We left Javea in our minibus and made our way to the Casa Granja San Miguel in Salem, a pretty rural tourism destination in La Vall d’Albaida. Time for refreshments and Maria, the owner of what was once a small farm but is now a rural tourism complex, gave us all a delicious piece of home-made orange cake. We donned our walking boots and then set off from Casa Granja with our two guides, Jesus and Emilio.
Emilio led the walk whilst Jesus gave us information, in English, about the beautiful landscape – a valley encircled by mountains – and the different structures which we came across: dry-stone walls, water ponds, various trees, such as apricots, peaches and olives. Jesus explained how the carob pods were used for bread-making in days gone by, as well as chocolate, but because carob was associated with poor people, it gradually became unpopular, but he told us that carob chocolate was now making a come-back in Spain.
Emilio led us down another trail to the El Molí Bridge, which crosses the Barranc de la Font del Cantal, with its beautiful arch. The current bridge dates from the 18th century, though the original structure goes back to the days of the Moors. The mill would have been interesting in its heyday; the bottom half is original but the top bricked up, though it is still used for summer stays by the owners.
We then wound our way back to Casa San Miguel for a hearty lunch, home-made bread and alioli, which contained plenty of garlic, and wine for all, before making our way back to Javea.
Report by Angela Chantry. A special thank you to our photographers: Tom Stevenson, Ian Cummings, Andrew Adamczyk, Keith Drury and Angela.
getaway.guided.walks@u3ajavea.com