Spain - Day 24

It was a bit cloudier and cooler today. We had ordered croissants and pains au chocolat from the baker, so we had those for our breakfast. For today's walk we drove a few miles down the valley to Alcalalí and parked next to the river.

We walked over the road bridge and skirted the edge of the village, then took a path which crossed the river.

The route was fairly flat through plantations of olives, grapes and oranges. It then got much steeper as it headed up to a pass called Coll de Rates.

We had good views down to Alcalalí.

Up at the pass there were loads of cyclists, it seems to be a common challenge for them to do the climb.

It was pretty cold and windy up there, so we didn't linger after taking in the views.

The route down was on an ancient track.

We eventually got down to a hermitage with a picnic area where we had some lunch and some oranges we'd picked.

We got back to the van and left Oscar there while we went for a look round the village, and a drink in a bar (inside).

Later back at the site, for dinner we had fried boquerones (anchovies) with fried potatoes, peas, and sweetcorn.

Spain - Day 23

There was a food market in the village this morning, so we took a walk down to it after breakfast. It was tiny though, only one stall with vegetables, so we didn't buy anything.

For our walk we'd decided on one that was a bit easier than yesterday, so we started by driving a few miles up the road and parked.

The walk took us on forestry or hunting tracks, sometimes quite steeply, up to a ruined house.

From there there was a bit of steeper path, before we re-joined the track.

We came across a couple of quite strange flat areas. I think we worked out that they are boar hunting grounds, the hunters put water and food there as bait and then shoot them.

Danger! Private Hunting Ground. Saturdays, Sundays and Festivals.

We could see evidence of a forest fire near to the path we were on, and some smoke further over with the fire brigade in attendance.

The way back down was pretty easy, on a good track all the way.

After the walk we drove further on to a village called Castell de Castells (Castle of Castles) which sounded interesting. However we didn't see any castles there, and scraped the step of the campervan on a steep ramp into a car park, so we didn't stay long.

Later back at the campsite we had burgers on brioche rolls with cheese and onions, with beetroot salad.

Spain - Day 22

We walked from the site today, planning to go round the large valley to the south of Benigembla. The path was really good to start with, with easy zigzags followed by a wide track contouring below steep rocky cliffs.

There were good views back down to the village and across to the other side.

However the further up the valley we got, the more faint the path got, and it was quite difficult to follow. We made it to the head of the valley, but instead of following it round the other side, we decided to descend to the valley floor and take an easier forest track back.

This turned out to be quite a good idea, and it was a pleasant walk down.

We had showers back at the camp site, and later had spinach an ricotta pasta with tomato sauce for dinner.

Spain - Day 21

We left the Calpe site in the morning, and decided on a stop off at Benidorm before going to our next site. We had planned to park on a bit of waste ground quite near the centre, but when we got there we found there was a big market on, and no parking places whatsoever.

The traffic was very busy, so we drove further out of town and fortunately came across some more waste land not too far away. There were other campervans there obviously using it as a wild camping spot, so we were sure it was going to be ok to park there for the day.

We walked back to the market and had a look, but there was nothing there we wanted.

We headed for the north end of the beach, and strolled along the promenade towards the old town. It was pretty busy, with obviously more Brits there than we'd seen in a long time.

At the end of the Levante beach is a viewpoint.

In Benidorm we saw lots of 2-person mobility scooters.

After a wander through the old town we went for lunch at the Tiki Beach bar. We had nachos and loaded fries, which was actually far more food than we needed. I think most of the other people there were just drinking though.

We made our way back to the van and drove on to our next stop, Benigembla Camping in Benigembla. This is a small village about 15 miles inland from Calpe.

We'd booked a "superior" pitch for 4 nights as that was all that was available. It has plenty of space, and cost 88 euros for 4 nights, with electricity extra but only by the kWh.

After setting up we went for a walk, there are lots of murals around both in the campsite and on houses in the village.

In the village we had a drink at the El Gato bar, which seemed to be frequented by quite a few Brits. We weren't sure if they were residents or from the camp site. We then went back to the van. Since we'd had such a big lunch we only had salad for dinner.