Waterfall Walk

Part way along our valley walk is a beautiful diversion that doubles back along the course of the stream.




Running well at this time of year, it flows between crystal clear rock pools and waterfalls as it makes its way towards the font, where visitors can fill their water bottles with fresh, chilled mountain water.



The footpath is signposted with the familiar green and white painted flashes that confirm that you are still on the Ruta d’Agua trail.



The path is tricky, having to cross and re-cross the water using whatever stepping stones that can be found, and care needs to be taken to avoid a soaking! Except for those who want a dip in the very cold and refreshing pools…..



You can always rely on Antony! :-)

What - No Sunshine?

Mark, Steph, James and Sam joined by Antony paid us a return visit for the Christmas period. Now, we do say that this area is blessed with over 300 days a year of sunshine, sadly this period, with the exception of Christmas Day, formed part of the other 60 days!




However the weather was not to spoil things and proved no obstacle to the superb walks that we have been telling everyone about. We all walked up the mountains behind our village (all except Antony who used the opportunity to train, prior to his joining the Royal Marines, by RUNNING all the way up the mountain!).




Even though the top of the mountains were in the clouds the views were still worth the effort and spirits were not dampened as we continued to the next village of Terrateig and back via the cami roads (lanes) to Montichelvo.


A special treat at this time of year is to eat freshly picked oranges along the way – NOTHING tastes quite as refreshing I can assure you.



Click on any photo for a larger version.

Christmas Day at Casa Blanca Rural

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Mark had a desire to take a swim in the sea on Christmas Day and luckily for him the weather broke and we were all treated to a glorious sunny day.



Gandia Grau was to be the venue for the swim and Mark was joined by James and Antony to brave the waves.



Those with more common sense looked on and took photos….



The water was, by all accounts, remarkably warm and after quite some time we adjourned to a local bar and sat in the warm sunshine to enjoy a cool beer or nice hot coffee as required!

A valley walk

Bit of a walking theme this month! Yesterday we explored a new path to us, one that follows the path of a stream (barranca) up a valley between two of the mountains behind us. It is a signposted walk along the “ruta d’agua” (route of the water) so is not too difficult to follow.

We decided to walk about an hour outwards and then back giving us about two hours in total. This is a really pretty walk as it goes deep in the valley amongst the pine trees. The barranca has to be crossed at several points using conveniently placed stepping stones. Occasionally the path climbs steeply away from the water in order to get past a waterfall or two.

Where the path climbs up away from the bottom the going is quite strenuous, picking a way along rocky steps.

Part of the walk goes onto and along the centuries old terracing which provide flat growing areas for olive trees.


With the sun being low at this time of year there was a strong contrast between the shadows in the valley against the strong light on the mountains.

Our camera-phone struggled to cope with this so the photos don’t do justice to this beautiful area – but hopefully you’ll get some idea of just how natural and unspoilt it is around here.

At the one hour point we had reached a crossing of paths just past an old ruin, which we will explore next time, so we came back down the same way. But, the great thing about walks like this is that the views are so different on the way back that you get two walks in one!

A walker's paradise!

The weather is wonderful at the moment - 20ish degrees, brilliant blue skies, lush green vegetation – November is a great month for mountain walking! At hotter, more intense, times of the year walking would be more limited to mornings and afternoons but avoiding the midday heat. But, now, we can walk anytime or even all day as the temperatures are really comfortable.

Don't forget - click on any image to get it's full size view.

We have just been for a walk to the top of the mountains behind us – the Peñes Albas. It takes just a few minutes to walk from our house to the foothills that start the climb.

The entire walk is on tarmac then unmade stony tracks and it’s a fairly steady climb to the top zigzagging along the track, each turn providing ever more spectacular views.

At the top of this walk is a walker’s refuge, which is a lovely place to picnic and rest.

Time taken to get to this point at about 1000 feet above Montichelvo is an hour and a half (at a leisurely pace).


From here the choices are to go back (an hour and 10 minutes mostly downhill) or to carry on to the neighbouring village of Terrateig with more stunning views on the descent into the village. From Terrateig there is a nice walk back to Montichelvo using country lanes (Caminos). The complete circuit takes about 3 hours

History on our doorstep...

We’ve been doing a lot of walking lately, exploring the mountains behind us and discovering stunning scenery - and a ruined castle.

“Our” local castle can be seen in the distance from our roof-terrace, on the peak of a mountain by Ayelo de Rugat which is the neighbouring village to Montichelvo.


The castle dates back to Muslim origins sometime before the 11th Century and is apparently best know for being the place where King Jaime 1 (otherwise know as The Conquistador) was nearly killed, along with several of his horsemen, when they were ambushed by the rebel, Al-Azraq, who had invited the Aragonese king to a pretend wedding. – Exciting times!


In 1339 parts of the castle were dismantled and from about 1500 it was left to decay.




Today, there are still parts of exterior walls and battlements, interior walls window openings and an almost intact hallway of some kind.









Click on any of the photos for a full-size picture





A fascinating place to sit and ponder and with the castle being some 490 mtrs above sea-level the views are stunning.




The castle is reached by way of a signed trail that leads out from the back of Ayelo de Rugat, crossing streams via stepping stones and rising steeply towards the summit which is visible for most of the walk.









Good shoes or walking boots are a must as the going is tough in places but the result is well worth the effort! There and back is under 3 hours so it can be walked either side of the hottest part of the day.

Kiko Beach

Our favourite beach! 25 minutes drive from us towards the town of Oliva is a lovely, natural, fine white sand beach.

The whole of the coastline here, along the Costa Blanca and Costa del Azahar (the orange blossom coast), has numerous beautiful beaches - some stoney, some sandy, some busy and some quiet. Visitors are literally spoilt for choice!

Kiko beach is approached through miles of orange groves (or, at least, the bit we go to is). Parking is easy – just pull in at the roadside where the road peters out just before the beach itself, then a short walk through the dunes and you can take your pick where to settle down – there are acres of space!



Later during the afternoons kite surfers arrive to enjoy their sport, which is quite exciting to watch…..




The sea is comfortably warm, and shallow for a long way out, making this a very safe area for swimming.

Within a few minutes stroll there is a great beach bar where you can relax to background chill-out music whilst enjoying an ice-cold San Miguel...or two :-)

Out and About

We had a week to ourselves last week ‘in-between guests’ so took the opportunity to explore some of our local walks.

The countryside that can be seen behind our house from our roof terraces contains numerous signposted walks. This gives us the advantage of not having to drive anywhere to get to a walk!

The particular route that we chose is a variety of stoney paths and tracks and took about an hour or so to complete at a leisurely pace. From our house we headed out towards the foot of the mountains and along to our neighbouring village of Ayelo de Rugat then via a circular route back to Montichelvo.






This route is mostly through cultivated areas with an abundance of fruit trees, vines and olives etc. Hopefully the photographs show this well.

Indoor Pilota!

A change from the version that is played in the street we visited a Trinquete (a purpose built indoor court) in nearby Bellreguard to watch a match this week.

Being purpose-built the spectators seating areas are raised giving a much better view (and understanding) of the game. We sat in the gallery at what we understand is the ‘safest’ end to watch from! The accompanying photos show the good view that we had.

The player’s hands are fascinating in the way that they have to be prepared for the game. They are used as the racquets themselves to hit the fast moving hard leather covered ball from one end of the court to the other. The player’s hands take about an hour to make up with ‘armour’ consisting of leather thimbles and pads together with metal plates to protect vulnerable joints, all bound with padded plaster to keep everything in place.

Our Spanish neighbour who went with us to the match introduced us to a friend of his who manufactures the hard leather thimble-like pieces that form part of the players hand armour. Each ‘thimble’ takes about 15 minutes to make and the thick hide has to be soaked in water in order to be moulded and stitched into shape.



These matches are played regularly and are a recommended visit for our guests that enjoy sport and want to see something different as this sport is only played in a big way in the Valencia Region.