A nice walking day with real hiking tracks that takes you fast up and down steep slopes compared to moving slowly on serpentine forest tracks.
Valencia
I walked into Alcoy in the late afternoon and had plenty of time to make preparations for the next day.
Alcoy
In the evening I went looking for a sports shop and found one in the center of the city after a minor investigation where I bought a new 70 liter backpack.
New equipment
My old backpack had broken down completely and was not possible to carry anymore. It was a challenge to fit everything from the old 100 liter backpack into the new and I had to make a few sacrifices. But I was very pleased with the result in the end.
I hadn’t seen this coming but it turned out to be the toughest day since the Alpujarras, a thirty kilometer stage that took me all day to complete! Good hiking tracks though through beautiful nature.
Herbs
Some time in the middle of the day when I looked back I saw a young fox trotting happily just a few meters behind me in the track. It continued to keep me company until I reached a farm and when dogs began barking the fox was suddenly gone.
Fox trot
Relatively expensive accommodation in Bocairent but there were no alternatives.
This was to become the hardest day of them all so far. It was very hot and the first part of the stage ended in some crossroads in the middle of nowhere and there was no chance after that (I later learned) to get hold of water. The track then continued steeply uphill on a surface made up of big rocks for the good part of the rest of the afternoon with no shade to be found anywhere. Doing this hour after hour can make anyone utter primal cries 🙂 The slope down into the last valley was v-e-r-y steep with a lot of roots and loose, big stones to stumble on. Halfway down I went out of water, although I had gone easy on it all day long, and I was really exhausted. The GPS track information wasn’t very accurate either but luckily I was pointed in the right direction by two different gentlemen at two different occasions.
Mogent
A cold beer tastes like fine champagne after such hardships and after also having had a liter of water I felt fully recovered.
Cerveza!
I took a taxi to a casa rural at the outskirts of Mogent and was greeted by a young couple that took really good care of me and even made me dinner although it was quite late in the evening.
But what had happened that day made me think of days to come when GR-7 was to disappear into a big natural park where it continued for several days and I decided to try to find a different route instead of walking round all day being anxious for not finding water or for not having water enough.
I had to retrace my steps from the other day for three kilometers until I could join the GR-7 again. The day was spent walking north through ravines covered with boulders and later the path climbed out of the low terrain and went up to a plain.
Ravine
I stuck to my plan when I reached the crossroads at Tintoreto, where GR-7 continues out into the wilderness, and instead followed the tarmac road until I found a track at a fork sign-posted Enguera. With a pragmatic mindset you could argue that from that moment I was breaking new ground and was in the process of creating My Own GR-7.
Plain with deer
I went into Enguera and had supper in a restaurant at the village square where I also asked some people for a hotel and they sent me off along the main road north. After a few kilometers I found a very good motel. I had a swim in the outdoor pool and then watched World Cup football on the television for a while in the bar.
I was cruising all day from one village to another as they were lined up from south to north. In the municipality office in Chella I was handed information about paths that made it possible to avoid walking on tarmac.
Country road
It turned out to be a pleasant walk in nice surroundings with a couple of short breaks in the villages for refreshments. Especially Anna was nice because of the impressive water landscape outside of the village.
Balbeite swimming facility
I pushed on to Navarrés only to find that there was no accommodation available despite the fact that a bar keeper I spoke to even called in the police (a friend of his) in his eagerness to be of assistance in finding a place for me to lodge – but, in vain. So, what could I do?
The supervisors
The next village in my path, Alberic, was far away if I was to follow the winding road and it would be dark long before I got there. I checked my GPS and it seemed to me that it would be feasible to move on a straight line through the terrain and that way considerably reduce the distance to Alberic. All went fairly well; I soon saw a big river and an asphalted road far down in a valley and I had to climb down the hillside in the end to reach that road. I had hardly set my foot on the asphalt before I was captured by two men in a jeep asking me what I was doing there. They told me that it was a restricted area because of the ongoing work with the construction of a hydroelectric dam, so if I would be so kind to get out of there immediately! I argued that it was late in the afternoon and all I wanted was to continue north on my way to Alberic and that I soon would be out of the restricted area. They then told me that I could be allowed to pass if I used an old trail over the mountain and not continued following the road. They pointed me in the direction of this supposed trail and then drove off. I made an effort to find the trail but I found nothing that looked like a trail, so I continued along the road 🙂 As could be expected I soon heard the sound of the jeep engine as the jeep drove up beside me, and I was politely asked to step in. It then drove off, without anybody holding against me that I actually had trespassed a second time, instead we had quite a nice chat for a while until the jeep turned to a halt in front of a iron gate that closed off the road. I stepped out of the jeep and one of the guys opened the gate for me. I shook their hand, and thanked them for the ride, and was once again free to continue on my way to Alberic! I still had quite a distance left to cover but I reached Alberic before sunset. To my disappointment the only hotel in the village was closed for the day, and I asked at a bar if there was any other accommodation to be found close by. A teenage girl told me that there was a casa rural a couple of kilometers outside of the village. She tried to explain how to get there but in the end she had a word with her boyfriend and they drove me there! It turned out to be a wonderful little casa rural with maybe six rooms and a big balcony facing a beautiful valley encircled by mountains. The hour was late but I was served a rabo de toro equally delicious to the one I had in Múrcia some time before.
A day spent on the road in order to move close enough to Valencia in order to reach it the following day. Disappointing accommodation in a large highway hotel where the air conditioning was turned off with the result that I had a temperature of 29 degrees Celsius in my room all night.
I tried to get a room in the harbor area in Valencia but didn’t succeed so I had to use good old hotel SH Abashiri, a business hotel I have stayed at before.
This was to become quite an interesting Sunday. It began with a walk through nearly empty streets. Valencia was preparing for a street race of some kind, maybe a marathon, and many streets already were close to traffic. I went by a big flea market (rastro) were a large crowd had gathered despite the early hour of the day. I also went past the FC Valencia’s home ground which is a very impressive building.
Coastal village
The day continued alongside the Mediterranean Sea where one sandy beach followed the other. There were lots and lots of people everywhere enjoying the beautiful Sunday weather.
Gone fishing
Later that afternoon I was looking for a place to stay using my iPhone and my reservation was confirmed when I stepped through the doors of the hotel 🙂
Another day on the road that brought me some twenty five kilometers closer to Andorra la Vella. I was a little bit out of shape that day and made a relatively short walk to the typical Spanish holiday resort Oropesa del Mar. I had a swim in the hotel pool and strolled round in the village for a couple of hours in the evening sun.
