A guidebook to walking in Spain's Costa Blanca area north and west of Benidorm. The rugged mountains of the Costa Blanca offer wonderful walking in a landscape of pinnacled ridges, enormous crags and shady pines. Orange and almond groves enhance the valleys, whilst attractive mountain villages provide hospitality, offering a taste of the real Spain, far removed in character from the developed coastal strip. The walks are described in two books, which split roughly into west (book 1) and east (book 2). This book, volume 1, includes walks in: Sierra Aitana, Monte Ponoch, Puig Campana, Val de Arc, the Benidorm Area - Sierra Helada, Sierra Cortina, Sierra Serrella / Aixorta, Val de Algar, Val de Galinera / Forada, the north-west Sierras and outlying areas. Two multi-day walks are also included - the Gallinera Way and Costa Blanca Mountain Way.
Table of Contents
WALKING ROUTES; Gradings; Timing; Route Grades; Maps; List of Walks; SIERRA AITANA/CAMPANA/PONOCH; 1Aitana Summit; 2Confrides Castle; 3Pea Mulero; 4Pea Roc; 5Sanchet; 6Ponoch Circuit; 7Puig Campaa; THE AITANA WAY; 8Confrides to the Aitana Summit; 9Summit to Paso del Contadores; 10Paso del Contadores to Finestrat; VAL DE ARC; 11Pea Divino and Alto de la Pea Sella; 12Sella to Benimantell; BENIDORM AREA SIERRA HELADA/SIERRAS DE CORTINA; 13Traverse of Sierra Helada from Benidorm; 14Sierra Helada from Albir; 15Sierras de Cortina; SIERRA SERRELLA/AIXORTA; 16Serrella Summits and Pla de la Casa; 17Agulles de la Serrella; 18Pla de la Casa from Fachega; 19Malla de Llop from Famorca; 20Serrella Castle from Berniarda; 21Serrella Castle from Castell de Castells; 22Sierra Aixorta Circuit; 23Morro Blau from Callosa dEnsaria; VAL DE ALGAR; 24Bolulla Castle; 25Algar Valley Walk; 26El Somo Circuit; VAL DE GALLINERA; 27Forada Ridge; 28Almisira via Alto de Chap; 29Forna to Villalonga; 30Val de Encantada and Ermita del Santo Cristo; GALLINERA WAY; 31Day 1 Beniarrama to Benisiva; 31Day 2 The Forada Ridge; 31Day 3 Benisili to Lorcha; 31Day 4 Lorcha to Beniarrama; NORTH-WEST SIERRAS; 32Benicadell; 33 Lorcha to Villalonga and Rio Serpis Valley; 34Punta de Alfaro and Barranco de Malafi; WESTERN SIERRAS; 35Sierra de la Plans; 36Cabeza dOro; COSTA BLANCA MOUNTAIN WAY; The Way; Why Walk it? How to Walk it; Timetable and Distances; 1Villalonga to Val dEbo; 2Val dEbo to Fleix; 3Fleix to Castell de Castells; 4Castell de Castells to Confrides; Ridge Route: Castillo de Serrella to Rincon de Olvido; 5Confrides to Font Moli via Aitana; 6Font Moli to Sella (Optional); Support Party Notes; Back-packers Variations
Author Biography
After wartime service in the navy, Bob Stansfield had a career in the police force, becoming superintendent, then lecturing in law in East Anglia. Bob is a lifelong mountain lover, and has walked, climbed and skied in most of the high places of Britain and in many parts of the Alps. He was a part-time instructor with Outward Bound and a voluntary warden in the Lake District, and founded the first police climbing club. Bob and his wife, Kathy, retired to the Costa Blanca in 1986. There they helped to found the Costa Blanca Mountain Walkers, a group which went on to thoroughly explore the walking possibilities of the region. Bob has written walking articles in local newspapers and published a series of walking guides locally. A selection was published by Cicerone in 1995 as Mountain Walks on the Costa Blanca. In this new edition, in two volumes, Bob has updated and expanded the scope of the first edition to give unrivalled comprehensive coverage of the area.
