The easy drive up
the well maintained tracks starts at the highest
point of the CV70 - turn right next to a large house
with a windmill. Go past an open barrier and after
about 3km park at the large green water tank. Now
follow the continuation of the track in a NE direction,
dropping down slightly with Penya Creus ahead and
the craggy North face of Les Bardals to your right.
After 1km you come to a slight col on the track (junction
with the approach via Paseo Comptadores) and the
track starts to drop more steeply. At an obvious
junction take the left turn and follow the rougher
track down into the head of a gully (Barranc Hondo),
passing a P.R.V sign for Pla de La Casa and Benasau.
Keep heading down until you come to Font Roja, with
it's tap and water trough it is an ideal place to
rest on a hot day.
Our route now
takes the path on the left side of the gully (signposted
Quatretondeta). Gradually this well worn track
leaves the Barranc Hondo and heads around onto
the Northern slopes of Penya Creus. After descending
a well constructed section of track (this would
have been a mule track connecting villages on either
side of the mountain) you reach a rock that has
been "decorated" with
many crosses. At this point the main track continues
down to Quatretondeta, our route starts contouring
along on a reasonable path on scree under some impressively
smooth rock walls. In the valley below you lie Quatretondeta
and and Gorga, whilst further away the hill and castle
at Cocentaina are clearly visible. After a few hundred
metres you come to bigger rock wall with a small
scoop or "natural rock shelter" in it's
base - quite a common feature of rock walls in the
area.
The track heads
onto more scree and the first section of pinnacles
comes into clearer view. The next section of track
takes you past a large rock arch and then you climb
towards the pinnacles and start to see in more
detail the bizarre variation in shapes. Some are
almost perfect slices of thin rock, others are
more cone shaped, some are connected by curtains
of rock with holes in them. You may even see some
strange silhouettes and "faces" in
some of the rocks!Next you pass between two pinnacles
which almost form a "gateway" as you climb
up to a notch in a rock wall that allows a good view
down onto the other side of one of the first sections
you passed. Ahead lie many more bizarre spires of rock
and the path takes you to a wooded section and a climb
up behind a feature we called "Tornado Rock" (picture
X). At this point our route starts to climb up the vague
ridge behind Tornado Rock and comes to a short section
of scrambling (marked with some faded red dots). If you
wish to avoid this section you need to return back the
way you came. The short scramble leads on to further
steep tracks, a bit feint in places, with the odd cairn
up the continuation ridge and eventually to another obvious
rock shelter. Above this you now need to locate the route
carefully as it takes a steep loose track to the right
of a rock face. Further ascent gives you a view over
to the fire watch on Serella Peak and brings you onto
a wooded hillside. Follow the red dots through the forested
hillside and to a track on the far side.
Choice of routes back to the
water tank.
1) Penya Creus Summit - open hillside,
no tracks and steep in places.
Turn left up the
track and follow it to it's end. Then follow across
open ground to a col with views of the summit of
Pla de La Casa. You can turn right (south) and
head for the summit of Penya Creus, then from the
summit retrace your steps for a couple of hundred
metres but then keep to the East edge of the summit "ridge" with
views down to a couple of large terraces and a
hut. You will see a very little used track heading
East down towards the terraces. Pick the best route
you can, using some scree runs until you come the
the last section of rocks just above the terraces.
Here it is best to skirt along the top edge in
a Southerly direction to eventually meet up with
the track. Turn right and follow the track for
about 1km back to the water tank.
2) Forestry track loop - easy forest
tracks
Turn right and follow the track along
the hillside onto a flatter area in the woods where
you come to a junction. Turn left here and follow
down the concreted section (water collection system)
to the water tank. |