A Walk of Contrasts

Serra Segaria with Montgo in the distance

The instructions in the book were clear – head to the second square at the village of Benimeli for the start of the walk.  Having done two complete circuits of the village and tried our Spanish out on a young girl we were none the wiser as to where the walk started.  Luckily a local bar owner, seeing us for a second time, took pity on us and pointed out the route.  The walk followed an old mule track as it twisted its way up the hillside, through squat bushes of rosemary and lavender.  It was a steep ascent and we had 400 metres to climb.  We were heading for phone and aerial masts high on the ridge above us – ugly, but a necessity in this modern age.  I was amazed to arrive at a small car park and road, which was disappointing after all the effort.  Still, at least we had the satisfaction of arriving there on foot.  Soon we were overlooking the summit towers of the Serra Segaria.  This was the point where the book said we must turn back as to continue along the ridge needed climbing skills, so we sat for a while drinking in the view before retracing our steps. We followed the road downhill before picking up the path.  The northern side of the mountain was verdant, very different from the arid southern side.  Cutting through a col back to the southern side we saw the plain stretched out below us, a giant chequerboard of orange groves.  

Overlooking the coastal plain and rice-growing marshes

We headed back to the bar and rewarded ourselves with a Carajillo (strong coffee with brandy).  The bar tender seemed surprised to see us so soon - I’m guessing he thought we would get lost!