The first day of our last week dawned with an attractively blue sky so we had no qualms joining Helen for one of her Monday walks up into the mountains.
I say no qualms but I have been suffering from a gripe in my right knee ever since we visited Peñíscola, which I suspect was a result of my having attacked mountain walking with a little too much gusto/enthusiasm earlier on in our trip – too much, too fast, perhaps. However, with a little more moderation, some of which was enforced, it has settled a bit and I’m avoiding the painkiller/anti-inflammatory combo. It seems better going uphill but aches a little on the way back down.
Today’s trek was up and down Alt del Ample, one of the mountains on the southern side of Jalón. We met behind the fuel station and headed a short distance up the road to the Sierra de Bernia, a road with which we’re very familiar, for our start point. We began by walking more or less level for some distance before eventually getting onto the incline which proved to be a steady, pretty constant gradient to the top. Enjoyable.
Here’s the view from the top back down into the Jalón valley. The mountain in the distance on the left is the Montgo, towering over Jávea/Xàbia and Dénia. We were surprised that conditions were clear enough for our eyes to see two of the Balearic Islands on the horizon, not that they were visible to my phone camera. 😉
It was an 8km route and a very pleasant way to start our last week of this trip. We’ll miss our Monday morning walking buddies when back at home. And the weather, of course.
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