I´m used to walking in the Lake District of Cumbria and in the Yorkshire Dales but my week on the slopes of the Aitana mountain in Alicante, in sight of the mediterranean, left me surpised at the drama of the hills, the views, the greenness of some of the wooded trails - and charmed by the people , bars and restaurants of this delightfully rural region.
I stayed in Sella - a tiny village a dozen miles from the coast, surrounded by mountains and thousand-year old terraces on the slopes where Spanish muslims planted almonds and olives five hundred years before Columbus sailed the Atlantic.From here, with a minimum of fuss and use of my hire car, I was able to walk mountain ridges, wooded trails, follow shepherds´paths and spot at least a dozen "snow holes"- used in a bygone age for storing ice to preserve fish and meat. The sea food here is wonderful - there´s a 60 boat fishing fleet in nearby Villajoiosa (where the beaches put nearby Benidorm to shame!) and the pace of life hasn´t altered in centuries - old men still tend their garden plots - in Sella blessed by several mountain springs and streams - with pride and professionalism; I´d never seen such a profusion of tomatoes, beans, artichokes, oranges and lemons and olives and almonds all in one space!
Can´t recommend the area highly enough . Sella is beautiful, there are several self catering houses here ( I stayed in one called CasaRoc but in the same street there were two other places for rent as well as a B&B ) and I understand a company called SellaWalks organises fully catered walking weeks. Whatever - I´m off there again next year, can´t wait!
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