27th October 2023

Only Gareth & Anne walking this week as Phil & Freda were in Benidorm, so Gareth researched a new walk for us to try.  It worked out well.  We started the walk at the Piscina Pizzeria car park in Orba and walked through La Plana urbanisation and onto a hiking path towards Tormos, leading eventually to a stony path which led up to Font Centella.  Originally we weren’t sure if we’d do the whole walk up to the Font, but decided to go for it.  There were some fantastic views along the way, over to the coast, Denia (including the castle and Montgo), Javea, great views of Orba, Coll de Rates, Cavall Verd and even of Campell, Fleish and Benimaurell in the other direction.  The font itself was nothing special so it may be possible to do the walk up to the last finger post before the font, shortening it by around 30 minutes.  The path was stony but not hard to walk along.  On the way up I was concerned that it would be hard coming back down the path (the section to the font is linear), but it was fine.

When we got back down we followed the path towards Tormos, a decent path apart from one section where the ground had been ploughed and we made a note not to ever do this walk after heavy rain!  We took a path towards Orba that we hadn’t noticed before, which took us back towards the river.  We noticed a crossing but continued to a further crossing near the bridge on the main road from Orba to Tormos, which took us back along to the road to the Piscina.  In future we’d take the first crossing which, again, would cut around 10 minutes off the length of the walk.

The walk was 9.46 k and took 3½ hours.  It would be best to do it on a clear day, as the views were spectacular but it was a bit overcast so not the best conditions for good photos.  Another recommendation for next time would be to wear trousers, not shorts, as our legs were quite scratched by the end of the walk!