We had had a lovely time in Alicante but it was now time to leave. Although we planned to head inland we could not leave the area without visiting Benidorm to see if it was really as bad as everyone says. Well out of season and with the sun shining the beach area looked quite lovely. But driving in through all the high rise apartments made you realise how a pretty area of coastline had been totally spoilt. We had lunch on the beach and then headed up to Castille de Guadalest. Mike had visited this hill top town about 35 years ago and was interested to see how much things had changed. It appeared that it was mainly the roads. When he visited it previously it was a dirt track that you had to finish by donkey. Today there was a good road right to the top and with ample parking for vehicles our size. It was also a good 10 degrees colder than the coast we had just left and we had to hunt around for our scarves and gloves. 
We walked around for about an hour, enjoying the tremendous views down to the reservoir. We then continued on the mountain road to Alcoy and then drove on through Xativa to an aire set amongst mountains and orange groves at Hort de Soriano. this was in the real wilds of Spain and the sat nav struggled to find the roads we were using but eventually we arrived just as the sun was setting behind the mountains.
In the morning I dragged myself out of bed because it was only 2C outside and my morning walk was not so appealing. However I chose a track that went along the hillside from our camping spot. The track soon became a route that even a goat would struggle with. It was a very stony track that went upwards through rosemary and gorse bushes, although I also found some tiny wild, white narcissi. I was a bit concerned about the steepness and roughness of the path and the fact that Mike did not know what direction I had headed out so I turned round to find the downward journey no easier.
After breakfast Mike and I went up to the Casa to pay for the night but we told it was free. This had been a really lovely spot to spend the night and had quite a few facilities e.g. large BBQ area, childrens play area, swimming pool etc and although we had not used these it still seemed a bargain. We headed off back down our narrow roads, picking up some small but very sweet windfall oranges and found the road to Valencia.
We thought that arriving in Valencia on a winter's Sunday morning would make access into the city easy but we were unprepared for another of Valencia's many fiestas. Some of the main routes were blocked off and there was a heavy police presence. I popped into a Tourismo to get some help and was directed to a free parking place adjacent to the Jarden del Turia. This was an area where the river (which was diverted after flooding the city in 1956) bed had been transformed into gardens, children's play areas, cycle tracks etc. We found a great place to park and cycled on this old river bed back into the centre going through one of the old city gates the Torres del Sorrano and onto the area where the Cathedral was located. Here there was pandemonium - the place was packed with bands warming up and awaiting their turn to process through the streets and with all the spectators. In places it was impossible to cycle. At the Cathedral we split up; Mike went to see the treasures which included a cup described as 'the Holy Grail'. Who knows if it was, but it was very old and Mike is now a convert! I climbed up the tower to get the panoramic views across the City. From there we moved with the milling crowds to the area of the Town Hall where at 2pm a lot of fireworks were released. I am not sure why they let off fireworks during the day when you can't see them but the noise was rousing and deafening.
It was quite difficult to get our bikes through the throng but then we headed out on one of City cycle paths which took us out to some more modern buildings, including a concert hall, an oceanarium and a science museum and then we headed back to the van. We really enjoyed our day trip to Valencia - it is a lovely city with wide streets and a very pleasant feel.From there we drove to Sagunto which is famous for its Roman remains which have been restored (in our view) unsympathetically and from there to Benacissim where we stayed for a very windy night.
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