Sunday 6th April 2025 – Cantavieja, Spain

Today we started our journey out of Spain.
We really enjoyed our time in the mountains and wanted to see more, so we headed round Valencia before taking the A23 north and leaving that road on the A-228 to Mora de Rubielos where there was a massive castle. In fact, castles were a theme today, every pass and valley had a castle or a tower, some in ruins but others still complete. From this point on the route was shown in green on or Michelin map, so we knew that it was going to be pretty. There were many fields and pasture and it was good to see cows enjoying the grass.
The roads were very quiet and there was lots of climbing, with five passes on our route, the highest being 1700 metres.
At Allepuz, we changed to the A-226 and we were now in the land of moors and scrub with pine trees. Only occasional areas were farmland, quite a change from the intensive farming that we have been seeing. Gorse in full flower was scattered over the hills.
We entered another Geopark where the scenery was intriguing. Bands of hard rock were separated by softer ones and the whole had been folded by tectonic movement. The result gave the impression of curving manmade walls all over the hillsides. There was lots of evidence of ochres with bands of colours from light yellow to deep purple.
We passed areas that were obviously ski resorts in season and there were many marked walking trails for the warmer months.
We arrived at Cantavieja, which was perched on a rocky peninsular with commanding views over a wide area. The view of the town as we approached was quite spectacular.
We settled into the aire and went for a walk around the area. There was lovely architecture with distinctive doorways and some rather fancy houses built by the wealthy. At the end of the village there was a small castle built by the Templars. A small alleyway off the main street led to some steps that took me down from the town and provided a great view of the cliff and the houses perched on the top.
Cantavieja is a pretty village and has a really nice feel about it – a real working village, not just a tourist attraction. Well worth a visit and somewhere that I would be happy to return to.
Photos: View from our lunchtime stop; Another view en-route; The small village of Villarroya de los Pinares with the hills showing those bands of hard rock; A view from Cantavieja; Petanca (boules) being played in one of Cantavieja’s squares; Cantavieja houses crowded around the cliff.