Southern Costa Blanca Walking Group

THE WATERFALL WALK  (an introduction to the mountains)

 A two and a half hour walk, about 5k.

over varied terrain in the mountains for the able but not necessarily experienced walker.

 The start of the route from the mountain park follows the dry river bed between the trees and is an exciting mixture of flat stony ground, flat clambering up and around larger boulders and small climbs up rock faces that would be water cascades in wet weather.

Once we leave the river bed, we climb on a short rising section of narrow path which is loose under foot at times. At the top we turn onto a wide flat track for about 800m and take a slight detour to take in a fantastic view.

A slight backtrack allows us to take the path down the other side of the valley through open pine forest allowing views of the opposite hillsides and through the valley. It is an easy descent over rocky but firm footing.

THE MOUNTAIN PARKS LINK

 A figure of eight linking two mountain parks – a demanding walk with its own rewards.

 We enter the mountain park above Albacete and after taking in the view over the plane and towards the sea, we descend on steps to the barbeque area before walking on winding rough tracks through pine forest, gradually gaining height until we meet a wide rough track. We follow this upwards for a short while before turning onto narrow track again to follow the contour of the hill and drop down into a gully. Climbing up the other side, we walk through a cleft between rock faces into another valley and a three way meeting of tracks. Here, we turn towards the ‘Parque de Cayetano’ and follow the track up the valley. The going becomes gradually steeper, levels out and then climbs again as we near the second park.

The track comes out onto the rough roadway below the car park with those great views, and from here we can walk down into the park to make use of the toilets and picnic areas. After our rest, we take the steps out of the park and then descend on a rough stony track, meet the wider rough road for a short distance and then take a narrower path down the valley before crossing the road again and taking a track between the hills. This area looks as if it was once farmed but is mostly untended now. The route is mostly stony under foot but leads into softer earthy track through the pines until we reach the three way meeting point again.Here, we retrace our steps for a while before swinging right onto the track which brings us back to the cars.

CAYATANO LOOP

 – Another walk that starts in the car park of the mountain park. It covers 8km (3 hours) through varied terrain but with a strenuous climb in the second half.

The start of this walk follows part of the ‘figure of eight’ route.

We descend on rough stony track, meet the wider rough road for a short distance and then take a narrower path down the valley before crossing the road again and taking a track between the hills. This area looks as if it was once farmed but is mostly untended now. The route is mostly stony under foot but leads into softer earthy track through the pines

At the three way sign marker from the figure of eight route, we continue on through the valley on softer track until we turn up onto the hills to the right. We follow the contour for quite a while. There are some wonderful rock formations and deep valleys but the path is quite safe. And we have views across towards the road from Albacete to the Hondon valley.

Eventually, we reach our turning point and start the long pull up through a deep, narrow valley to the reach the hills above our starting point. As we start our descent we pass the remains of a cave house and continue down on rough stony track. We eventually come down some rough made steps down to the picnic area and pass this on our way back to the cars.

LOS VENTANAS AND SALT RIVER

We begin with a slight incline and continue along rough but easy tracks with slight undulations until we take a short detour to see derelict buildings/cave houses and pause to look at the “Cuchillo Ventanas”. Continuing, we climb gently for a while until we reach a track which follows the contours of the hillside while taking us between it and another hill. We are rewarded by running water babbling over a pebbled stream bed.

After lulling you into a false sense of security, we offer you the big climb of the day though it is not as bad as many we have done and is soon over. Again we follow the contour of the hillside over the opposite side of the valley, above the stream and looking out on distant views. We make our way around to the far side of the hill where the path is good but narrow and the undergrowth is quite sharp at times so be aware that trousers are a good idea. Eventually, we start our descent into the river valley and down the river bed for about 1.5km which is a really great part of this walk. The going is good but there are narrow sections (2mtrs/outstretched arm widths) of negotiating boulders but these are straight forward and the rock walls allow for plenty of support.

There is one long rock face drop (check out the colour!) which looks demanding but it has plenty of foot and hand placements and we can all help each other down. Don’t miss the whole walk because this sounds too difficult. At the end of the river bed we find ourselves back at the ‘babbling brook’.

We now turn away from the hill and follow the water course to find a salt water spring

and follow various aqueducts (actually walking in them) until we reach paths and a concrete road which takes us back to the cars

RIVER CROSSINGS CIRCULAR

This is a 10k circular route which takes in parts of other routes. We set off from the Parque de Montana (Albatera) down through the pine trees heading for the narrow path following the contours above the various ravines to the cut. We turn left when we reach the signpost. It's a good uphill session now (the only one on this route) until we reach the top of the small hill. Tracking round, we follow various tracks around ravines on reasonably level contours taking in the much changing scenery and views. At the second sign post we take a left turn, down and across the ravine and up the other side to again follow the narrow track around the contours which is a similar terrain until we descend into a river bed and make our way towards the old ruins alongside the Hondon Road. It's then across the road and down the track into yet another river bed and through the tunnel under the road on to the challenging part of this walk through the cut. We clamber over boulders and down the rock face with the aid of a fixed chain, (a slip here will get you very wet), and down to the next level where another chain helps to keep you out of the water. Onwards through the river bed and out onto a track which follows the power lines until once again we head down to and cross another river bed over the top of a waterfall. A short uphill section after this brings us onto a track which we follow back to the mountain park.

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