Sunsets and Sunrises on the Valencian coast

Tina has a touch of writer’s block and so I’ve decided to have a try, please bear with me as our writing style’s are slightly different.

The week begins with the worst day for me, food shopping. Because we are calorie counting, this means Tina has to check the labels of everything she buys 😫, and so the shopping takes longer, I no longer enter these places, but stay in the van and read a full volume of Encyclopedia Brittanica whilst my beloved does her thing.

Finally it’s time to move on, and so it’s a short trip to Gandia to have our first, of this trip, menu del dia , that had been recommended to us.

It certainly didn’t disappoint.

With full bellies it was time to set off to our next destination, Denia, where after searching all the usual sites for somewhere to park, we had to settle for our last resort, a camp site.

Travelling down the main road between Gandia and Denia there is a certain stretch where ‘ladies of the day’ sit by the side of the road selling their wares😉😉, sorry I digress, but 6 hours later having covered only 3 miles 😂, we continued our journey.

Finally we reached the campsite mid afternoon, and I understand the need for shade, as the sun is hot in summer, but I thought we had entered the Amazon jungle🌲🌲🌲🌳🌳, luckily with Tina in front, clearing a path with her trusted machete, we managed to find a plot, I half expected David Attenborough to be our neighbour.

Within 5 minutes of parking up we were ready to see if it was still daylight and a 30 second stroll took us to the waterfront and a 2 mile walk into Denia.

We walked around the harbour, I’d spotted what I thought was a small Cruise ship at the other side, upon getting closer to said ship, it was ‘Lady Moira ‘ a luxurious yacht owned by the Saudi tycoon Nasser Al- Rashid.

Measuring 105 metres in length this superyacht with a capacity for 30 guests and 61 crew members, includes a spa, casino, teleport, a party room and even a surgery room could be yours for a little over 200 million euros. Apparently it’s the world’s 13th most expensive boat!

A quick walk around the streets of Denia, which was like a ghost town and it was time to head back to ‘The Jungle’🐵🐒🦍.

When searching for places to stay, I try to get somewhere that will enable us to walk in either direction, and so after the small walk into Denia yesterday it was time to head for the cliffs in the other direction.

A nice stroll along the promenade took us past the rugged coastline to start our ascent to the cliffs.

Unfortunately Tina has had both knees operated on and arthritis to boot, so I try to choose reasonable trails for her, they don’t call me Caring Kev for nothing 🤔🤣. I wanted to visit some caves which meant a trek uphill, followed by a descent back down to the caves, the uphill bit was fine and I said I would have a look at the descent. This was not for Tina and so we continued our trek uphill and followed a path along the cliffs.

Looking to our right there was the Montgó Massif a huge mountain which rises to 753 metres and a deserted village that I had read about and to the left the blue waters of the Med.

We headed back down the path to have lunch overlooking a small cove, where we noticed a middle aged Spanish couple practically eating each other’s faces 🤢🤢, We looked at each other and said “I bet they’re not married to each other”, Sure enough, 20 minutes later when they got in seperate cars, our suspicions were confirmed.

A scenic walk along the twisting roads of an affluent community took us to the Ghost village, or the urbanization of El Greco, to give it its correct title. In 1978 the construction of 500 villas was planned, but only 111 were built. This was because the construction company lost the licence to build after the declaration of Montgo as a National Park. Now these derelict buildings are used by the local graffiti artists to showcase their talents. Situated on the side of the mountain and surrounded on both sides by deep cliffs this would have been a good place to live.

We got back in time for a nice sunset.

Wednesday was a 30 minute drive to the other side of the cliffs that brought us into Xabia (Javea) and a fantastic free parking spot overlooking the sea.

Whilst I had a short coastal walk Tina wandered around the port.

We woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful sunrise over the sea.

I’d checked Google maps and sorted two walks out for Thursday, You could drive up to the start of the walks and save yourselves a round trip of 6 miles or start from our location.

Being the caring and loving husband and remembering Tinas arthritic knees, I chose the latter 😂.

The first walk took us to Cap Prim which afforded great views of the coastline and Isla del Portixol and then it was a not so quick backtrack that took us to Cala Barraca, where we sat and had lunch.

Walking back we decided to visit Xabia old town, and finally returned back to the motorhome after walking just over 17 miles.

We didn’t want to overstay our spot on the beach, and had seen another spot whilst we were walking, so 5 minutes later we set up home again and saw a fantastic sunset.

Tina had posted a photo later that night and someone replied with a photo of their sunset saying we are just further down the coast at La Vila Joiosa ( Villajoyosa), a quick look on Google it seemed to be our type of place.

Up and off early Friday morning we called in at a small pebbly beach, where we got chatting to a lovely couple, Peter and Margaret, from very close to our old home town, and he said to follow them as they knew of a great place to park overnight.

Once parked up it was time to see Villajoyosa , and a 2mile walk took us into this colourful old fishing town. This is our kind of place, a bit gritty and dirty with a great atmosphere to it.

Once again we were treated to the most vibrant sunset.

We spent the rest of the night chatting to our new found friends.

Saturday was a short drive to Santa Pola and then a 30 minute ferry ride to Tabarca, which is the smallest permanently inhabited islet in Spain. We explored every inch of this serene little islet.

Wouldn’t have liked to have been caught by the police and thrown in the back of the van.😂

Sunday was our rest day, which meant a 9 mile walk along the promenade of Santa Pola.

It’s the end of the week and I’d still not seen a football game,😫 and by now I was going ‘cold turkey’. Luckily a La Liga clash between Elche and Racing Club Santander helped to cure my addiction.

Please leave a comment or a “like” if you’ve enjoyed it 😁