A week long pootle around the Costa Blanca on the Caminos del Sol #
November 2025
Sue and I had a walking holiday based round Calpe and then I had a bikepacking trip on the Camino del Sol in November 2025.
I’d adapted it from the Camino Del Sol route on bikepacking.com. I’d ride north from Alicante airport to access the loop, head east to Gandia and then back towards Alicante but further inland.
The total would be about 400km over about 7 days with about 7000m of ascent.
The forecast was good, the riding looked straightforward (I should have read the description a bit better) and it would never be so remote that food was an issue. The only potential issue was that wild camping is illegal, plus there’s a lot of hard, rocky ground in this area.
Day one - Alicante Airport to somewhere on the EV08#
11th November 2025
A nice easy 40km start to access the Caminos del Sol from near Alicante airport. Perfect weather, easy riding, one snapped chain after 1.5hrs and no water at Agost. From the airport where I dropped off Sue I eventually got onto the EV08, a well manicured gravel track. Didn’t see anyone off-road all day until I pitched camp and then at least 10 people came past. Should have lots of cafe and water options tomorrow.
Day two to Torremanzanas#
12th November 2025 I’m not exactly in a hurry but I would like to do more than 55km, which is the minimum I need to do to get round in time. Some tough riding today in places, 1750m of climbing and I’ve pushed up and down hills, mostly where it’s either too steep, too rocky or washed out, or all three together. It can’t all be like this.
Day three - Torremanzanas to Benimantell#
13th November 2025 60km, 1800 vertical metres.
Had a great breakfast at the hotel and luckily they had a small pot of extra virgin olive oil which compensated for me forgetting to bring any chain oil. Some good riding today, through Relleu and Sella, both beautiful mountain villages. I was too early for real food in Sella but there was plenty of tapas on offer. The highlight of the day was the climb out of Sella (400m) to the Pas del Comptador (972m), about 11km, mostly off-road on a gravel track but with a 2km push up what felt like 20% at the end.
Had to book another hotel because wild camping wasn’t going to happen in this valley. Probably wild camp tomorrow before I drop down to the coast.
Day four - Benimantell to somewhere above l’Atzubia.#
14th November 2025 63km, 1868vm, 1967m down
I’m convinced there was a cat playing with a ball on the roof of my room all last night.
Turns out I could have just about wild camped last night although I would have had to hide from locals in olive groves. It’s not easy camping round here; it’s rocky and steep, not too mention illegal.
The day started with a lot of road and a 560m climb over 11km, plus another 100m over 2km off-road. My brakes were getting really noisy so I checked them. The rear brakes were bad so I changed them but couldn’t get the disk back in, turns out the pistons were a bit cockled. After using every flat tool I had to prize then apart, and breaking my mini pliers doing the same thing, I eventually got one new pad and one old pad in.
There was lots of road of varying quality today, often road uphill and off-road downhill, the perfect combination. I eventually found a perfect camp spot; an abandoned concrete platform with three walls. Sheltered, not visible from the nearby tiny road and they’re was no-one else around, I think.
Day five - l’Atzubia to Font Freda on Alt de La Font Freda#
15th November 2025 67km, 1400m ascent, 1130 descent.
My plan of a shortcut over to Villalonga to avoid Olive and Gandia failed in the face of a horrendous push. I took the advice of a local and rode round on the road.
I picked up the EV08 again out of Villalonga. It’s an old railway line built by an English company, the Harbor Company Limited linking Alcoi and Gandia. It’s a bit chunky for a gravel bike but the gorge is stunning, with a flowing river most of the way up.
After the next village there’s a tough climb up a concrete road followed by a well graded gravel track perched on the side of a long ridge. This was superb with stunning views all the way. There was a picnic area towards the end at Font Freda (685m) and it was a great place to stop for the night.
Day six - Font Freda on Alt de La Font Freda to Sax#
16th November 2025 75km 1500vm, 1700 descent
As soon as I was about to have a decent wash at the Font last night three cars turned up, families who’d driven up to pick mushrooms. By the time they left it was a bit too chilly for a full on wash but at least I had the place to myself. Some time near midnight someone parked up, walked past my tent and briefly turned the water tap on and off and then left. Another car turned up at 8am, just as I was leaving, not quite the remote, quiet spot I thought it was.
A quick blast downhill in all my clothes, breakfast and coffee in the village and then a relatively pleasant 8km of road climb and then down to Alfafara where I had a chorizo bocadillo at a street market. The going was much easier on this side of the loop, I’d probably finish tomorrow at this rate.
There are lots of nice medieval villages with castles perched on rocky outcrops in this valley - Baneres de Mariola, Biar and Sax, well worth a visit.
I’d spied a potential wildcamp on the map but it turned out to be too busy. Luckily Sax had an El Plano, a picnic spot with free camping, hot showers and loos. Unfortunately you can’t flush loo paper down the loos and the basket was full, not too mention that someone had vomited on the loo seat. That was a problem to be solved tomorrow.
Day seven - Sax to Torrellano#
64km 970m up, 1420m down.
I was so pleased yesterday to find a free campsite with loos and showers that I neglected to check where exactly I camped. Just after it went dark the solar powered light that was hidden in the trees came on. It went off at about 5am and somewhere in-between the loos were locked so there was no vomit covered loo seat to contend with.
Today’s profile looked like one long hill followed by 37km downhill (sort of) to Torrellano near Alicante. Sax turned out to be a bit run down, well the upper part did, and it seemed to smell of weed everywhere. There was some unexpectedly good single-track after Sax before the final steep climb.
At the top of the last pass above Alicante, I sat for ages looking at the view and the tiny bites on my left forearm, there must be some mites living in the campsite. I’m reluctant to leave but keen to have a shower and some comfort. Eight Griffon Vultures soar overhead; large birds, white heads, dark brown bodies with long broad wings splayed up at the end. Then it’s a long downhill blast and some road to finish.
It’s an good route, worth doing with some spectacular views and situations and interesting medieval villages. If you want a full on mountain biking or gravel route then don’t do it, it’s a mixture of MTB, gravel and road. And if you don’t like pushing then don’t do it. Bikepacking.com days it’s 50% off-road and 99% rideable. That might be accurate but that 1% feels really significant. It might be 1% on an unloaded bike ridden by a 20 year old. It’s worth it though.