Leaving Valencia

Hilltop Ruins

View more photos 

At breakfast this morning I end up keeping Grandma company. Pinky in still in bed, she doesn’t really do mornings. Grandma on the other hand doesn’t sleep so well and needs a good cup of coffee first thing. She’s not really hungry at the moment but she’s still stashing some for later.

On the coach we have progressed to the back seat. The good news however is that I get the window seat as Peter is finding it too cramped. The bad news is that there’s no room for my ever expanding hand luggage - I’m going to feel guilty all day.

We are heading off to our first stop today at Peniscola on the Mediterranean coast. The drive takes us through a built up industrial landscape. But it soon gives way to extremely productive and very flat farmland, full of oranges trees, grapes vines and extensive groves of olives. Very occasionally we spot people actually working on the land. The grapes are currently being harvested and some of the olive trees are being pruned. In most areas the corn seems to have been cut and collected and the remaining stubble burnt. This takes me by surprise because it’s years since I saw this happening in the UK. Presumably it’s not particularly friendly to the environment.

Views from the coach

View more photos 

Gradually the views change and the land grows increasingly hilly. After failing miserably to photograph several Bull silhouettes, I attempt to get a shot of a distant Roman fort perched high on a hill. In fact this particular area is dotted with these ruins. After the third or forth I loose interest. The increasingly wild landscape is actually part of a National Park. This apparently doesn’t preclude large industrial buildings like the Nuclear power stations.