Where's Bertie? He's still listing to the right on this sloping car park at La Vall d'Uixó .
Weather:A sunny start, swiftly followed by layer of high cloud forming, which has stayed with us all day.
No culture today; it's been a day of activity.
Yesterday I'd spotted on the map that we are surrounded by paths running through the nearby hills and after consulting Wikiloc I found that by far the two most popular routes hereabouts are a 16km circuit (the PR241) and a 10km circuit, following the PR241 up a nearby hill ('Alto de la Pipa'), before taking a shorter route back.
Having started the day with runs (5 miles for me; 5km for Mick), we opted for the shorter walk and we set out straight after lunch.
I'll tell the story in captions below these photos:
The first stretch out of town took us along a river (currently dry). The initial section was stony and not particularly comfortable to walk; the latter stage had this covered pipeline giving easy tread.
Then a million mini switchbacks led us wiggling steeply upwards.
I'd just snapped a view along to the next village inland (which was much better to the naked eye)...
...when I rounded a bend and came to a roped section. The ropes were only for the overly nervous, as whilst the drop off to the left was significant (I'm not sure whether you can see that drop at all in this snap?), the path was wide enough for comfort.
Around another bend and the next roped section was more vertical. It was the first of quite a few scrambly sections, but all short and easy (in ascent, at least!)
Finally, after being fooled neither by a turned signpost on the col, nor by my confusion between east and west, we made it up to the summit (589m) - a tremendous viewpoint, although I'm subjecting you to the selfie rather than treating you to the views.
The first mile or so of the descent was slow going, on a narrow path on variously rocky or eroded terain, such that after 2 hours we were only half way through the 10km outing. It was starting to look like going out without a snack was a poor decision, but then we hit a track and our average speed doubled. Even so, our quick nip into Aldi on the way back to Bertie could easily have got out of hand if I hadn't recognised that I very much had a 'shopping when hungry' head on!
It was a good and varied route that was more demanding than expected. I think my legs would appreciate a rest tomorrow.
(As an aside, we've just had a string of three odd occurrences in the space of 24 hours:
1) Yesterday morning, at Bellús, we went to use the service point and found a man down the adjacent manhole. He wasn't dressed as a workman (indeed, as he emerged we saw he was wearing flip-flops), and was weilding a mop. The drain was not blocked. After a while of prodding around, he emerged, replaced the manhole cover, and told us in French that we could proceed. He then returned to a nearby French motorhome. What was all that about?! We can only guess that he accidentally dropped something down the drain whilst emptying some waste water and was trying to retrieve it.
2) Until first thing this morning here in La Vall d'Uixó, we had a British van as our immediate neighbour. I'm not sure if our presence somehow offended them, but they resolutely refused to acknowledge us, even though our doors were facing and they were occasionally outside as we came and went. I can understand that not everyone wants to chat, but I can't think of any other occasion when a motorhomer (and certainly not a neighbour) has failed to at least respond to a nod or a greeting.
3) Apparently the owners of a French van here also annoyed some of the German contingent this morning. We had a front row seat as the altercation developed at the service point when, apparently, all the Germans had an urgent need to empty their toilet cassettes, one straight after another, even though the French van was using the service point. It looked at one point like the contents of one toilet were going to be used as a weapon. I don't think anyone went away happy and feel that there must have been more to it than simply the use of the service point.
It's also slightly odd that since around 9 this morning there has only been Bertie and a Swedish van in the official motorhome parking area (of 8 extra-long, extra-wide bays). There are plenty of other vans here, but they're all at the other side of the car park - which is just as slopey as where we are.)
Weather:A sunny start, swiftly followed by layer of high cloud forming, which has stayed with us all day.
No culture today; it's been a day of activity.
Yesterday I'd spotted on the map that we are surrounded by paths running through the nearby hills and after consulting Wikiloc I found that by far the two most popular routes hereabouts are a 16km circuit (the PR241) and a 10km circuit, following the PR241 up a nearby hill ('Alto de la Pipa'), before taking a shorter route back.
Having started the day with runs (5 miles for me; 5km for Mick), we opted for the shorter walk and we set out straight after lunch.
I'll tell the story in captions below these photos:
It was a good and varied route that was more demanding than expected. I think my legs would appreciate a rest tomorrow.
The gold dot is Bertie's location. The arrows point in the direction we walked.
(As an aside, we've just had a string of three odd occurrences in the space of 24 hours:
1) Yesterday morning, at Bellús, we went to use the service point and found a man down the adjacent manhole. He wasn't dressed as a workman (indeed, as he emerged we saw he was wearing flip-flops), and was weilding a mop. The drain was not blocked. After a while of prodding around, he emerged, replaced the manhole cover, and told us in French that we could proceed. He then returned to a nearby French motorhome. What was all that about?! We can only guess that he accidentally dropped something down the drain whilst emptying some waste water and was trying to retrieve it.
2) Until first thing this morning here in La Vall d'Uixó, we had a British van as our immediate neighbour. I'm not sure if our presence somehow offended them, but they resolutely refused to acknowledge us, even though our doors were facing and they were occasionally outside as we came and went. I can understand that not everyone wants to chat, but I can't think of any other occasion when a motorhomer (and certainly not a neighbour) has failed to at least respond to a nod or a greeting.
3) Apparently the owners of a French van here also annoyed some of the German contingent this morning. We had a front row seat as the altercation developed at the service point when, apparently, all the Germans had an urgent need to empty their toilet cassettes, one straight after another, even though the French van was using the service point. It looked at one point like the contents of one toilet were going to be used as a weapon. I don't think anyone went away happy and feel that there must have been more to it than simply the use of the service point.
It's also slightly odd that since around 9 this morning there has only been Bertie and a Swedish van in the official motorhome parking area (of 8 extra-long, extra-wide bays). There are plenty of other vans here, but they're all at the other side of the car park - which is just as slopey as where we are.)
Looks like an interesting walk. There is absolutely no doubt about which direction you were following from the arrows on your map.
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