“Absolutely not!” is the reaction I get to my suggestion that we cycle the hour and a half along the beach into Valencia. Turning to look at the face that uttered these words, I can’t help but break into a fit of giggles; red-faced, beads of perspiration on his upper lip and rivulets beginning to form in his (rather long!) hair. Who is this obstinate cycle-ride-avoider?? It’s my son George, fresh from 2,000 miles driving around Scotland, climbing Ben Nevis, wild camping every night along with surfing/camping in Cornwall – obviously, the apple never falls far from the tree 👌😁

On reflection, I agree that Ben Nevis Boy has got a point, as it’s 35 degrees in the shade and Gloria has turned into a sauna 🔥 So a safe parking spot is found just 10’ from the City and mutiny is narrowly avoided! We start our exploration at the City of Arts & Sciences

Valencia planners were so clever to use this huge drained area where the river previously ran (after a huge flood in 1957, the river was rerouted) and turn it into a 4 mile picturesque park

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To say that this City exceeded all my expectations is an understatement – the place is extraordinary on so many levels, combining exciting modern architecture and graceful old plazas with fountains, medieval landmarks and huge, wide, tree-lined avenues.

Biking around this city is a joy (yes, even for Ben Nevis Boy (BNB), who has realised that the air movement provided by cycling is like having a fan on full-blast…….maybe his old mum isn’t so crazy after all?!) as, not only are there cycle lanes throughout the city, they are generally separated from the traffic by a small boundary that feels very protective. We cycle into the heart of the city and come across a street food market area, stopping for a plate of paella…..essential first meal in Spain 🇪🇸and apparently born in Valencia.

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Carrying on cycling through tiny back alleys, we make a quick stop at the cathedral (home of the Holy Grail – maybe??) and I’m struck by how enormous most of the doors are here……and a lot of them don’t even seem to have small doors set within them. Must be quite an effort getting in and out 🤔

Knowing we have a long drive on our hands, we can’t resist the detour to spend time at Cuevo Turcho waterfall, a 60m drop into a blue-green oasis. The water is refreshingly cool and the whole place is just stunning…..

Just before we left, two climbers in wetsuits were spotted repelling down the waterfall – another bucket list addition??

We spent that night just outside Pinosa, devouring delicious burgers (plant-based one for me – hard to tell the difference these days!) at Bar Mucho, a restaurant set up by a fellow European-roadtrip van lady.

Now on a mission to find the best waterfalls, the following day involves an hour’s detour for a natural beauty spot, Salto del Usero……

……before another long drive, passing the famous greenhouses of Almeria (they cover 31,000 hectares and can be seen from space), to the Sierra Nevada mountain range where we parked up in the mountains behind a huge wine warehouse and made supper under the stars.

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The reason why we have to undertake such big drives is that BNB’s friend is arriving into Malaga airport the following evening, so we need to get another few hours on the road under our belt. However, we’ve spotted that on the way (well, only a 5 mile detour) is Junta de los Rios “the junction of two rivers” that we cannot possibly miss 🤩 Little did we know that those 5 miles would be on a small, uphill, windy road that took half an hour! Both on mountain bikes this time, we knew the 7km track to the start of the trail would be fun on the way down, especially with views like these……

We explored both gorges, with the larger one leading all the way up to more and more spectacular pools and waterfalls…..

Of course, we had to finish our amazing gorge day with a bit of cliff-jumping!

The ride back up the mountain wasn’t as bad as expected and neither was the drive back down the mountain, thank goodness. What WAS bad was arriving in Alora, the town we’d arranged to meet our next guest, and missing our parking spot. This required a drive right through the town’s horrendously tight and hilly one-way system in order to turn around. At one point, BNB had to exit Gloria in order to direct me through the narrowest lane possible, as I had to pull both wing mirrors in to get through. There were just a few centimetres either side of me and I heard afterwards that my awning was just millimetres from the (extremely scraped!) wall……certainly not for the faint-hearted and my closest “scrape” so far! Oh, to have been back in one of those refreshing cool pools once again!!

• Thoughts so far:
• Valencia was founded by the Romans and is Spain’s third largest city
• Valencia generates 51% of Spain’s GDP, as half of Spain’s working population is connected to it in some way through the port
• Paella originally included rabbit and sometimes snails!
• Almeria’s greenhouses reflect so much sunlight that they actually have a cooling effect
• The 165 square mile “sea of plastic” produces ~3.5 million TONS of fruit and veg, but with a terrifying environmental and human impact