Camping Marjal, Costa Blanca

Cheers, lunch at Isla Tabarca in Guardamar. our favorite lunch stop with the two brothers serving. (Can you spot Farther Christmas in the background?, also his lunch stop)

We’ve been at Camping Marjal for over a month now and have decided to stay a little longer depending on the weather. We’ve had great weather here without rain the whole time and have already stayed longer than we had originally planned. Christmas day was cloudy and we had dinner inside the bungalow, but otherwise it was mainly sunny during the day. Bex, Tony, Emily and dad stayed in Bungalow three just over the road from our camper and we stayed with dad when the others left to return home. We spent the days visiting local towns, beaches, playing tennis, boules and crazy golf. We all made use of the sauna/steam room and pool that comes free and is a great advantage here. It seemed strange for us when everyone had gone and we moved back to our little camper

The view from the top of  Serra de Callosa with Serra de Orihuela in the distance, puff-puff!.

Since then we’ve cycled to Catral and Callosa and I’ve climbed the local mountain, Serra de Callosa which has the name implies, overlooks the town (which I’ve since learned is or was known for hemp production). On our visit today to Callosa, Peter and Jan, our next door neighbours, came with us to see the route on the local caminos. I convinced Helen to see the park where the trail to the summit starts but she was a little apprehensive that I had plans to get her climbing ; nothing was further from my mind!  Anyway, cycling to the park was challenging even in “high” power, so we had to leave our bikes 50 yards from the entrance on a 1:4 gradient, great fun going down though, yes the brakes did work.

The hike went well, starting at 11 at Callosa in the sunshine, climbing to the refuge (with its own rainwater collection system) and then the main peak by lunch time. The last section to the refuge was a scramble but I had loads of time to enjoy the views to the coast and inland to the south west to Serra de Orihuela. I met a couple of English folk on route trying to overcome a fear of heights and no one else at all. The route down was a combination of following a ridge for a kilometre or so and  then a descent down a steep gulley (Angela, you would have loved this bit, I thought of you!) to find a path through the woods skirting above Redavan and then a final descent into Callosa reminding me of walking in eastern Catalonia.  The route was well marked with yellow/white blazers but since I didn’t have a detailed walking map, I used a GPX file from the internet. In Callosa I had a welcome beer before walking back to the campsite to meet Helen from the sauna at about six o’clock; of course it’s a tough life out here.

A view of the descent route along the summit ridge. Amazingly there is a refuge up there with a rain water collection system and a nativity scene set aside the refuge.

Just in case you didn't believe me here is the proof. It's not at the summit, but not far below.

Hasta luego