The Summit at Last

Every day that we have spent here (and there have been a lot in more than five years), we have had the pleasure of enjoying the view of Serra Segaria, the mountain ridge opposite the house.

Serra Segaria

Without ever getting close to making it to the steep sided summit, we have visited various other parts of the ridge and it has become a popular excursion for many of our visitors.  It has great views both south to Denia and the mountains behind Benidorm and north back to Monte Pego, the rice fields beyond and the coast sweeping round as far as Valencia itself.  It has been home to humans for a long time and on the south side the ruins of a Moorish settlement sits on top of an ancient Iberian village some of whose 2,500 year walls are still clearly visible.

We were introduced to the walking routes around Segaria by our friends David and Carol and have subsequently found a few more by trial and error, where error usually means longer than planned walks and lots of scratches.  Happily, life has now been made easier by the various new marked tracks and signposts provided by through the efforts of a local walking group, the Club Excursionista d'Ondara, to whom we are indebted.  Small yellow and white markers painted on rocks now guide walkers all the way from the car park at around 80m above sea level to the summit itself at 509m and today we made it at last in around ninety minutes before taking a longer, less steep route back to the car.

At the top

From below the rock face seems too vertical to be climbed without ropes but a path winds its way up gradually and you only have to use your hands a little on the more difficult bits.  Having marked miles and miles of trails on difficult terrain, provided a car park, spanking new spotless toilets and a guest house with space for 32 people to stay overnight, the Parc Natural de Segaria has everything.  Well everything except a sign off the main road telling you which alley way you have to drive down to find it.  It is actually harder to find the park in the car than it is to find the summit once you are there, but then this country does not win international awards for road signs.  Fortunately there was a friendly local on hand to guide us.

Looking down on our house from the summit

This being late June, and really too hot for walking, we made an early start and had the mountain largely to ourselves apart from four young local firemen on a training walk (I thought Su was going to feign injury and have to be rescued), a fox and the usual collection of birds, butterflies and lizards.  Segaria is only an eighth the height of Mount Cameroon but being able to sit by the pool and contemplate the summit having now finally been up there is extremely rewarding.  I'm almost tempted to open a beer...