On Sunday we made a trip once again to the nearby valencian pueblos (it's amazing what kind of nature and climbing possibilities you can find that close). We went there with two cars. We were Fernando, Joel (esp) and I in one, and Stephane (fra), Titus, Peter (hol), Robert (ger) and Anja (pol) in the other. We left as early as we could, at 8, because it was going to be a very hot day.
Buñol, the pueblo famous for its tomato fiesta Tomatina, offers a luxurious climbing valley just a twenty minutes drive from the city of Valencia. After leaving your car behind and following a small river you come into a canyon that is full of walls that rise on top of you. The good thing about this place is that as it is so narrow you can climb all day in the shadow of the sun. That's a big deal as the temperature usually goes way over 30 degrees and it can be even dangerous to be climbing then. Joel had sugary hot tea with him in a thermos bottle, it really tasted awesome under the burning sun.
It's still nine o'clock and we had time to find good walls
Fernando rappelling (securing the other climber) and Joel going up
Some Spanish guys, Titus and Robert
The finlander who came down with a bloody finger after climbing 10 meters
Stephane rappelling with ease and Titus checking that everything is alright
Joel had a great day - he finished every route he started
This is the wall that I also managed to climb all the way up
Stephane enjoyed this beautiful roof (a horizontal wall)
The water in these river pools was, as the Spanish say it, fresco!
We spent half a hour trying to catch the fish with Peter 
The Spanish and Arabic boys went nuts with the cold pool and were jumping down from the rocks - a bit of Maroccian music and.... VOILA! 
Coming back after a long day
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Climbing in Buñol
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Crossing Sierra Bernia
Last Thursday my dutch friend Titus called me and asked me to join him and Stephane to the mountains. I had been waiting for this kind of chance to get out there to the nature, and also climb outdoors for the first time. Straight after my audio synthesis exam on Friday I packed my stuff and got to Titus' place. About nine o'clock in the night we were in Stephane's Peugeot 307 and on our way to Benidorm and Sierra Bernia. When I left in a hurry I didn't know exactly how much hiking we were about to do, and afterwards I had to regret wearing indoor shoes out there in the mountains (still wearing sandals because of my sore toes).
First we walked in almost total darkness a couple of hundred meters up (using as our only torch my Nokia phone!!!). We then crawled a small cave that went through the sierra and found this inexplicable beautiful place, where we were high above the sparkling lights of Benidorm. I guess I suprised Susanna quite much when I called her on her mobile phone to Finland from such an exotic place...
After sleeping there in 800 metres over the sea level we got up at seven and started to climb up on the first mountain top. These ants made such a noise with our empty beer cans in the night that they woke me up and made me afraid of rats. I guess they were thirsty for beer.. :D
The sierra rules the hilly landscape around Benissa, a pueblo right next to Benidorm. Especially for Finnish people this typical Spanish scenery of steep slopes is something very strange and exciting.
About half past two in the evening we had really made our way over all the sierra to the last top, 1120 meters high. Sitting there and drinking my last drips of water and a tropical juice which I had specially reserved for this occasion I had a good reason to smile.
PS. I left in the guestbook a small note for all you who do the same some time in the future and can read Finnish ;-)
