directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Valencia to Xeraco

It was starting to get dark when I arrived in the centre of Valencia, Spain’s third largest city, making it hard to see the sights, and I was more concerned with navigating through the multiple cycle paths in the city and avoiding pedestrians, cars and other cyclists but was keen to see it in the daylight. During the cycle ride from the harbour to the centre in the evening there were many people out running in the parks.

The following day the sky was blue and the temperature was perfect and I looked around the old part of the city, it was fairly quiet with few people around. The old buildings, walls and towers provided the character of the city and there were also a lot of interesting contemporary murals, including one on the wall next to the place I was staying.

Cycling southeast out of the city took me through a large park area which was very nice and eventually I went passed the City of Arts and Sciences buildings, which in contrast to the much older architecture earlier, were extremely modern and futuristic looking. One building looked like a space ship.

It was a shame to miss the cities many museums and the shops looked good too but I had to checkout before midday. There was a very good cycle path leading out of the city. On the journey south I stopped at the seaside towns of El Perellonet and El Perelló, both of which had a nice long beaches.

The scenery was quite different on the inland stretch through the Parque Natural de la Albufera, with the views of the hills to the south and the wetland birds flying around.

Now that it was getting later in the season and opening hours seemed to be reducing I was keen to find a campsite before it got too late. Fortunately it was easy to find a very reasonable one right next to the beach near Xaraco, which was relatively quiet and empty. This meant it wasn’t far at all to go and cool off for a late evening swim.

Distance: 37 miles

Maximum temperature: 28 degrees C

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

Valencia

City of the Arts and Sciences, Valencia

City of the Arts and Sciences, Valencia

El Perellonet

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Xeraco to Altea

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