|
Lying between Benidorm and Denia, Calpe is reached by the N-332 road or the A-7 motorway. The Peñón de Ifach is a limestone promontory over 300 metres high that thrusts itself over one kilometre into the sea, dividing the coastline into two great bays, one on each side.
We start the route by crossing Calpe
towards the port. Shortly before reaching it we find a tarmacked path
on the left leading off to the Peñón. Turning into this path we
immediately find an earth carpark where we leave the car. Two tracks
lead off from the car park, one paved and one an upward sloping dirt
track. We take the latter and climb gently up towards the Aula de
Naturaleza (Information Centre) of the Parque Natural del Peñón de Ifach, enjoying beautiful views over the bay as we gain height.
After
the visitors centre we take a track that climbs up a slope to the
Peñón. Before doing so we might nip down another track leading from the
left of the centre to a lookout point called Miradores de Levante, with
sweeping views over the Playa de la Fossa. The route towards the peñón
soon reaches the botanical lookout point Cavanilles with an old aljibe(well) nearby. The route then continues to gain height among pines bent
almost horizontal by the wind. We then reach a tunnel that ploughs
through one side of the Peñón. The route then follows the northern
slope, practically level now, until reaching a fork 10 minutes after
the tunnel. Here we take the righthand turning. After a climb of about
20 minutes we reach the geodetic point of the Peñón, coming to the end
of our route. From here, on a clear day, we can see many of the
mountain chains surrounding this part of the east coast (Sierra de
Oltá, Sierra de Bernia and Sierra de Montgó, among others), as well as
the silhouette of the lovely far-off island of Ibiza. © Alhena Media
|