The scenery on the ride south to Altea was quite varied and spectacular at times. The first half of the route was fairly flat and the second half involved gradually climbing up to 900 feet.

There were quite a few cyclists on the roads and motor traffic was banned on the excellent Via Verde linking Gandia to Oliva, which had orange groves either side of it (with oranges that were actually green) and it seemed to be an old road converted to a pathway.

I cycled passed the busy market in Oliva which stretched for a long distance down the promenade, then went through Oliva Nova.

The climb up in to the hills near Gata involved cycling / walking the bike on an empty rough gravel path which followed a similar route to the motorway but was entirely segregated from it and the path tunnelled under it at times. The bike lacked mountain bike tyres and was loaded with luggage, some of the rocks were fairly big, the bike was unbalanced and the tyres lacked traction so I didn’t mind the walk. There was a steep sided gorge and very nice scenery. The pace quickened when I was able to get back on the bike as the roads became sealed again just before Benissa, one of the oldest towns on the Costa Blanca with it’s traditional Spanish houses. There was a very enjoyable long descent down to the coast with excellent sea views looking towards Calpe with it’s enormous 332 metre limestone outcrop, Penyal d’Ifac. There were a lot of houses on the hillsides, and the road then went through a few small tunnels before reaching the sea at Altea. There was a nice section of cycle path along the seafront and eventually I reached the campsite, where most of the vehicles had Dutch number plates.

Distance: 50 miles

Maximum temperature: 29 degrees C

Sunrise at Xeraco

Gorge near Gata

Gorge near Gata

Looking towards Calpe and Penyal d’Ifac

Calpe

Calpe