To the top!!!

Today we climbed a mountain! Well, to be precise we walked up a mountain. Benicadell rises to over 3000ft and has a very sheer side that involves special climbing skills and a more gently sloping side that has become our top walk!

Keith, Alison and Sandra are visiting their home-from-home in Montichelvo this week and they love walking as much as we do. In fact it was Keith and Ali that first showed us a track up into the mountains of the Penyes Albas behind our village last year. So we decided to tackle Benicadell as a group, Caroline and I had made the summit before, in January, but it was to be a first for our friends.



We drove up to a refuge on the side of the mountain and started our walk from there. Moderate to hard going would be an honest description of the tracks that lead to the top but after an hour and a half of good healthy exercise we made it!





The scenery is truly breathtaking with 100 km views in all directions. We sat and ate our packed lunches at a comfortable spot just below the summit.



We were then treated to a fantastic display of ridge-soaring by two large eagles who came into view at a height lower than us, but soon swirled round and round in the gentle up-currents and moved away into the distance high above us – a very special moment and a great time to share with friends. (Click to photo for a larger view, although you may still not be able to make out the eagles – they are right in the centre, honest!)





When we got bored with the scenery (NOT!) we made our descent via a “Nevera” which is an igloo-like building built of stone for storing ice centuries ago.

Back in the car we called in at Beniatjar for a much deserved cold beer – a real “Ice Cold in Alex” moment, and the locals, not used to seeing strangers in their village, were entertaining to say the least…..

There is a wealth of information about Benicadell and the towns that surround it here http://www.valldalbaida.com/rutes/benicadell_en.php (this should show as a link that you can click on but,for some reason you will have to copy and paste the webaddress into your browser window to get to the website)

How quickly Spring heads towards Summer!

To make the most of some quiet time between guests and the lovely weather we popped into Gandia and then spent a relaxing afternoon at a beach side restaurant and then onto the beach at Daimus which is about 20 minutes from Casa Blanca Rural. In Gandia the temperature was an impressive 29 degrees


and the wonderful scent from the roadside orange blossom was almost overpowering.

Daimus is a small town just south of Gandia. There are numerous bars and restaurants serving traditional tapas and main meal dishes, not quite as cheap as inland prices but very good value nonetheless. We enjoyed a couple of ice cold beers and tapas for two for the equivalent of about £10 at Tapas Rigo sitting outside at a table on the promenade watching the sea and the world passing by.

With a light breeze, sitting on the beach was a real pleasure. The beach is very clean, well maintained and has as much personal space as anyone could want. In fact when we left at about 4 o'clock ours were the only footprints to be seen.

A typical week on holiday at Casa Blanca Rural

Vicki, Perry and their two daughters, Georgia and Maddi, exchanged snow and sub-zero temperatures in the UK for a week with us in Montichelvo. They were in need of some R&R and a break from the routines of their busy lives at home.

The weather treated them very kindly with temperatures between high teens and low twenties and wall-to-wall sunshine. They had hired a car from the airport (which we recommend) so had the freedom to explore independently and to experience the thrills of driving in Spain!

Once settled in they were able to take advantage of our local knowledge and accompanied us on our most popular walk which is up a valley in the mountains behind us and across to a Moorish ruined castle for a picnic.



The girls installed their Barbie and Ken dolls as King and Queen for the duration of our visit!



We also took them on a mountain 4x4 ride to show some of the amazing views around these parts.

Luckily their visit coincided with Las Fallas and other festivities so we all went into Gandia, which is our local main town, to experience fireworks like you wouldn’t believe and burnings of the monuments late into the night.

Local cuisine was sampled at the Moli Canyar (a large converted mill) that serves a splendid all-you-can-eat menu del dia. They also had our in house barbeque and on another night our “Paella de la casa”.



A couple of different days were spent at the beach which Georgia and Maddi loved and became very relaxed too……..



We also took them on our most popular excursion which is a trip by 4x4 along an old disused railway line that winds its way along the route of the river Serpis. Beautiful scenery in every direction – we never tire of it. And before returning to the house we stopped for a very leisurely tapas lunch sitting in the sunshine outside a bar in a village mostly in the middle of nowhere – a world away from day to day life back home. And just to show that we really enjoy what we do - this is me being a very happy host...



Apart from the trips out there were shopping trips, visits to the local bar (25 yards away in our church square) meeting the friendly locals, practicing long forgotten Spanish. Amazing how jokes can be enjoyed between people who barely understand what the other is saying!

All too soon the week came to an end and our guests traded the warm sunshine for snow and sub-zero temperatures once more. So, were they relaxed and refreshed? – Yep, no doubt!