Friday 31 January - Peniscola

Weather: The weather pattern until now has been clear mornings, with cloud building around lunchtime and the odd short, light shower. Today there's not a cloud in the sky and, when out of the northerly wind, it feels warmer than the advertised 17 degrees.

I headed back into the hills on Wednesday, starting with a 3km run down the road almost to the sea, before looping around to pick up a PR route, taking in the elevated and isolated Ermita de Sant Antoni. The paths were much better (wider, without scratchy bushes clawing at my legs and arms) on that side of the hills, and the views of the sea and the lumpy-bumpiness all around me were superb. On Alta de Vistahermosa I joined my route from the previous day, from where it was back onto the narrow paths through scratchy stuff, but only for a few kilometres.

The white building is Ermita de Sant Antoni

Looking seawards from next to the Ermita's chapel

Selfie (obvs)

Good paths

Waymarks and signposts

Yesterday morning I found myself lacking energy and enthusiasm, so decided to go for the 'get it done quickly' approach, heading down to the seafront promenade and running to the next resort along and back. I'd joined Mick for the first five minutes, but he's running shorter intervals and distances than me, so I soon went on ahead of him.

Back at Bertie, the forecast of rain seemed so unlikely that I considered doing laundry. I went and checked out the facilities, but then spotted the big dark cloud behind us. It was a good call to defer until today, as whilst the rain didn't last too long, it was the heaviest shower we've had yet. 

The laundry thus got done first thing this morning, and it was all dried outside and put away by noon, when we headed down to the seafront for lunch. Today's eatery was another I'd chosen in advance based on reviews, and it was a good choice. 

A lot of food (and drink) for €17 a head. There was an incredible amount of seafood in that paella. 

It's unusual for an eatery in Spain to be busy at 1pm, but this one is frequented mainly by foreign tourists  and was busy. Almost everyone around us was French (unsurprising as it's the main nationality on the campsite too), which explains the popularity of what would locally be considered an early lunch. I was sitting facing inwards, but Mick got the sea view under a glouriously blue, cloud-free sky. I feel no need now to try any other restaurant - that one has a big enough menu for a return visit. It's a decent bit of exercise to go there too (today it was 3km there and 4km back).

Once again, we opted for the longer walk back, cutting across between castle and town, along the seafront and up through the nature reserve. 

We walked up there and around the old town a couple of years ago, so felt justified in bypassing it today.