After that walk around the Natural Park Mata-Torrevieja, I suppose that we took a break from traveling and exploring until the better weather... If I remember well, that trip was in October 2022, and the one that I will take you for a walk is from April 2023... Winters here aren't as cold as in some other countries, but it is known to be windy and not pleasant for these 1-day excursions...
Today, let's walk together on the Via Verde (Green route) of Alcoy! Similar to Torrevieja, we split our day into two parts, one was reserved for nature and the other one for visiting the city... Last time we went to the city first, but this time, we went early to nature, took this long(er) walk, and after that, when we got hungry, went to the city to recharge our energy...
At the very beginning of the route, I saw this sticker that reminded me immediately of HIVE, so I had to take the photo! ๐
We did explore maps at home, BEFORE coming to this place, but it is always a good option to take another look, and take some notes (or photos), in case of getting lost... lol... As the path is well maintained, it is a very popular route among cyclists, not just professionals, but also amateurs, families, etc. We saw many of them during the walk...
I suppose that this photo could be the one that can be called the beginning of the route! Let's go!
If this would be an "ordinary" route, it probably wouldn't have tunnels! So, maybe it's time to dive a bit into the history to learn about the present...
This route was "created" by using part of the old railway line which was constructed between 1927 and 1932, and it connected Alcoy with a small town Agost (66km), that was further connected with Alicante and Madrid... One-third of this railway line was used for converting it into this fabulous walking/cycling route! As the terrain is very rough, this railway had a lot of tunnels and viaducts, and we have passed through a couple of them...
On our walk, we didn't take the whole route, but only a small part of it as we didn't have enough time to do it... As you can see from these photos, this tunnel wasn't spared of dozens of graffiti... Luckily, some of them were artistic and it was nice to see them in the long gray tunnels...
As the terrain is rough, between tunnels, we have passed on many viaducts, some of them were short (like this one), while others were much longer (and much higher ๐)...
Another tunnel... As you can see, this one is 321 meters long! It's not too much when you are passing by a car, but when you are walking, it does seem very long... Luckily, all tunnels are illuminated, so it's not too scary to go through them... :)
Concrete, concrete, everywhere...
Check out this sign... At the bottom, you can notice a small image of the bridge, which is actually a viaduct as there is no river underneath... We will pass over it after a few photos, but it was impossible to take a photo from a distance...
There it is, a 260 m long viaduct, with the highest post of 50 m!
As I do have vertigo, I took photos more linearly without looking directly down... lol... Another problem was a high wind, which was blowing all the time as this valley is V-shaped and a natural "passage" for the wind...
After the viaduct, we had a pleasant walk among pine trees and short tunnels... There were small picnic areas along the path, but we had a long way until the city center where we planned to have lunch...
...another tunnel, another graffiti...
...crazy sceleton had vertigo passing on that viaduct... ๐
We slowly left the main path, to make a shortcut toward the city... And then suddenly, civilization! The feeling was similar to the one when Bear Grylls at the end of the show, finds his way out from a jungle... ๐คฃ
In the end, if you are somewhere in this area and you want to have a day spent in nature, I would highly recommend this route for a relaxing day and a nice walk!
As I said at the beginning, this was just a short part of the Via Verde de Alcoy, which was going around the city... In the next post, I will share with you some photos and facts about the city itself! Stay tuned...
Thank you for your time,
~ph~
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