going to be another short drive of just 15 miles to the large town of La Vall d’Uixõ, and it took us just 40 minutes to get there taking a relatively slow pace. We would be staying in the parking lot of the caves of St Joseph. This was the whole reason we had been hanging around in this area. The tickets are booked for 10:30am tomorrow but we can stay in the motorhome area for upto 48hrs free of charge so we thought we’d get there a day early and check the area out.
We arrived around 10:30am and the smallest car park was already busy, but to my delight the motorhome area was completely free except for one lonely vanlifer.
We levelled up and made tea and then decided to go for a walk. We headed towards town first of all to see the old Roman viaduct following the path of the dried up river. It looked like they had tried to make a bit of a feature of the viaduct at one point with a large park area at the bottom but the park was now quite overgrown the path that lead through it was covered in dog poo and once you were in the park we had no access to the viaduct and there was no information.
We turned around and headed back towards the car park and then we headed up the steps to where the caves were.
The area was packed with people because today is a bank holiday in Spain for all saints day and normally you have to book tickets for the caves but for halloween they do tickets in the door and it’s called Jurassic Park/Jurassic Caves. The queues to get in were massive.
From the entrance to the caves we headed up to an old hermitage above the caves and some ancient ruins. There was a timeline with the ruins and they dated back to 10,000 years before Christ. All that is left now are foundations from the Roman period.
After that we went back to Wanda for lunch and at 2pm I was getting restless so checked my bike app for trails in the area, I found a relatively short ride that said it would take around 3 hours so I loaded my water bottles, put on my Lycra and headed off.
Most of the climbing I had to do was within the first 8km and it was a real struggle climbing up a never ending 15% gradient. I didn’t want to stop until I was sure the big climbs were done and I felt like I’d been out for ages. I was trying to work out how far I thought I might have come and as the ground looked like it levelled off I took a sneaky look at my phone. I had ridden nearly 9km. The tough gradients were done. I took time to recover and get my breath back before starting my first decent and when the decent did come I was flying down at 50kph. Even on the gravel sections I was doing 48kph.
I took an hour off the estimated ride time of 3 hours by completing it in 2hrs 20mins and covered 45 kilometres, burning off 1100 calories.
By the time I got back to Wanda at 5pm I was ready for a shower and dinner.
I put the hot water on, clipped my bike onto the back and covered it and Ellie started dinner while I jumped in the shower.
At 7:20pm the car parks are still packed, we think most people must be using the restaurants up near the caves and there’s still runners, walkers and people playing tennis even though it is dark.
We don’t think this is going to be a very peaceful place to sleep but we are where we need to be for the morning and it is only one night. To top it off we’ve still only paid €5 for parking since we left home.Leer más
EspañaMasías Blancas39°58’3” N 0°37’60” W
2 de noviembre de 2022, España ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
We didn’t get much sleep as expected. The local kids seem to think it’s hilarious to come into the car parks and play really loud music from there car stereos and honk the horns. It’s really sad that just a couple of car loads can’t find anything better to do when there is so much on offer. All of the sports facilities are open until really late including swimming, football and tennis. It’s not as if there’s nothing else to do.
By 1:30am the kids had gone and the moron vanlifers had finally settled in for the night after turning up late and then having a chat outside for half an hour.
At 7:30am the noise started up again with cars turning up laden with people ready for another working day so that’s when we got up.
We couldn’t do much until 10am so we lounged around, had breakfast and plotted a route for later in the day and finally 10am came around and we headed for The Caves Of Saint Joseph.
We had already purchased online tickets and because of this we were first in the queue and at 10:30 they finally let us in and we were first into the boats.
The Caves are the longest flooded, navigable caves in Europe and there’s not alot of headroom once your moving in the boat. They were beautifully lit with overhead dim lighting and underwater lighting making it seem a very magical experience. Halfway through the tour we got out and walked through an unflooded section for about 10 minutes before arriving at another exit and getting back in the boat and returning the way we had come. It was a brilliant experience and well worth the €14 each to get in, although I was slightly gutted we couldn’t take photos.
The tour lasted around 45 mins and once we got back to Wanda we battoned down the hatches, filled up with fresh water and left the noisy car park for a quieter place to sleep.
Our first stop was in town at one of the Chinese supermarkets called SUPERWANG, which we thought was hilarious as we wanted some candles in jars for the evenings. From there we headed for the town of Navajas and a small little car park where there was a waterfall. Ellie found the waterfall on trip advisor but when we done the research the reviews were really bad with people saying the waterfall was dryed up, they couldn’t get park and there was just a dirty pool of mud at the site. We were going past anyway so I decided we may aswell just stop and have a look. It wouldn’t cost us anything except time.
Once parked, we headed down a small track on a very steep hill, past a ticket kiosk that was closed but tickets to view the waterfall should have been €2 each so as the ticket booth was closed we automatically assumed there would be no falls.
How wrong we were.
Le Salto de La Novia is one of the highest falls in Spain and the highest in the Castellon region and the story behind it is that many years ago brides to be would jump across a narrow part of the river and if they made it there marriage would be set in stone, but one day a bride to be jumped over a wider part of the river and fell in, her husband to be jumped in to save her but they were both swept downstream and over the falls to there deaths. This is why the waterfall runs white the colour of her wedding dress.
The falls were massive and even though they are so high there was huge amounts of falling water so you can actually get really close even though you do get a little wet.
There is also a split at the top of the falls creating a second water fall that is equally impressive but you can’t get very good photos but it was still amazing. It was well worth the stop. And it cost us nothing but time.
From Navajas it was a short 13 mile drive right out into the sticks at an abandoned railway station in the remote town of Masadas Blancas. The Via Verde Ojos Negros runs directly through here. It is the longest green cycleway in Spain covering a total of 267km and tomorrow I’m going to cycle a large portion of it.
It was now 4pm, we decided we would go for a short walk after our early dinner and trekked 3 miles down the greenway. We passed through tunnels, over a viaduct and by lots of woods where we saw deer. As the sun set we turned around and headed for Wanda. It looked like we were going to have a quiet night at last and it would definitely be very dark. There’s nothing around for miles.Leer más
EspañaLa Puebla de Valverde40°11’4” N 0°54’25” W
3 de noviembre de 2022, España ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
At 6am we were woken up by a wiery mutt barking his head off. We couldn’t believe it, there’s one house nearby, otherwise we are completely in the middle of nowhere. Whoever lives in that house let’s there dog just roam free. We did see it yesterday, and at 6am something upset him and he tore off from the house barking his head off, and that went on for about 20 minutes until I opened the door and told it to shut up.
I had big plans for today, so I had an early breakfast of Spanish tortilla, put my cycling gear on, unloaded the bike from the bike rack and then loaded it up with drinks, and energy bars.
At 8:15am I left Ellie in Wanda and set off heading in the direction of Tereul. I was riding on the via verde Ojos Negras greenway which is the longest greenway in Spain covering three provinces and 267km. Today I would be covering covering half that distance and I planned it that the route would take me uphill to start with and then downhill on the way back.
8km in I came to the first abandoned railway station that has now been fully restored as a cafe with a huge play area for kids at the side, I chose not to stop here as it was still early and pushed on.
I continued through 2 huge railway tunnels and then over a massive viaduct and the landscape started to change colour as the soil turned a bright red and I was surrounded by pine trees. 20km in I came to Barracas, another abandoned railway station complete with well and there was a small town in my right. I stopped here to rehydrate for 5 minutes before pushing on, all the time the old railway line was gently rising. I knew I was high up when I rode past the wind turbines. The wind was howling now, it was quite cold and even though it was nearing 10am the sun still hadn’t shown up and to top it off it was now starting to drizzle.
Leaving the windturbines the track descended a little and I passed through a couple of small villages and then a rock archway before entering another massive tunnel and when I came out the other side the view was spectacular. I was up around 200 meters on an old viaduct. To my right were 2 other viaducts, one abandoned and the other for the newer railway line. A small river ran underneath with grass all around it. It looked very peaceful, especially as no one else was around. Infact on the whole ride I only saw 10 other people.
50km in I was really feeling the strain of constantly riding up hill into a cold damp wind but I knew it would be easier on the way home. I was still riding faster than I thought I was going to with an average speed of 19kph.
I had mapped the ride out last night and had forgotten when I had marked the point where I was to turn around but guessed it was around 60km.
I pushed on, counting down the miles to 60km and then it came and went. 62km and my phone was telling me to keep going. At 65km I had to stop and check that it was working properly, which it was, and I had just planned a stupidly long ride.
Finally at 68km the phone told me to do a U-turn and I finally stopped by a cluster of trees off the greenway. I lent the bike against a tree, got my energy drink out and my bag of sweet nuts and tucked in. And just as I started eating the rain came with the wind. It was freezing but I was actually to tired to care. I’d really been looking forward to stopping for a long break but it was pointless trying to get comfortable here in the rain so I gave it just 15 minutes and then decided to leave and head back to one of the abandoned stations to get some shelter and have another break there.
I turned the bike around and left, travelling back the way I had come. I had almost 70km to cover and it was just after midday. Fortunately it was now downhill or flat most of the way back, and almost immediately I felt the change in pace and ease in peddling as I picked up speed to a constant 30kph.
Because of the pace I was working out in my head roughly how long it would take me to get back, approximately 2.5hrs at this pace so I decided to ride for 45 mins and then stop at a station with a bench and take 20 minutes rest. The rest by now was well needed as I had travelled 90km and I struggled with myself to get going again so I promised myself another stop in 45 mins. I pushed on riding mostly downhill and by now I was using the drop handlebars riding as aero as I could at 50kph really pushing myself. On one hand I just wanted to get to the 45 minute mark, on the other hand I just wanted to get back to Wanda so I could relax.
The next 45mins came and I stopped at an abandoned station with mile markers and it stated Masadas Blancas station was 20km away. This was my stop and I knew I was nearly there. So far I had travelled 115km so 20 more would be easy. I took another 20 minute break finishing my camelpack of water and starting my second hydration drink and eating 2 energy bars, then I got back on and started flying at 40kph until I reached the windturbines again and the wind started playing havoc with my speed. It was blowing from my right and really gusty so at the base of one of the turbines I stopped to take some pictures, catch my breath and finish my hydration drink.
As I left the field of turbines the road really dropped and I knew I was on the home straight and with just 10km left I got back into aero position and used the last of energy to get back to Wanda in just 12 mins travelling at just over 50kph.
It was now 4:30pm, I was shattered and it took all my strength just to get the back strapped back on the bike rack. Ellie had been tracking me and had already put the oven on ready for dinner. I put the hot water on and once heated I had a very quick shower to get rid of the road dust.
I had travelled a total of 136.8km, burnt off 1880 calories, my fastest speed was 52kph and my average was 22kph. I was shattered but in a good way. Today I really feel as though I got something out of my system.
Tomorrow we will be moving on and not a moment to soon as the sun has not been playing ball the last couple of days and the solar is really suffering. I just hope Barky Mc Mutt Mutt doesn’t give us another 6am wake up call.Leer más
EspañaVallongas38°17’56” N 0°43’5” W
4 de noviembre de 2022, España ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Last night around 9pm Barky McMutt Mutt started off again. We’re not sure what started him off but he was relentless and after us both going outside in the dark and telling him to shut up we gave up and moved.
We just drove probably 50 meters away back up onto the road over the railway lines and back down the other side.
Yes we could still here him but it wasn’t nearly as loud and luckily after watching an episode of the x files he was quiet for about 15 minutes which meant I fell asleep. Ellie heard him again through most of the night but after my bike ride I was dead to the world until 7:30am.
After a coffee we unmade the bed and then had breakfast and tidied Wanda. Today was going to have to be a day of sorting things out for being off grid so I checked park4night and found some locations to top everything off.
We left the Via Verde Ojos Negras station at 9:50am heading back in the direction of Navajas before picking up the A7 and heading south. Today we were leaving Valencia and heading to Alicante. Our first stop was to do the washing and we’d found a great little place in the town Xativia about 60 miles away.
It had a fuel station for diesel and an on-site laundrette so we washed our clothes there which took around an hour, then filled Wanda up and then went to Lidl to stock up on fresh stuff which was next door.
In total we were in Xativia for almost 2 hours and we left there at just after 1:30pm heading for the little town of L’olleria which had 2 motorhome spaces and a dump and fill station. It was only an 11 mile drive which took around 20 minutes and the station wasn’t the nicest but it was free and convenient so we couldn’t complain.
Time was ticking on now and we left L’olleria at 2:20pm with 64 miles to go.
We passed through Valencia city centre which was a nightmare as the Spanish and French have absolutely no idea how to use roundabouts and all lane discipline goes out the window when they come to one so we had a couple of scary moments. Especially when a taxi driver on my right cut across us and three lanes of traffic and then back again.
We continued down the A7 passing by Benidorm and it’s huge high rise hotels in the distance, and then Alicante before finally reaching the town of Elche. This is where we would be spending the night and first impressions weren’t looking good as we passed over roundabout to roundabout and industrial areas before finally turning off the main drag and out into the mountains.
Just 2 miles away from all the traffic we found a huge car park in the Explanada del pantano de Elche, a massive national reserve with hiking and biking trails. It was a beautiful parking spot and we had a nice little area all to ourselves.
It was now 4:30pm, we had covered 156 miles today and stocked up on everything so although it seemed like a day of nothing we had achieved quite a lot. Washing done, fuel done, shopping done, water and toilet done.
As we sat down for dinner the sun started to set and finally after nearly a month on the road we had our first amazing sunset.Leer más
EspañaLos Zancarrones37°53’26” N 1°23’51” W
5 de noviembre de 2022, España ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We had quite a good nights sleep last night except for getting battered by the wind. It wasn’t constant and seemed to roll down the mountains in waves once or twice an hour giving us a battering for a couple of minutes at a time and then stop.
The worst thing was the dust, it was like sleeping in a dust bowl and at bedtime Ellie had a coughing fit because it was so dry and I woke up twice to get a drink as I just couldn’t swallow. By the time 7:30am came around we both felt like we had been licking sand off a plate. It took hours to properly rehydrate again.
We had quite a big journey ahead of us today so just before 9am we started moving. We were now cutting inland again away from the coast in a westerly direction towards Granada.
I had planned a stop on route at a viewpoint by a reservoir and plotted the parking spot into TomTom. After 50 miles of driving at 10:30am we were almost there and the sat Nav took us off the mountain road and onto gravel tracks. This wasn’t unusual until we came to a big parking area and the single track split into four different tracks and the one we wanted said something about a danger zone and workers only and the others didn’t appear on TomTom atall.
I went to check google maps but we had no internet so after 10 minutes we decided to leave Wanda and check out the track on foot. We still had 3 miles left to get to the viewpoint.
We walked about a mile down the track and there weee a couple of big lay-bys where we could park or turn around so we then trekked back up the track to get Wanda.
Back in Wanda we drove back down the track we had just walked, this time we passed by the lay-bys as I was confident I could reverse it back to them if needed and as we rounded a bend about a mile and a half down we came to some padlocked gates and our route was blocked. I tried checking google maps again but there was still no signal but TomTom said we had a mile left so I grabbed the drone and my camera gear, locked Wanda up and we started walking.
It started off flat as we walked alongside a canal. The gates were to stop vehicles driving all the way up to the pumping station but we walked passed and then the road veered up and we started climbing. My watch told me we had already walked a mile so I topped the data up on my phone quickly and then connected to 4G as we were now out in the open with signal and google said we had another mile and a half and it would take 30 minutes. It was a nightmare walk in the burning hot sun. The saving grace was it was quite pretty and quiet and we did bring drinks. Finally at 12:15pm we arrived at the Mirador del embalse de Algeciras. This was where we wanted to be and there was our parking spot we couldn’t reach. Obviously TomTom had brought us in the wrong way.
The views were magnificent with white limestone cliffs and turquoise blue waters. Various coloured ring marks had formed around the base of the cliffs showing the water levels over the years. It was beautiful and worth the hike.
We left there at 1:10pm and on the way back to Wanda I decided we would just move further down. Ellie made sandwiches for lunch and at 2pm we started moving again coming off the A7 Mediterranean highway and turning west onto the A91 into cave house country.
At 4:15pm we arrived at a restaurant but it was the wrong one. This restaurant had hot springs which was nice but we needed a parking spot for the night so I checked park4night again, found where we should have been and at 4:45pm after another 160 miles of driving we arrived at Lake Negratín. We had seen this place on A Place In The Sun years ago and Ellie has been scouting out cave houses in the area for a couple of years so we thought we would just come and check out the area. The drive around the lake didn’t fill me with confidence as it looked quite industrial with pump houses scattered here and there and the first town we drove through looked tired and dirty but as we got closer to Freilla it did get prettier.
We found our parking spot by a closed restaurant right at the lake beach with an amazing panoramic view of the whole lake and mountains. This was one of our most scenic park ups so far. We got out to check the restaurant out and sunbathing behind the restaurant were a British couple. We got talking to them and this turned out to be there second time here in there campervan and last time they spoke to a British man who had brought a house in the area and was now selling it because the winters here are proper winters with snow and freezing temperatures. Now we definitely wouldn’t be buying a house here.
As Ellie cooked a late dinner a fox walked past us and into the woods, we sat watching him out of the window for a few minutes until he disappeared, it was the first one we had seen on the trip. After dinner at 8pm we decided we had made enough power to watch TV and watched Netflix for a couple of hours before bed, it felt like it could be a cold night with no clouds and the temperatures dropping from 25°c to just 15°c in the last 2 hours.Leer más
