18th March – Cross County to Bilbão

The day dawned to start our return to Bilbão, neither of us was keen given the terrible weather reports from Blighty. Nevertheless we had to go, but decided to stay in the immediate vicinity of Benicàssim and go up the mountains via a zig-zag road into the Desert de les Palmes with tremendous views down the slopes to the sea. I’m not phased by driving the narrow, winding roads, even in a 3.5 ton motorhome, in fact I prefer these roads to the monotonous Autovia dashing from one location to another. Having learned to drive in rural Shropshire it reminds me of locations in the hills with fantastic scenery, breath-taking views around every bend, I’m often checking the mirrors and stopping for yet another photo!

The panorama spreading out below was of an old monastery, now a collapsing ruin, sitting forlorn on the side of the mountain. Higher up was the replacement monastery, complete with restaurant overlooking the view.

It was only a short visit and the drive down the other side  was less winding and we could started the journey north through countryside dotted with farms and terracotta villages. A noticeable change was the arable crops, tumbledown barns and also that the almond trees were now covered in bright green leaves, also yellow flowering bushes and pink wild flowers along the roads. We climbed to over 4,000 feet through rocky mountains where the rocks were red in colour with streaks of gold and chestnut, and far below the river sparkled in the sun.

Reaching the vast empty plains on the flat uplands, the areas of cultivation were separated only by shallow mounds of earth before a change of crop; not a fence, hedge or tree in sight. Reaching Teruel we parked opposite the Police Station with around 30 other motorhomes and walked over the old road bridge, now only for pedestrians, and into the city, quickly locating the Oficina de Turismo for a tourist map. With all the points of interest identified we sorted a route out to encompass them all and were soon admiring the colourful buildings, and squares where we paused for a coffee.

The wonderful Mudéjar architecture style with its elaborate ceramic decoration and brickwork is found in many of the buildings. The city has several towers, tall and elegant with ceramic colours in blues, greens and white, a lovely cathedral currently being renovated, plazas with pastel coloured tall buildings above shops or restaurants, a large town hall, with narrow streets, an ancient aqueduct, city walls and gates.

One of my favourite areas was the Escalinata, a big staircase, built in 1920 with elaborate brickwork and ceramics, a plasterwork frieze and two curving staircases, meeting on a terrace and leading down to a park.

 

We spent several hours in the town before needing to continue our journey to our campsite at Alberracín which overlooked the town nestled between the rocks with its fortifications outlined on the hills above the town.

With an over night temperature of 2° Celsius, the sun made a welcome appearance quite early to warm things up a but. Walking the short distance to the medieval town, we were well wrapped up against the biting cold wind and temperatures of only 8° at mid-day. It was a considerable shock to the system as the day before we had been basking in 27° on the coast.

The beautiful warm colours of the buildings and natural red coloured rock gave the town a welcoming feel whilst walking seeing around the town following a map from the tourist office. The town hall was situated in a square surrounded by buildings, but the funniest thing was the assembly of beer delivery lorries, in all shapes and sizes – they must have known Chris was in town!

The incredibly narrow streets snaked between the high walls winding their way though the town and popping out at all random places, down by a park, uphill at the cathedral, along by a vegetable garden, I’m sure it would take while to remember which street went where.

After exploring for a while by ourselves, we took a guided tour of the cathedral, in Spanish, and needless to say we knew several words but couldn’t keep up or put the sentences together!  However, we could sneak off to admire and photograph the amazing cathedral without the group who were dutifully listening to the guide. The restoration of the cathedral took 10 years; 6 years for the inside and 4 years for the exterior; the ceilings had the vaulting ribs picked out in colour and the gold above the alter was stunning, what a fantastic result, such dedication and now ready for the next 100 years or so.

The only photo I could take of the Cathedral

Photo of before restoration, floor plan and old paintings

There was so much to see in the town; a walk up to the castle with its view over the surrounding landscape, a 45 minute river walk and the rest of the town, but it was very cold with a biting wind so we decided to return to do the place justice, maybe in late September. Also in the area were ancient rock paintings and a Roman aqueduct as well as numerous walks, so we left the area with things to look forward to.
Setting off towards the Rioja region near Logroño, as ever we took the ‘back road’, the A1502, around 33 miles of it done at an average of 25-30mph. The scenery was spectacular but the road surface was not! Bessie filled the road in places, a handy white line painted down each side to keep me away from the edges. The road was so quiet you could let children and dogs loose with no problem, (thankfully we have neither of these accompaniments with us), we met only a couple of cars, two tiny tractors and a lorry in one village, so there was no problem navigating or stopping for photos. Passing along a valley full of peach, cherry and pear trees, the blossom was just about to fill the area with pink, some trees were already out but lots more ready, in about two weeks time it will be spectacular.

Finding larger roads eventually speeded up the journey, crossing open countryside with huge wind turbines lined up along the ridges making the most of the wind in the exposed areas. Prairies of new corn growing, only 6 inches at the moment but looking lush and green, also acres of cultivated ground in a multitude of colours giving the landscape a patchwork quilt effect.

In the distance massive red rocks loom ahead and soon I’m driving between them, Griffin vultures circling overhead and the honking of ravens echoing from the walls of the canyon, so pleased I found a stopping place.

Finally, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea at our last campsite at Navarette. Surrounded by daisies, watching bees and butterflies, with a red kite lazily drifting on the breeze and a backdrop of gentle rolling hills, it was a beautiful finale to our 22 weeks in Spain. The area is full of vineyards, still all woody without a leaf in sight; some grown low down and trained horizontally with no wires, others only 12-18 inches high looking like a jumble of dead twigs and then more on a series of supports with the thin bare branches trained along the wires. Maybe we’ll take a bottle of the good juice home with us!

Today we drive to Bilbão and all that will remain is to catch the ferry; hopefully the Bay of Biscay will behave, let us have a gentle crossing and some sleep before we get back into Portsmouth and home to Salisbury.

1st March – Benicàssim

Benicàssim is located where the red pin is

The short distance from Jávea to Xeraco led to our pre arranged meeting for coffee with my Spanish email friend, Vicent and his wife Isabel. Around a year had gone by since we had last seen each other and both Chris and I were able to use more Spanish while talking with them, and Vicent’s level of English has also improved. It would be great to be able to talk with each other with more improvements next year so we must keep learning and practising.
Onward in a northerly direction to Benicàssim, just inland through the fertile lowlands between the coast and the mountains, we passed by the fields full of artichokes and broccoli being harvested by hand. Where the oranges have been picked, the trees are now starting to blossom with sweet smelling creamy white flowers. We pass several lorries full of boxes of oranges and lemons, and as we saw in Jávea, there are many hundreds of oranges left on the ground after the pickers have been through the groves. This region has acres of citrus fruit trees and terraces of almond trees where the blossom has faded fast and small furry green nuts are now visible.

Almonds nuts in furry shells

We were allocated a lovely sunny pitch at Bonterra Park in Benicàssim and soon found friends further up the site that we made back in Martial Costa near Crevillente! We would definitely be spending time catching up with both couples, games of boules, and card games of Uno and Sevens as well as quizzes and meals together along with a few Happy Hours! Chris cooked a wonderful paella one afternoon and a great time was had by all.

For a bit of Spanish culture, we took the opportunity of a trip to the carnival in Vinaròs, about an hour away by coach. It was a late sunny afternoon when we arrived and we could soon hear the music, with many people in colourful intricate costumes and decorated vehicles covered with lights. When the parade started, the music volume and noise levels increased, men banging drums, whistles, instruments and batons swinging, adults and children all looked so happy and joyful. The tractors pulling highly decorated trailers with scantily clad women and girls dancing and twirling through the streets were amazing and it went on for hours. The later it got the colder it got, darkness now showing the lighting off to the full benefit, and still the parades continued with no break, I can’t begin to imagine just how many floats there would have been. Thankfully before we froze, it was time to get the coach back, it had been a brilliant experience and one not to be missed.

Behind the campsite is a long section of Via Verde, a disused rail track, now surfaced for walkers and cyclists. We used this a lot, one day we walked to the next town of Oropesa del Mar with tunnels, huge rock cuttings and tremendous views of the sea. The pathway is lined with flowers even in March, the wonderful smell of pine trees, colourful rocks and finally we passed a pretty marina, it is a beautiful walk.

 

We saw two old watch towers which were used for coastal defence, two foot soldiers manned the tower and two horse riders covered the distant between and communicated between the towers. After a good rest, drinks and lunch we retraced our steps, the whole walk covering 13 miles, I did ache a bit next day!
We walk every day and the promenade is always nice, it’s wide and paved with palm trees and benches scattered along it’s length. At weekends it gets really busy with locals enjoying the beach and restaurants, children playing on beach playgrounds and I loved this boy making enormous bubbles with water and soap.

There are numerous old villas at one end of the beach dating from late 19th century to mid 20th century, with descriptions on notice boards which make interesting reading. Villa Amparo is an American colonial style built between 1880 and 1920, it was used as a hospital during the Spanish Civil War to treat infectious diseases. It was also the place where Ernest Hemmingway and war correspondent Marta Gellhorn enjoyed a romance.

Taking a service bus for a day out to Marina d’Or which is situated on the north side of Oropesa del Mar, we came over an attractively tiled bridge we passed underneath a huge metal bridge shaped like an abstract animal. The streets were full of flowers making a colourful welcome, also there is a the huge display of street lighting in intricate designs which must be lovely in the evening.

We had been told about some beautiful gardens situated next to the promenade next to the beach and we weren’t disappointed. Surrounded by decorative walls, pillars and ornate wrought iron railings it is a contained green oasis with palm trees and cactus garden, ancient olive trees.

Colour was provided by flower beds of geranium, osteospermum, pansy, chrysanthemum and roses not yet out, also a small lake with huge Koi carp in a multitude of colours, ducks, geese and swans. Around the garden are various large and strange statues and very beautiful curved concrete benches covered with coloured tiles and some built to resemble animals.

 
Walking up to the street market in Benicàssim I was amazed by the sheer number of electric bikes in a special parking place for them, they certainly help people to get around and carry heavy shopping back with ease. There was lots of colourful stands of fresh fruit and vegetables which looked delicious, also clothes, shoes, jewellery and household goods.

After wondering around for a while we watched proceedings while enjoying another tapas lunch under the shade of a blind. It’s a hard life but someone has to do it!

6th February – Crevillente

 

Returning south again past Alicante but away from the coast, we had decided to go stay at a campsite within walking distance of Parque Natural El Hondo, a place we had been to before and was good for a number of birds. Arriving at Marjal Costa Blanca near Crevillente was a shock, we knew beforehand that it was large but there were about 1,500 pitches, it was like a small town! The pitch areas were all large, plenty of space for our motorhome and awning with enough left over to park a car, if we had one. Facilities were excellent with underfloor heating in the modern shower blocks, bar, restaurant, live entertainment, gym, swimming pools and well stocked shop. As we discovered very quickly, all the necessary facilities to keep you on site and supply your every need, because here you needed a car to go anywhere.

On our first day at the site a voice announced he had an awning the same make as ours, and about 1 minute later we were chatting to Phil Wilks who neither of us had seen for 25 years and who lived in Cleobury! He knew both our families and my son was in the same class as his son, also his brother Richard was best man at my first wedding – small world! This was the start of several afternoons together, catching up with news from our old hometown and updating our memories of friends we all knew.

The location of the campsite was close to a busy Autovia with a small access road alongside and a bridge to cross over it. There is only so much lazing around we can cope with, so not to be beaten we walked into a small village not too far away; but it was Sunday and we found it virtually empty with nothing much there. Another day we walked to revisit the nature park, wearing long sleeves and trousers because we remembered the mosquitoes last time. Not only did we not see or hear any, thankfully, but it was also to windy and distinctly chilly. The pools were mainly empty, a few purple gallinule patrolled the reed margins with little grebe, coot and mallard and the last large pool had distant flamingos feeding, nice but very disappointing compared to our previous visit. On our way out however, all was forgiven as we saw our first ever bluethroat scurrying around feeding on a short scrubby and wet marginal area. About the side of a large robin, the male has an iridescent blue throat area with chestnut and white but it was too far away to take a photo; it is nevertheless consigned to memory.

Determined to make the most of the area, we decided to take Bessie out for a spin and disappeared off the beaten track to visit a church on Novelda situated high up on a hill.

The Santa Maria Magdalena was inspired by Gaudí and is the most beautiful church I’ve ever visited. The exterior was simply amazing, constructed in honey coloured, irregular pieces of stone, each window had a honeycomb of tiling filling the window spaces, edged in narrow bricks defining their shapes, and ceramic tiles added extra detail to the building. The pillars along the outside were built alternately straight and twisting, on the western end were three archways, each with carved stone blocks above the vaulted brick entrance also had elaborate ceramic tiling depicting various religious scenes. Two ornately built, slender towers stretched up towards the sky on the corners of the church while a lower cylindrical domed tower stood at the eastern end with detailed windows and statues below. Zoom in on the photo to get the real details.

Inside the church was not as detailed but had pastel coloured walls with paintings down each side and a high arched ceiling. What was remarkable was the huge solid, pink granite columns supporting an archway of the same stone, above which was a very different church organ with twelve pipes and three white teardrop shapes of what looked like polished white marble. Behind this, the simple windows were half plain and half deep pink which glowed with the sunlight behind, lighting the interior with a rosy glow.

 

After 10 days at an excellent campsite in the worst location, we called it a day and as my son Richard was flying out to see us, we decided to return to Jávea where the electricity was included in the price. The nights had been cold and he would be sleeping in the awning so we borrowed an oil heater which could be left on over night.

While we waited for him to arrive, we played Boules on site again, but also we had a wonderful opportunity to try Bowls which is so different. Friends Ken and Maureen both play at home, so five more of us decided to learn something new and travelled to a venue with them for the afternoon. We played on a ‘rink’; instead of grass its played on green outdoor carpet or matting. The woods are ‘weighted’ and have a bias so they do not go in a straight line, they are as heavy but much bigger than the metal Boules. After a lunch of excellent fish in crispy batter with chips, we had 4 hours of fun. Ken was an excellent and patient teacher watching our different techniques and helping us to improve, gradually we could make the woods end up roughly where we aimed for. Split into two teams we had a proper game which was really good fun, the afternoon just whizzed by and we all had an excellent time.

When Richard arrived a few days later we had a walk up the hills to the lighthouse and along the top with the old disused windmills now devoid of sails, admired the view of nearly 180° from the sea to the mountains with the valley floor filled with orange trees and the town of Jávea right in front of us.

Using his hire car we went up into the hills to see the almond blossom which varies from white through to pink and smells delightful. All around the area are vast swathes of pink which show up well as the blossom comes out before the leaves, it looks so delicate against the strong dark tree trunks.

Heading to Parcent again we enjoyed a beer on Trevor and Irene’s terrace before all going for a traditional paella in the village.

The village is a Mecca for cyclists who come from many countries to practice timed trials up the mountains. Richard returned the following day for walking and solitude, to climb part of a mountain and camp in his tent to watch the stars, peaceful and surprisingly warm.

After his return to Alicante Airport, we also left Jávea for a second time, and another round of goodbyes to our friends who we will be seeing here again in a year’s time.