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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072 |
14th February 2017 Hiking - Walking: Denia and Calpe Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Sunny and hot :) Max Speed: Distance Covered: Sunday 12th February - travel + 2 small walks – cloudy and breezy Not a bad night in the van despite being close to breaking surf, breezy too, so not the quietest night but mild and we had to get rid of one quilt in the night! Woke to yet more cloud, does the sun ever shine in Spain? even more wind than yesterday and the van was getting a good coating of sand. I was hoping to sail today but took my gauge onto the beach and the wind was 25/30 mph probably too much for my 6m especially in waves. A local kitesurfer went out while we were having breakfast and was having a great time on his strapless surfboard. The windsurfers from across the road were slow turning up but when they did I went over and asked them what sails they were rigging and they said 4.7 which meant I didn’t have a small enough sail so I asked them if there were any flat-water options near? They said they were not local, Check I think, but there might be somewhere the other side of the delta at St Carles so we sadly packed up and headed off. We had to go right back to the main land before there was a bridge to cross the Ebre then picked up the N 340 which in the end we used on and off all the way to Valencia. We had no luck finding another windsurfing venue even with the help of my huge book – The European Kite and Windsurf Guide. The first part of the journey was particularly pretty as we passed orange trees surrounded by bright yellow flowers (sorrel Mag thinks) but loads of the oranges had just fallen from the trees and were just lying on the ground :( There were several miles of fruit trees in bloom with various shades of pink but then things took a turn for the worse as we came across bigger towns illustrating the worst man has to offer:( None of the towns seem to offer the charm of France and the high-rise seaside resorts are horrible! We did manage to find an OK spot for lunch at Pobla Farnal where we parked right by the beach among a mix of high-rise, some derelict and covered in graffiti, to a small marina with some ok town houses. We went for a walk then decided we should try and get through Valencia. The motorway took us right into the heart and we followed wide roads down to the dock which covered the whole length of their seafront. We were looking for the Parc Natural De L’ Albufera just outside Valencia and found it after a few dead ends in the dodgy docklands! We came to an area of wetlands, huge shallow lakes with what looked like old pumping stations dotted about, taking a turning through the middle we saw several people ahead taking pictures and we soon saw why. There were large numbers of flamingos one side of the road and nearly as many Egrets the other:) We stopped and watched for a while, the flamingos being particularly entertaining, stretching their pink wings, stirring up the bottom with their feet when feeding, then getting ratty with each other and going beak to beak and they have big beaks!!! But the best bit is when they take off and fly and then come into land, top fun to watch:) It was time to park up so we drove just across the road to El Saler finding a large dune side carpark, we went for a walk along the beach to a popular restaurant which was posh inside but falling down at the back! We found an out of the way spot to park up with another English van in the next bay and had delicious carbonara for tea and can hear the sound of the sea but we did have to shut the door as we got a huge mosquito in! 15 degrees tonight! Let’s hope we find somewhere nice tomorrow as not liking the coast much so far! Monday 13th February – travel + walk around Denia **** windy, cloudy, heavy rain, sun, thunder and lightning! OK night in your out of the way spot in the carpark by the beach at El Saler only one car drove around at midnight but the wind picked up and it rained, red dusty rain from the Sahara probably coating all the cars in red, it was noisy too as the surf had picked up and large waves were crashing on the beach which we saw when we filled our water bottles up from a tap for washing sand off your feet this morning! Being all misty and murky we were in no hurry to leave so both had good stand up wash including hair with a change of clothes a few less layers! We hadn’t gone far when we came across a huge expanse of water in the Parc Natural De L’ Albufera with a viewing area, wooden jetties and fish traps. We soon saw a couple of Marsh Harriers, Cormorant’s drying their wings and loads of little birds flitting about in the reeds including Sedge Warblers, a top start to the morning. Following the coast road, we went to Denia a place we visited in another life, pre-children 32 years ago,!!! As we approached Denia we have not seen so many hookers, there must have been half a dozen lovely girls in bright fluorescent miniskirts, some looking bored on their white plastic chairs with mobile phones while other jigged about on the roadside, sad really:( On the outskirts, we found a dusty beach side road, I say beach loosely as it was a few metres of sand absolutely covered in washed up bamboo with the surf black with seaweed, not pleasing on the eye! On reaching Denia we were pleasantly surprised after passing mile after mile of awful high-rise this was much more traditional, it even had a castle on a hill and a marina! We turned into the port to turn around as we had spotted a nice carpark on the beach for lunch. Parking up we scared off a Hobby bird of prey having its lunch which it then finished off on the sand. We shared our bread with a Redstart and had a Stonechat too. We had had enough of driving so had a nice walk, starting off along the beach, to the posh marina where Mag found a nice shop with a life-size cow in the doorway called Ale Hop selling cheap fun clothes and accessories, luckily, we had left our money in the van! We enjoyed spotting mullet in the marina – some pretty big ones! We headed up to the castle but it was 3 Euros so we couldn’t go in as no wallet on us but saw loads of cats on the way and every other person we passed was English:( Next stop along a dramatic rocky road was what we know as Javea but is now spelt Xabia where we stayed in a friend’s apartment driving all the way down, four of us in a small Alfa Romao taking 20 hours! It is now a huge sprawling mass and it was difficult to remember any of it. There was plenty of parking along the seafront but we continued on as the sunshine that had come out in Denia (prompting me to change into my shorts) disappeared as the sky became very dark! I then took a wrong turn and ended up a dead-end road that is the Cabo de la Nao with a lighthouse and great views of rocky coves with villas perched precariously. This peninsular is very rocky and the road wound its way up and down like a mountain road towards Calpe. This is when the heavens opened with torrential rain turning the roads into rivers, great fun. Cresting the prow of the hill and with the rain gone we could see the famous large Calpe Rock absolutely surrounded by massive tower blocks as the Spanish do their best to bugger up all their coast line:( It was stunning driving into Calpe everything wet from the deluge, the sun on the rock and tower blocks all covered in an enormous rainbow, there was even a lake with flamingos. We found the perfect spot to park by the marina right under the rock but they didn’t allow overnight stopping so continued looking for a spot along the seafront which is all rocky with limited access. Then saw load of campervans opposite and went and parked on the edge of them as we had the most fantastic sunset. So one of our better days on the Spanish coast, tomorrow brings a walk to the rock and then up the road to Benidorm, (Mag really doesn’t want to stop!!!) life can’t get much better:) Top tea of Tuna salad made up of what Mag could find in the cupboards, time to find a Lidl tomorrow which won’t be difficult as they have one in every town!!! Tuesday 14th February – Valentine’s Day :) Walk around Calpe and relax ***** sunny and hot :) Woke to clear blue skies and light airs with the only disturbance a group of boules players having a game near the van! The camper park we stopped on is not the aire in our book as that is over towards Lidl where we stopped to shop. There are loads of other campsites and places for campers to park, never seen so many campers! There were more English in the Lidl here than back in Felixstowe! As it was a beautiful day we headed to our parking spot by the marina packed a drink and a pretzel and went for a walk around the marina, watching the fishermen mend their nets. Across a small sandy town beach and up onto the prom to join the large number of old people enjoying some winter sunshine, warm too with Mag being particularly overdressed in sweatshirt and boots! I actually had a paddle but it was very cold! We continued past the mill and Roman ruins to a concrete jetty out to sea where we stopped for a drink and pretzel, with lovely views of the mountains and even Benidorm in the distance. The many tall apartment blocks looked better with the clear blue sky:) We noticed there were people right on the top of the famous huge Calpe Rock so headed back to the van for Mag to find her sandals and a t-shirt and to look for the path to the top! We put a loaf of bread and cheese in the rucksack, heading past the marina and small pebble beach to a path which we thought took us to the top. Sadly, we were mistaken as this was a dead-end but a great dead-end. There were snorkelers in the water, many big gulls sitting close by on the rocks while others circled high above all around the stunning rock with the sea the most glorious blue. We found a place at the end of the path on the rocks for our picnic and the shirt even came off! We have had enough of driving these last few days so decided to head back to the van, make a flask, grab our books and have an afternoon on the pebble beach! We had a lovely relaxing couple of hours enjoying the peace and quiet reading, having a cuppa and finishing off our bread and cheese, then watching several fishing boats return surrounded by many excited gulls! We saw a sign showing many routes that climbers use to get to the top of the rock and thought that was the only way up. After we had had enough of lying about we headed back to the van and drove around the corner finding a carpark and the start of a windy path to the top!!! If the weather is good again tomorrow, we will give it a try:) It was then back to where we parked last night for a cuppa and watch the sunset, not as spectacular as last night but still turning the sky red as the bats came out to feed. A simple tea of soup as we had eaten way too much bread before having a walk down to the marina and along the prom noticing that of the hundreds of apartments here very few are occupied, you definitely wouldn’t want to be here when they are! Photo Gallery Here |
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