Alcoy, Part 3. The Barranc De L’Infern Walk, Cycling On The Vía Verde And The Senda dels Molins

For Pete’s sake, where on earth does the time go?!?! I’ve just realised that the last post I published was on the 22nd of February, 2 whole months ago 😳. You’ll have to pardon my absence, I had no idea so much time had passed. It obviously flies when you’re having fun 😁.

And yes, I suppose we have been having fun, when the weather has allowed us. Benissa has never seen so much rain. For most of March and part of April it never stopped. In fact, it’s raining as I type. It’s becoming slightly tedious. For the last month or so, I, and many other local people have been the proud owners of an infinity pool. I love them, don’t get me wrong, just not in a greeny brown colour with a mouldy coronation.

All this rain has been very beneficial for the underground wells and reservoirs. We had a quick drive to the Embalse de Guadalest (in the pouring rain) and it was quite a bit fuller than when we visited a year and a half ago (post here). It rained a lot more after we went so it must be brimming now. The Jalón river also had a few more litres in it than usual.

We’ve managed to fill a few “depósitos” around our house. Our water bills can be quite steep in the summer, we’ve decided to collect as much rain water as possible to help lower them a tad. The veggies prefer rain water too, at least that’s what they tell us.

Pep eventually got round to putting the guttering around part of the house. We’ve collected a few thousand litres of water ready for watering our “huerta”. He also places “capazos” under the roof where there isn’t any guttering, though seeing as all the “depósitos” are full we’re having to use the “capazo” water to water the odd fruit tree when needed.

Before I move on to how we’ve been filling our little lives I want to mention my mum’s cat that’s been missing for over a week. She escaped from her cage when mum was taking her to the car after visiting the vet in Jalón. Mum has put up posters in various towns and has also posted on various Facebook pages and we’ve obviously been out calling her. We’re hoping she’ll make it back home to Orba but if you live around here please keep an eye out for her. She’s a beautiful long-haired tortoiseshell called Purdie. Thank you, we’d love for her to be with all her friends again.

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Ok, on to our outings. Before I start on about Alcoy (again!) I just wanted to mention a two day trip to La Nucía mum and I had for her Birthday. It was during all this rain, in fact it didn’t stop till the day we left. But we didn’t really care, the hotel was fantastic.

The Barceló La Nucía Palms (website here) sits in an unusual spot, on the roundabout road (as I call it) before you get to the town. I got a fabulous deal on Voyage Privé which included 2 nights bed and breakfast (and wow, what a breakfast), upgrade to a Junior Suite and an entrance to the spa for the two of us. There’s nowt wrong with a bit of luxury every so often 😁. Mum did mention that she wouldn’t mind moving into our room 😂.

Moving on. Pep and I hadn’t had a break since our trip to Xàtiva (post here). We cancelled our New Year’s Eve trip to Zaragoza due to Pep’s poorly doggie (who’s still more or less ok by the way) so we were desperate for a little trip together. We had a free weekend which just so happened to look dry and sunny (albeit quite chilly) so we quickly booked the same hotel we stayed in on our previous trip and tootled on down there for the weekend.

Again I got a great deal with my Travelclub points, 2 nights in the 4 star Sercotel Ciutat d’Alcoi for 60€ for the two of us. Can’t grumble about that. It’s a great hotel for visiting the town and is in walking distance of everything you need to see. Although it has a covered car park for a cost we always manage to park on the street outside. Another bonus 😁.

If you’ve read my previous two posts on Alcoy (here and here), you’ll know I love the town. There is loads to see, some great walks too and I have a sense of being at home whilst I’m there. I love the vibe and always wish my time there would last just a little bit longer.

We arrived on Friday, an hour or so before lunch. We checked into the hotel and had a wee stroll before visiting our favourite Alcoy restaurant, Bambú (Facebook page here). This is where Pep devoured the “best Tiramisu he’d ever eaten” on our trip last year. The food was wonderful again. They hadn’t got the Tiramisu on the menu this time (they change the menu weekly) but Pep wasn’t too bothered, the chocolate sponge with white chocolate sauce and cherry and vodka compote was a good enough substitution!

After lunch we strolled around the town and down by the river, admiring all the lovely bridges the town is famous for.

Dinner was eaten in an Italian restaurant which does a pretty decent pizza, so I’m told by my husband who is an expert on the subject. We discovered Bruno Caruso (site here) on our last visit. Pep wanted to return to sample another of their pizzas, this time with a wholemeal base. I had a risotto which was also pretty good.

Dinner was followed by another stroll around the town. It just so happens that the weekend we were there they were celebrating the warm-up to their famous Moors and Christians fiesta around the 23rd of April. We had no idea it was on. Neither of us enjoy local fiestas that much so when we suddenly walked into a large crowd of people I took a couple of photos and videos for the blog and we departed as quickly as poss.

The following day we commenced our outings, the main reason for our return to Alcoy. On our previous visit there were a couple of excursions we didn’t have the time for. Well, one we would have had time for if we hadn’t got lost. The Barranc de L’Infern (not to be confused with the long walking route in the Vall de Laguar) is one of the walks at the Font Roja natural park. You can tie it in with the other two walks there which had been our intention last year (post here). We took a wrong turn somewhere though (not like us!) and ended up walking through a protected area completely in the opposite direction of where we should have been.

This time we were prepared, we’d found a couple of blogs with details of the walk, what could possibly go wrong?!?! Well, apart from taking another wrong turn and turning the hour and a half stroll into an uphill 3 hour sprint to make it to Alcoy for a late lunch, nothing 😂. But we managed to finish it, that’s the main thing. I had a dreadful feeling we’d return to Benissa without completing it again.

One more thing about the Font Roja park which we didn’t know about last year because we visited during the week. If you plan to go on a weekend, fiesta day or holiday during the morning in your car (no need if you go after 2pm), you must write them an email specifying your name, number, car registration, the day you want to go, where you live and how many people are in the car. They will confirm your spot after a day or so. Parking spaces are limited so I suppose they do this to make sure it doesn’t get crowded. There is also a bus that runs from Alcoy to the park if you don’t want to take your car, it costs 85 cents each way. Here is the website explaining all the info you need and the bus timetable for April.

Our bikes were in our car and ready to go so after a quick “tapas” lunch in Alcoy to regain some of our energy, we parked close to the beginning of the Vía Verde and commenced the 10 kilometre slightly uphill route through the countryside.

Vías Verdes are old railway lines (this one was never in service) that have been converted into walking and cycling routes. You can visit the official site of Vías Verdes here, I’ve specifically linked the Alcoy one. It’s in various languages, including English and, along with details of the route you can also read the history of why the line was built and why it was never used. I mentioned Vías Verdes in my Oropesa post here. There is a lovely route that runs along the coastline between Oropesa and Benicàssim. I’ve cycled along it many times and never tire of it.

Due to all the rainfall we’ve had one of Alcoy’s main attractions was in all it’s splendour. The Salt de Alcoy is a 70 metre waterfall that can only be appreciated after heavy rains. You can see it from the Vía Verde, in fact many people had walked from Alcoy to have a gander. If you would prefer a better view there is a walk to it, although we didn’t have time. Here is a blog with info (in Spanish) and photos that were taken 10 days before our visit. It’s quite something.

There is a beautiful bridge after the first couple of kilometres, the “Puente de las siete lunas” (bridge of the seven moons). There is a spot of confusion over the name of the bridge because it has 8 arches, not 7. The real bridge of the seven moons is further along the vía verde (I’ll come to that shortly).

Building began on the bridge with the 8 arches in 1927 and was completed in 1932. It’s worth having a little walk off the Vía Verde to admire the bridge, although it’s a bit tricky to take a picture with all 8 arches showing.

The route is rather lovely. The views of the Font Roja natural park add a beautiful back drop to our ride and we happily cycled along, surrounded by pine trees.

Along the Vía Verde we go through 14 tunnels, a couple of them over 1 kilometre long. The longer ones are all lit so there’s no need for a light or torch in them (they do advise to take one just in case the lights don’t work though 😁). Some of the lights are automatic, others there is a button at the beginning of the tunnel to turn them on.

We returned to our hotel absolutely shattered after our day’s activities. Thank goodness there was a bath in our room, I could have stayed in it all night!

Well that concludes our 2 night stay in Alcoy. On our journey home we embarked on a very short route to the “Molí del Salt” (mill of the waterfall) in Benilloba. A 15 minute walk is all that’s needed to see one of the region’s 59 flour mills and the waterfall. This particular mill was built in 1760. Its name is due to it being next to the waterfall. We’d heard the waterfall was in full swing after all the rain we’ve had so we wanted to check it out.

Well that’s about it for the mo. We haven’t been able to venture into our “huerta” that much due to it being more like a marsh than a vegetable patch. We did consider cultivating rice 😁.

A few days ago a lorry full of seaweed was delivered. Pep’s brother-in-law is a lorry driver and managed to scrounge a load whilst they were clearing the Fustera beach. It’s supposedly very good for the land and crops. It’s now piled up against the manure.

Pep managed to strim one of our fields the other day, the weeds were getting as tall as the trees. Yesterday was an excellent day (according to the moon diary) to prune citrus trees, hence they all had a haircut. Oh, and one of my favourite veggies (as you can gather in this post), the fabulous artichoke, is now filling our fridge and tummies.

Right, well, best be off. That’s enough chatter for one day. One more thing though. I have to confess that lately I’ve had a bit of a Poke Bowl addiction, I could eat them every day. We found a great little restaurant in Jávea, Kuula Poke (website here, Facebook page here). You can pick and mix the ingredients you like and everything is nice and fresh. They do medium ones and large ones, to take away or eat in. We had the large one and struggled to finish it. They also do wraps and Ramen, different eco drinks (we had the ginger kombucha which was scrumptious) and various different puds. I shall be returning very soon 😁.

Ok my dears, now I’m definitely off. As always thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog using the little form at the top and bottom of this page (the bottom if you’re on your phone). Each time I publish a new post you’ll receive an email. You can also like our Facebook page to keep up to date with what we’re up to. Take care all of you. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx