About this Web Site

The site is dedicated to Roger Massingham; Bob Stansfield and Eric Wright, who were the pioneers in preparing walking guides in English for the Costa Blanca area. Over the years their walks have been supplemented by the energetic activities of the Costa Blanca Mountain Walkers.

Javea Computer Club members do not spend all their time sitting in front of their computers. Many like to get out and about and mountain walking is popular in this area.

Walking enthusiasts in the Javea Computer Club found that many of the excellent printed guides to mountain walking in the Costa Blanca are sadly out of date. The authorities even had the indecency to change all the National road numbers soon after the latest editions of Bob Stansfields "Costa Blanca Walks" books were published!

We therefore decided to create a simple web-based guide to mountain walks in this area. Thus Marina Alta Walks (http://www.marina-alta-walks.org) was born. Being web-based it is dynamic and can be updated easily. The site has broadened in scope to include background information. We hope to inform visitors (and residents alike) on the flora, fauna, geology and rural history of the area, so that their experience is enhanced when they stroll (or stride) through the beautiful mountains of the Marina Alta (the northern bit of the Costa Blanca in Alicante Province from the Bernai range up to the Valencia border). With knowledge and appreciation comes consideration and a wish to conserve, and we can all play our small part.

This project is on-going and anyone can contribute. Contributors are asked to prepare guides to the mountain walks they go on. We are keen to receive any of the following: Notes on how to get there, where to start; features of the walk, length etc.; map images; GPS maps; Photographs of key features and landmarks; Assessment of difficulty factors (e.g. requires agility; not good for vertigo!); Perhaps some information on relevant local history; identification of interesting geology, photos of fossils and plants and animals along the way; identification of good "watering holes" (!). If you go on any of these walks, please report back any errors ...there are new roads and buildings which can completely change a route!

This project needs many different types of input and there are roles for everyone: digital photography; scanning maps; translating from Spanish and Valenciano; researching history, geology and biology on the web.

Contributions to this project are welcome - please e-mail us by clicking on the envelope below

Christine Betterton-Jones February 2007

All the walks on this site have been tried and tested by the legendary "Harley's Angels" and friends. Core members of this group are shown in the photo below:

Standing (left to right) : Sheila, Chris, Mary, Trish Seated (left to right) Jan and Su and of course - Harley below (so named because her ears bear a resemblance to the handelbars of a Harley Davidson motorcycle)

Marina Alta Walks