As is so often the case, a title gives some indication for what is to follow. So here it seems there’ll be some running and rock climbing going on, yes you’d be right, and so much more besides……
 
These last few days we’ve been working alongside Anna Paxton of Outdoorista. Raising the profile of adventurous females in the great outdoors. And what a fun, adventurous time we’ve all had.
 
During Saturday, Anna, Anna, and Bo arrived from a cold and damp Northern England to warm sunshine in the Costa Blanca. We had a full and varied itinerary for their stay and this incorporated: Trail running; Rock climbing; Mountain walking; Ridge scrambling; and Multi-pitch Sea cliff climbing. All of this in the space of 4 action packed days!
 
Sunday 29th Jan: Kate led a trail run for Anna & Bo. They circumnavigated the Bernia ridge, using the Forat (tunnel) to pass from north to south. I walked with Anna & Kim to the Bernia fort for some dramatic views down to the coast and inland to the bigger, and currently snow capped mountains. This filled the morning, but there was plenty of energy left for an afternoon of rock climbing at our local crag, L’Ocaive. This excellent crag is best enjoyed during sunny afternoons when it catches the sun and much of the crag glows a deep orange, beckoning us to climb. There are a mix of single and multi-pitch routes from grade 4 – 8c, so something for everyone. This is also one of the quieter crags in the area, so almost always a peaceful place to climb.
 
Monday 30th Jan: This morning Anna, Bo, and Kate enjoyed a trail run from our house in Llosa de Camacho over the hills to Font d’Axia. This was in the region of 10km and involved lots of ascent! Me, Anna, Kim, and Tricia drove over to the crag with all the climbing kit. The afternoon was spent enjoying the fine limestone rock of Font d’Axia, lapping up the sun, relaxing, and cranking out some tough and steep climbs.
 
Tuesday 31st Jan: A big day for all of us. Anna & Kim traversed the whole of the Toix ridge. This fine and narrow ridge near Calpe has 100’s of metres of rock climbing and top quality scrambling, with great views over the sea to El Penon de Ifach. It’s one of our favourites.
The rest of us went on a sea cliff adventure near the seaside resort of Moraira. Costa Blanca is blessed with some amazing sea cliffs, miles and miles of them. A few have been developed for rock climbing, and today we visited one of the finest the area has to offer.
Sonjannika is a 6 pitch route with about 180m of climbing in an absolutely stunning setting high above the sea. Each pitch is interesting and engaging, with exposure building all the time. We decided to add a little more to the adventure by finishing up a harder pitch of climbing, 35m of sustained 6a, what a magnificent way to top out on a route.
 
Wednesday 1st Feb: Another big day lies ahead. A traverse of the knife edge Bernia ridge. Anyone who has driven along the coastline between Calpe and Denia will have seen this dramatic ridge rising from the valleys far below. Serrated for much of its length and at an altitude of around 1000m this is an absolute stunner. Visiting rock climbers occasionally take an interest, but the ridge is usually empty. Also joining us today is Ann and Tricia, so 8 in total.
We start from the north side and only a short drive from our base in Llosa de Camacho. The approach walk is mostly in the shade, this is welcome to all. We gear up at the forat (big hole in the ridge) and from here onwards the terrain is technical and serious, so 100% focus required at all times!
Once on the ridge we enjoy stunning views along the entire crest and can look back towards the sea, it really is sublime. Movement along the crest is efficient and swift, with everyone clearly very quickly getting used to being in such a lofty place.
Along the route we have 2 abseils and a pitched section of rock climbing to compliment the 1000’s of metres of excellent scrambling. With the sun out and the sky blue, this is a pretty special day with lots of smiling going on.
We descend via the final col, taking a massive scree run to help preserve our knees! Before we know it we’re sitting in the sun on the terrace back at Llosa de Camacho, feeling satisfyingly tired after such a brilliant day out.
 
 
 
Thanks to: Kim, Anna, Bo, Anna, Tricia, and Ann for being a part of this adventure.
 
Remember to check out Outdoorista here to keep up to date with Anna's adventures.
 
If you’re looking for an action packed holiday or short break here in Spain, give us a call / email and let’s make it happen. Rock climbing, mountain walking, scrambling, canyoning, and via ferrata.
 
Thanks
 
Mark & Kate

The huge rock faces of the Pleasure Domes have for some time drawn me to the upper reaches of the Val de Gulabdar. But until now I hadn't walked amongst these amazing cliffs. They make up some of the rockier areas of Sierra Aitana and provide an impressive backdrop to anyone venturing into the area, viewed as they can be from miles away.

Our walk that day was very easy going, following excellent trails through a mixture of pine forest and scrub. Only being around 4 hours in duration means this is a doable itinerary during a half day. 

A highlight was finding what is sure to be an excellent and very exciting ridge scramble (see photo at top of page), which is easy to reach in half an hour, and will be challenging and exhilarating. Can't wait to get it done.

During the walk that day, we found another fine looking ridge across the valley, close to the crags in Val de Gulabdar. Having previously eyed this one up and dismissing it, it was refreshing to see it from a different angle and realising it had potential.

So the following day our walk took us over to Echo valley and to the twin peaks behind Aran de Batistot crags. Preliminary recce's showed yet more potential, with an easy peak on the left (as walking uphill) providing brilliant views of the Pleasure Domes, and the peak on the right having a knife edge ridge for almost the entire length.
I managed to traverse this ridge for some time, but stopped short of the very exposed sections, preferring a rope for that! We'll be back, but for sure this is a winner of a ridge for anyone looking for exciting mountain challenges in a beautiful place.

It's not all been walking of late. We returned to the Morro Falqui sea cliffs near Moraira. This time was for single pitch climbing rather than the amazing sea cliff experience of Sonjannika.
Starting with a very easy but absolutely brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable route, we did a mix of caving and climbing to emerge from the depths of the crag out into bright sunshine once again. In case it's of interest, the route is called 'Coming out'.
We then climbed a couple more routes at the crag, but neither are to be recommended, being on suspect rock and being wildly under-graded.

Kate hadn't yet been to Font d'Axia crags in the Jalon valley area, so we had an afternoon there. Afternoon being the sunny time at this crag, so go before lunchtime if in search of shade, or after lunch if in search of sun. We were looking for sun.

All the routes we did were really good and worthwhile. The highlight though, was climbing a route I had been keen to do previously but had run out of time, called 'The future's bright' it's at the top of my current abilities at 6b+. Even with the sun feeling like it would melt us, we both managed an ascent of this fine route, with me leading it with just a short rest.

Font d'Axia does often get busy at the weekends, but midweek can be a good bet for solitude. We had both sectors of the crag to ourselves :-)

Today we drove inland to the village of Montesa. Home of a fine church, castle, and a lovely crag of compact rock.
The crag had been recommended to us by friends, and we're really happy they did so. It's a great place with loads of varied routes on what feels like a Limestone / Sandstone mix.
Beware though, the rock here is very tough on the fingers!!

Still big blues skies on the Costa Blanca. With one of the finest climates to be found anywhere in the world, what's not to like about a climbing or multi-activity holiday here.

Signing out for now.

Mark

It's been pretty active here and varied too.

The Bernia ridge was traversed by Colin, Anna, and Kim. They made excellent time and had the place to themselves. Me and Jill enjoyed a splendid walk around the entire ridge, the high point (or low point depending on your height!) being the squeeze through the forat (tunnel through the ridge). This leads from the cold and shady north face to the bright & blazing sunshine of the south face, within less than 50 metres it had felt like had arrived in a whole new country!

We stopped for lunch at the 15th Century fort before continuing on back to the starting point.

Tuesday was back to rock climbing, this time at a small crag near the town of Pego.
This roadside crag was certainly convenient, but many others had thought so too and the polish was evident immediately. I left the others at the crag and enjoyed a walk along the valley with Don.

Wednesday was earmarked as a walking day and we chose the Val de Gulabdar or Echo Valley as it's sometimes referred to. Even from the parking area the views to the coast are breathtaking, and these were to improve hugely during the course of the day. From the Collado del Llamp to Passet de la Rabosa we had a birds eye view of the magnificent Castellets ridge the whole time, wow! For anyone visiting the area I can't recommend this walk highly enough, an absolute must do. For those wanting to climb too, a visit to the area can be combined with excellent 'cragging' on the Echo valley crags.

Today we've been to Font d'Axia crag near the villages of Jalon & Lliber. Something of a backwater and all the better for it. We arrived whilst the crag was still in shade, this made the climbs feel a little easier, but by lunchtime the sun was warming things up nicely and tiring us out to boot! We climbed half a dozen routes here and every one of them was of excellent quality.

The photo at the top of the page shows the magnificent Castellets ridge in the Sella valley. A serious challenge by any mountaineers standards. And below shows a typical view of Font d'Axia crag as the midday sun comes onto it.