I’m So Tired – Roadwalking from Vilafermosa to Montant

If this walk were longer I’d have built in a rest day by now. I’m not old, I’m past middle-aged I think. Hold on, I’ll google it. Get in you beauty!!!! Yes, yes, yes! I’m middle-aged me. Kiss my sweet tomatoes Christian, I’m a middle-aged maggot farmer. Booom!

Morning has broken, like the first morning, blackbird has spoken, like the first bird…..

I am middle-aged, I am middle-aged. To the rhythm of ‘We are going up, we are going up’ as sung in Hostal Carbonera last Saturday evening by me, the landlady (who didn’t speak English) and her partner. I let them hold my Blades flag. 

Any road. I’m a bit tired but I’ve only got two walking days left before I travel to Alicante. Walking in Spain is the dog’s doodahs . It really is a lovely, lovely experience. I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain…ooohoh!

Another late-ish breakfast but today was a 21 mile slog. I’d lost a bit of time on the way down over the last two weeks by preferring the beauty of the GR7 to road walking. However today unusually the GR7 criss-crossed the road and instead of 27 miles on the GR7 (which was too big an ask) I could do 21 miles on the road (which was do-able). Tough on the feet but faster. You can see the meandering of the red GR7 below and the relatively straight yellow road.

The roads here aren’t really roads as such, in that not many people drive on them. I set off and the first 5 miles were completely uphill. I sweatily and breathlessly pushed on. I need an hour in the morning to clear the cack from the top of my lungs. I have asthma and I take the steroid puffer morning and evenings but try to avoid the blue reliever. Long term it makes things worse. 

Looking back from part-way up the hill was stunning. My Hostal was the building at the bottom just right of middle, which stares into the evening sun but not in the early morning. 

Rising up I was making good time despite the steepness of the slope, with hairpin bends helping level things a bit. The broader view back, including Penyagolosa, is………

Awesome!!!!! I am middle-aged, I am middle-aged!

Helpfully the road had kilometre markers and it doesn’t half make you push faster. A few runners and cyclists as well. San Vicente was 14 kms – just under 9 miles. Most of it up that steep hill. But once on the top the breeze blew slightly and dried some of the sweat. On the top the Hermitage of Saint Bartolome brought some architectural relief. Lovely little place out of nowhere. 

More sixties artists. Not that I was that big into soul then but Marvin Gaye was the Prince of soul in the sixties and Smokey Robinson was the King. 
After a refreshment stop in San Vicente it was a long way down the valley to Montanejos, and the road was taking its toll on my sole(s). But the country keeps your spirits high.

And Montanejos was the last stop before Montan. The sweat had played havoc, dropping into my left eye with the sun tan lotion from ma baldy heed, making it very sore. I stopped at a farmacia for some eye drops and the girl said €11 for this packet of applicators, or €20 for antibiotic ones. I said ‘no thanks’ and asked if she had individual bottles. She said ‘no’ so I walked towards the door. Miraculously a bottle appeared from behind the counter, €3. Robbing gets.
Montanejos has warm springs and folk were frolicking in the water.

I’ll frolic in it with my old – sorry – middle-aged dear next year. I’m recceing a trip for the two of us for 2018. She’s a mountain girl. This year we’ve got a fortnight in Calpe in July and a fortnight in October driving round Granada, Cadiz and Seville. We love Spain. 

The last stretch was hard road uphill from the valley bottom and after 3 miles I came into Montant. From Montanejos it took one and a half plays of The Maccabees’ album ‘Given to the Wild’ and it kept me going. Looking up to Montant it felt mountainous, and looking back Montanejos felt cosy.

In between there were some pretty impressive rock faces even though we were out of the high peaks.

I got a room in the Hostal Pilar and fell asleep before dinner. The road had damaged my feet with an open sore on my left foot and a nasty little blister on my right one. But it makes you go fast on that surface. 

Thanks for reading this. It gives me more of a sense of purpose, even though I’m doing what I really enjoy.

Night night.