Unfortunately, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, as the saying goes. Today was to be one of those days, fortunately, it all turned out rather well and I had a great time.
The plan was to ride down to Sella, a small village inland of Benidorm on the Costa Blanca for a Bikers Breakfast event with some friends and members of our Facebook group. We had tentatively arranged to meet at 10 am and I ended up being a little late and we never managed to meet, but hey ho these things happen.
The run down to Sella went quite well if a little boring straight down the N332 to Villa Joiosa and then up to Sella on the CV-770, this road has some great fast sweeping corners and a few tight ones to catch the wary but is good fun up to the village.
After parking in the designated area, I had a wander around looking for people I know and checking out the array of bikes in the parking area. this is always a surprise as there is a huge diversity of people and bikes at these events, from Harley riding groups through naked bikes to out and out sports bike fans and everyone in between all talking and gettings along. Today there was a small selection of classic bikes to look at too.
After about 30 minutes I decided to head over to the BBQ line to see what was for breakfast, the queue was huge and service a little slow so I headed off to find a cafe as I was getting hungry, missed breakfast.
From Sella the CV-770 head further up and over the hills, it twists and turns its way up the valley with great views and a good surface to enjoy, just watch for the cyclists weaving about trying to climb the gradients.
It was a lovely day for riding. Stopping at Nou Serrella in Benasau turned out to be a bad idea as they had just had a large influx of bikers with the same idea and were rushed off their feet so onwards I went decided to go to Planes instead. The route there took along the CV-70 through Benilloba, then the CV-790 before dropping onto the A-7 for a junction before turning back into the countryside on the CV-700 through Benimarfull and on to Planes.
The sun was shining the bike was running great, what more could you ask for? A bacon and tomato bocadillo came to mind with a coffee, unfortunately for me, and for the first time in memory, my favourite bar in Planes had run out of bacon. So I had to make do with solomillo, it's a hard life sometimes, washed down with a coffee and a coke.
Decisions, decisions, do I take the normal route home from here or try something new I sat and pondered whilst enjoying the sunshine. It would have been easy to take the shortish route home but I had my card stamped for a full day out so why not explore a bit.
From Planes, I headed a couple of hundred metres towards Pego before turning sharp left down towards the reservoir and over the dam. I love this downhill stretch, not because the road is great but because the view is. After a couple of kilometres, the CV-711 comes to a T junction and I headed right onto the CV-705. This road is superb it winds its way up the side of the hill with hairpin bends galore. Most are not too tight but really enjoyable at the top you pass into the Valencian province and the road surface changes, the road is less well maintained going down into and through the village of Salem.
We have ridden this road many times over the years but Salem is as far as we have gone before turning around and riding back over the hill, I was determined to find a different way to get back, without using the motorways of course. It turned out that the CV-615 was the road I was looking for. It has a 50km limit along most of its length but the scenery is great. The road runs along the bottom of the hill following the contours with some nice views and the odd bridge thrown in, this one was new to me but well worth the search.
After the village of Adzaneta de Albaida, I again headed onto the A-7 for one junction before turning off onto the CV-81 bypassing Ontinyent, passing the popular tourist area at Pou Clar and heading into the hills again toward Bocairent. This road is great following the river up the valley with fast flowing corners, just before Bocairent takes the turn on the left onto the CV-700 to Alcoy. After a short climb, this road follows the old railway line down the valley crisscrossing as you go. I have actually cycled from Bocairent to Gandia down this old line, there are loads of old bridges and station houses along the way.
After riding through Alcoy I took the CV-700 again for a short distance before turning right onto the CV-704 through Benillup to Gorga and the onto Castell de Castells into the Jalon Valley and home to Senija.
After a poor start, not managing to meet my friends, the day turned out well with around 238km covered and a new section of the route to play with all was well.
Click HERE for the full route on Google Maps.
