Mountain Biking, Nature Trails and Valencia Football

On Monday we welcomed a guest from just about as far away as you can get – Australia. Nic was travelling on his own and doing a bit of a tour, visiting his father in the U.S. before embarking on a trip around Europe. He had visited his sister in Edinburgh before going on to see Amsterdam and then Berlin before making his way to Spain. However, he felt that he now wanted a break from busy city sight-seeing and was looking for a spell of getting back to the countryside and nature so decided to visit us here in Gandía. He thought we would be well placed for a tranquil, rural setting but within reasonable reach of Valencia city if he wanted to have a quick day trip. He arrived by train in Gandía, having flown in to Barcelona from Berlin earlier in the day. We were happy to collect him from the station, and he dined in with us on his first evening. When he arrived the previous evening, it was already dark, so the following morning he was very impressed with the surroundings of the villa and felt he had made the right decision in coming here…

Read More

Mountain Biking in the La Safor region

Recently I had the pleasure of working on the websites of a friend of mine who runs a business organising mountain biking expeditions. This made me think even more about how much I wanted to get out and about in the beauty of the countryside where we live, so when Dave offered me the opportunity to come with him on a mountain biking trip, I eagerly agreed. I did a quick count of how many years it had been since being on a bike of any description, didn’t like the answer, so decided it was high time to set matters right! Dave provided me with one of the excellent bikes he hires to his clients, and after getting used to the techniques of managing the mountain bike – I had never been on one before – we set off on our trip from his base in La Drova. We made our way along country tracks to the Barxeta Valley and on to the village of Barxeta itself where we stopped for a coffee in the village square. The weather was great, and the sun was warming up nicely by now, so I was keen to carry on and tackle the…

Read More