Almonds, Oranges, Lemons and Flora!
On Saturday we went on our annual drive into the mountains to look down on the wonderful almond blossom. You have to catch this at just the right time to appreciate it’s beauty and this year we had timed it to perfection. As we drove past the groves in the valley we were surrounded by trees laden with pink and white blossom for as far as the eye could see and once we got up into the mountains we looked down on the masses of pink and white cushions nestling in the valleys below.
We were also treated to groves of oranges and lemons and for once the laden trees coincided with the almond blossom as the fruit had not yet been picked. We also saw the odd mimosa tree in bloom, a treat as there are different varieties and our own have not yet burst forth.
The rugged mountains were covered in an abundance of colour with masses of bright yellow broom, purple heather, the white flower of the rosemary to name but a few. There is really no beauty like natural beauty.
Our route took us through the Jalon Valley and the village of Parcent before starting to wind up the narrow winding mountain road. We stopped a few times to walk through the groves and of course for a coffee break. All this in lovely warm sunshine I will add!
We travelled up to the top of the mountain and then decided to drive down the other side on the road to Guadalest to have lunch in a restaurant we have sampled before. Half way down the other side of the mountain we ran into a storm. Torrencial rain, sleet even and thunder and lightening made driving those twisting roads a bit scary to say the least.
Arriving at our nominated restaurant only to find it was closed we retraced our steps and returned to Fuentas del Algar, the wonderful waterfalls. Although we did not visit the falls, as it was not appealing in the pouring rain, we did have a very nice lunch in a restaurant there.
We then, content and replete, made tracks for home and part way the rain stopped and sun came out again winding up a wonderful day.
We’d like to share some of our sights of the day with you:-
