3. The mountains beckon -- Els Ports Natural Park ⛰️ ⛰️⛰️

Arriving in the Els Ports Natural Park was stunning - the huge limestone massif seems to rise out of nowhere, with cultivated olive and almond growing in the plains below. It was truly spectacular! The weather was great too - around 20 degrees, blue skies, green pastures, and the first signs of blossom - it really felt like spring! We couldn’t help but think about the contrast with January back home ☹️

Els Ports Natural Park lies in Catalunya, and is home to the largest Ibex reserve in Spain. Also famous for golden eagles, the Iberian Lynx, and over a thousand botanical species. Hiking and biking opportunities are endless here, and we were keen to get started 😊

The awesome Els Ports Massif 

One of the most famous walks in the area is through an amazing gorge deep within the limestone massif, following the river to where it opens up and forms beautiful pools of blue/ green water, cascading over the limestone rocks - Toll Blau. Parts of these waters are protected for the biodiversity, so no swimming allowed ☹️ It was a beautiful walk, peaceful and spectacular, and good to do some more strenuous activity 😂 Ruby loved it too, leading the way for most of the time - her thyroxine medication really doing the trick! 

Arriving in the Park

Setting off on our walk

Having a moment 😂

There was no stopping Rubes - she was determined to have a dip! 😂

Eyeing up the forbidden waters 😂

Toll Blau

Sneaking in the water for a quick clean up - where it was allowed 😊

We camped at the main camping site on the edge of the Park. The views from the van were stunning! A total delight to stand here cooking dinner watching the sun go down and the moon emerge. Sunrise was beautiful too 😊 Interesting chatting to fellow travellers, a couple (Dutch & Belgian) describing having recently retired, and setting off in their vans / caravans for a few months exploring Spain. We had what has now become the usual sympathy, and shared disbelief we get from our European friends on our now restricted access to the EU 😢 Fortunately people are still extremely welcoming and friendly, not letting the greater political agendas get in the way 😃

Cooking - drink in hand - perfect 😍 

View of the mountains from the van

Watching the sun set and the moon shine through 😊

Morning sunrise 

One of the attractions for me was not one, but two Via Verdes - natural greenways for cycling and walking. We opted for the Val de Zafan route, starting at the derelict Lleido / Arnes station. The cycling was easy, and views stunning - just my cup of tea 😃

Val de Zafan Via Verde

Views from the Via Verde over to Els Ports

Beautiful to see the blossom emerging

We were staying just outside of the small ancient town of Arnes. The old fortified centre is interesting, houses built into the rock and the old city walls. It’s a very quiet place, not a lot going on there, but interesting nonetheless to wander around and see the spectacular buildings.

View of Arnes from the road

The main Town Hall - Ajuntament

Dave cycling through Arnes

Archways and stone columns 

Lovely iron work and balconies in the narrow streets

Although Arnes is beautiful and interesting, as is the case in many parts of rural Spain, there were no real bars or restaurants for us to visit. Thankfully we had a stash of nice food in the van, but alcohol was running short! Dave volunteered to cycle to the one and only tiny shop in the town before it shut on Saturday evening (not opening again until Monday morning) and arrived back with one of the only 2 bottles of wine in the shop!! We opened it with some caution- it was amazing! Smooth and full bodied - 14.5% ABV - gorgeous 😂

Not a label we’ll remember - but totally delicious 🤤 

After our ride on the Via Verde, Dave was keen to get out on his bike for something more challenging 🤣 Komoot came up with a few good options, so off he went. The ride was back into the mountain range, quite remote and spectacular, challenging, and only seeing a couple of other cyclists all day. He really enjoyed it 😃 I’d decided to get back into doing a bit of running while we’re away, and downloaded a 5 - 10 km training programme. What a shock that was, as I could barely manage 2km on the flat - probably not that surprising given that I’ve not really done any running for the past 6 months.  Obviously the long walks that I’ve been doing haven’t maintained my aerobic fitness as well as I thought / hoped 😢 I’ve  now readjusted my expectations and downloaded the NHS Couch to 5k training programme instead 🤣 But it was lovely jogging along through the olive and almond groves - again, very different to slipping through the mud back home 😃

A selfie while out biking 🤣

Riding through the Natural Park

Time to move on now, a bit further south to the Valencia region. All our fingers are crossed that Royal Mail will have performed well, and that my contact lenses will arrive at the next camping site we are staying at 🤞🤞🤞 Huge thanks to Claire for posting them on 🙏

Hasta Luego 😃