Castells was chosen for this Easter Monday walk because it
might be quieter and not so crowded.
This proved true for the walk itself, but the camping site we walked
through at the start was certainly pretty busy.
We had the option to tackle one of two walks from the
village. We could do David’s walk via
the arches, which has become our regular Castells walk. Or we could go via Castillo de Serrella, with
its steep road climb to the castle rock.
The weather has been much warmer of late, and we left it until this
morning to decide. It was a cool morning,
and all agreed that we should do the castle walk as we had not done it for some
time.
The walk starts with a gradual, but long, walk uphill from
the village. The paths are rough and
broken, but easy going uphill. Not
quite so easy on the return journey downhill, particularly when we are all
feeling tired and a little careless.
Then there is a gentle section towards the Castillo de
Serrella, which dominates the whole area.
A short break for a banana stop, before we tackle the long
and hard road climb up towards the castle.
Mike found a comfortable rock away from the main group, and provides a
good impression of the size of the castle rock.
We all tackle the road climb at our own pace. The cooler weather this morning made it much
easier than I remember it from previous walks.
Certainly Pat seems to have completed it without too much trouble.
The rest of the group were quite happy to take a short
break. Peter and Mike decided to climb
up to the castle itself. They tried to
tempt more to join them, but without success.
We had all climbed it in the past, and preferred to take a short break
before completing the walk to our picnic site.
The path from the castle to our lunch stop is this long,
winding road downhill and then sharply uphill.
It’s the most impressive view on this walk, and one of the most spectacular
of the whole area. It’s the one which always
springs to mind when Castell de Castells is mentioned.
Once again we all tackle this section at our own pace. It is not as difficult as the approach to
the castle. But it is quite steep, and
it comes immediately after the castle climb.
By the time Jan arrived it was getting cloudy.
The remainder of the group, including Peter and Mike who had
completed their climb to the castle, were not too far behind. We were all well in time for our regular 1pm
lunch stop.
The picnic site is quite exposed, the wind was stronger and it was quite cool. So most of us added an extra
layer of clothing. I did not have
anything with me, and borrowed Jan’s “hoodie”.
Fortunately no one else had a camera to record the moment. Peter did recommend a “selfie”, but I
declined.
It was quite cloudy and overcast while we had our lunch, so
this photograph does not do justice to the view. Despite this the view to Guadalest and the
coast is pretty good. The sun would
reappear on the walk back to the village.
Just after we reached the bar the promised rain finally arrived. Quite a heavy storm, but quite a short
one. Had it come half an hour earlier we
would have been drenched.
Monday 28 April 2014
Next week’s walk will be from Lleus to Pinos. Meet at Lleus church at 10am.
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