A Stroll to The Windmills

A walk from near Denia to near Javea, Spain.

Distance: 7miles

Difficulty: Easy

At the end of this item, you will find the 2 minute video of this walk. Please enjoy.

This is where we headed on our bright, shining day.

A gang of us walked to the Windmills that overlook the seaside town of Javea. We used a circular route, more or less.

We cannot guarantee that this map will get you there, but you will have fun trying!

It’s another follow your nose route. What could possibly go wrong?

The land around the Ghost Town and the Gerro Tower is very rocky, with clear paths that thread their way through; it is a slalom, with time to take in the the passing scenery. Once past the Ghost Town, you are onto a plateau, but with a terrain that is very uneven and broken. Wear shoes with a solid sole, as you’ll feel all those rocks with every step and your feet will be hurting by the end of your stroll. There is no scrambling or climbing, only walking.

From Denia, walk along the Rota (seaside promenade), or catch a bus to the end of the Rota/Mena restaurant. Stand with your back to the restaurant, and walk up the road in front of you, passing the bus shelter on your right side. Take the first left turning; and then, after 30 yards (ish), the road splits into 2, take the right hand road, Carrer Sextans. It becomes a rough cement lane and then a very rough track within a minute or two. The track slopes up away from you at a steady incline.

Bear right here and then keep straight on. Easy.

From here you follow your nose, and the map, until you find yourself at the windmills.

We thought you might like to swat-up on the Molins before you set out.

The view from the terrace that the windmills are built on, is stupendous, which is why we all have our backs to the camera and our cheerful, rosy cheeked faces to the bay of Javea.

What a gorgeous bunch of walkers we are.

Once you have filled your boots with your gourmet lunch, and the sumptuous vistas, you can either walk down into Javea and take the local bus back to Denia, or retrace your steps. Today, we retraced our steps to just beyond the eco houses and the end of the lane. Rather than bear left and walk back to the Ghost Town, we walked nearer to the sea, with that deep valley to our left side and the sea to our right; the path is obvious.

The Gerro Tower marking the end of the walk.

You can see the Gerro Tower for much of the final half of the walk, which makes navigation a doddle.

Our gang at the Gerro Tower; as I saw them, in their bright clothes, with their colourful rucksacks, on this sizzling hot day.

All you have to do now is wander down the zig-zagging path to the seafront and then back to Restaurant Mena where we recommend you have a well earned drink on their sunny seaside terrace.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

The Happy Hoeple Grouple

The Dutch have a word for Hula Hooping, Hoeple, it sounds like hoople.

All it took was one person to turn up to a yoga class with a hula hoop and a group of old birds got into a flap; instantly. Why would anyone bring a hula hoop to a yoga session? Who knows. This was the moment that marked the start of what became The Happy Hoeple Grouple.

At ten every morning we would gather to hoeple, roping in any passing, or gawping person who was daft enough to make eye contact with a Hoeple Grouple member. Men and women, old and older, from all sorts of European nations were press-ganged into giving it a go, with varying degrees of success and much laughter.

Our tiny gang of English people burgeoned to include a Dutch beginner. It seems that what us plucky Brits take for granted, the enforced hulaing at infant and primary school, is a British preserve. For the rest of Europe, hula hooping is a novelty, like stilt walking or unicycling, best left in the circus ring.

Hoeple Grouple Movie

Our Dutch beginner took four weeks to learn to hula with grace, which meant she became our; Happy Hoeple Grouple Star Pupil 2019. She says she will lead the group next year, but not in hoepling, but in art. And when you take a look here at Josien’s work, you will understand why we are all as giddy as old goats about our next winter here, learning to paint beautiful handbags like a pro.

Artist and Houple Grouple Star Pupil Josien Broeren

Unexpected Pleasures

When we washed up on this campsite last winter, cold, bedraggled and unhappy, we thought we were running away to a CAMPSITE. And I guess we were. But this is no ordinary campsite as todays blog will attempt to demonstrate.

People come here for a variety of reasons. Like us, I’m sure you assume it’s to keep warm and live longer. Well, you are spot on there, but you win no coconut Sherlock. Once here reason goes out of the window and over the months and years, a real village community has formed, which some fully embrace, whilst others brush up against this bubble and bounce off onto pastures new and less invasive.

Like many people, we sit somewhere in between. We know that we will want to keep coming back, as there is something deeply appealing about a fully formed and welcoming community. It would very easy to fall into the habit of being here, year in, year out, but we doubt that we’re ready for the quiet life just yet.

Today, better late than never, we bring you a 4 minute video about the new year here as celebrated in our parallel universe.

The Campsite As A Nature Reserve

With about 100 pitches, our campsite is small. It’s also fairly basic, sporting three shower/loo blocks, a laundry room, two places to hand wash clothes and a couple of sets of sinks to do the dishes. Apart from that, there’s not much here, other than the owners house, which also accommodates the small bar/shop and the social room. Like many campsites along the Spanish Mediterranean, it doesn’t need much more. Except, shade in the summer. On this site that is provided by a good variety trees and other tall plants.

Over the winter the clientele want as much light as possible and so the Eucalyptus trees are heavily pruned and yet still put on about a metre of growth a month. Buy the start of the high season the trees have a full canopy again, thus offering the goldilocks formula of summer shade and winter sun.

It turns out that this site is rather unusual, as the original owner, the mother of the current management, called this caravan park her garden and took great pleasure in selecting just the right plants for each pitch. Her first job was to give the land a skeleton, by marking off the boundary of each pitch with some low shrubs. She then had to punctuate the garden with some statement plants and to do this she hadto have date palms, the sign of a hot, sub tropical climate and so exotic to her northern European clients. The choice of a large number of Eucalyptus trees for their tolerance of the heat, their cool grey green colour, their aroma, and their shady, dappling canopy was inspired. She also picked trees for their berries and seeds and indigenous trees too.

As an underplanting, there are a range of succulents, including the sweet fruit and vicious needle bearing Prickly Pear. Beneath all these tall plants there are pots of plants absolutely everywhere.

When the ‘garden’ was planted, people arrived with modest caravans, small camper vans, or tents. There was no real struggle to negotiate these little homes around the the site and onto a pitch. Times have moved on, as has the motor industry. Caravans and motorhomes are generally much bigger than they were 20 years ago, when many of the regular campers first began to come here. Watching a modern vehicle or radio controlled caravan, shunting back and forth in order to turn a very tight corner bounded by four or five mature trees is a real treat for us.

What has all this got to do with nature?

The owners have created a lush garden that happens to be a campsite. Where there is a garden, there is life and this place proves that, as do the images throughout this post.

New Bikes For Old Bikers

Any ideas about what toys are hiding under their cloaks of invisibility?

Yep, that’s right; pretty toys for the girls and boys.

We’ve been out and about on them and have a bit of a tale to tell about new bikes, poor bike dealers, and a puncture, all in the first week of rolling them out of their trailer! Read the next bike posting for all the dirt.

After that, we’ll get on with our Grand Days Out, starting with Southern Spain, then Morocco, followed by …. Portugal? France? Switzerland? …. Who knows ?