A walking holiday in Spain

Colin and Evan, two brothers from Suffolk and Norfolk have just stayed with us for a walking holiday. Unusually the weather was not too kind, but, as experienced walkers they were well prepared and spent their week exploring some of the many beautiful walks around here.

On their return to the UK they sent us the following write-up:

“Monticheivo is a small village in the mountains some 40 kms south of Valencia , we (Evan and Colin, two very mature walkers) were met by Caroline and Neil and driven to their home, a converted town house offering a home from home holiday with all the benefits of English speaking guides, they also offered a transfer service to and from the walks that begin and end high in the mountains, complete with detailed maps of the area and details of the walks in terms of distance approx time and interesting things to see while on route.

The area offers walks for all requirements from circular wanders through olive groves, acres of orange and peach trees of between 2 –20 kms all starting within 50 metres of the house on flat roads in the valley.

For a longer walk after a 30 min car ride we followed a well marked path from the small village of Lorcha climbing through the La Safor mountains to a height of 400 metres before descending to a disused railway track alongside the river Serpis which we followed for around 11 klms, the total length of the walk is 22 kms. For us this was a good walk offering views from the mountains and along the river an abundance of wild life, rabbits, birds and fish to watch as we ambled along passing through some tunnels made by English Victorian engineers who built the railway.

The second longish walk was very different, we set out to climb Benicadell - this mountain towers to a height of 1078mtrs. Again we started by being taken by car (around 20 mins), the walk is well marked and the smell of the pines, wild mint and rosemary seems to be everywhere on the mountain, only the last 60 metres is a bit of a scramble but the view from the top makes it all worth while, on a clear day it is possible to see the sea.

In conclusion the holiday offered wonderful walking, good food, and friendly hosts. The weather for us was unkind with 6 days of rain but we still enjoyed our stay and as a reward on the final day the sun came out to show us how much better the area is in the warm sun.”

Colin and Evan have spent many years walking together in many countries around the world and we are delighted that they have looked so favourably on our part of “Real Spain”. We look forward to their next visit.