Wednesday 11th March

After a few days of doing not much, I planned a route to a nearby town which has a distinctive church tower, which I’d seen from the Autopista.

Apart from a short stretch of dual carriageway to get over the motorway, the journey was on quiet roads and a ‘service’ road which runs alongside the railway track. I passed through lush orange groves and could see my destination way before I arrived.

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Unfortunately, the church itself was closed (very unusual) but still the photos of the exterior show how beautiful it was (best views on a desktop). I sat outside a café in its shadow for elevenses and then mooched around the town. In another square I stumbled across a group of English folk who had come from, yet another, CCC Rally at a new site just a short distance from the town.

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I bought a little ‘late elevenses’ treat and sat near Alcalà de Xivert station. Coincidentally, my neighbours Rose and Steve’s car was parked there as they had taken the train that morning into Valencia.

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I cycled back and went into the centre of Alcossebre for some supplies, this time at the Spar (bigger than our Spars) and then settled down for some light tapas and lunch at El Palmeral before the last leg home.

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Tonight was a rally Meat Pie & Potato night, for which I was too late to book! But that is followed by Quiz Night in the function room, which I can join. They don’t sell half bottles of wine at the bar but, on a quiz night, they sell full bottles half price! I’ll take one, thank you!

I did the quiz with some new neighbours – a husband and wife from The Midlands – I was able to answer quite a few questions correctly – pretty impressive, if I say so myself!