The Japanese look forward to their blossoming cherry trees every year. I wait for the almond trees to start to blossom. Normally my wait is rewarded between the end of January and February. There are a few almond trees here and there but for me the ‘go to’ place is in the Hondon Valley or to be more precise, the hillsides next to the road from La Romana to El Algueña. On the same route you get a chance to see where some the famous Alicante pink marble comes from. I recommend doing this ride either on weekend, national holiday OR time the ride so that you reach the La Romana to El Algueña road during siesta time since the marble is being trucked on the same road and it can get very busy.

 

Navigate to Aspe with your preferred route. I usually take the CV-84 through Elche. From Aspe you need to continue to Hondon de las Nieves. Either take the busy CV-845 to Hondon de las Nieves or you can take the quieter Camino Viejo de Hondon which turns right from the CV-846 to La Romana. From Hondon de las Nieves turn right to La Romana via CV-844. You can either go to the end of the road and continue to La Romana and onwards towards El Algueña via CV-840 and or there is also a small camino, Cami vell de Algueña that follows Rambla Honda. This camino leaves the CV-846 to the left 6.5km after Hondon de las Nieves. If I remember correctly the junction is around the 1km stone marker. The camino then connects with the CV-840 just before the prettiest view of Alto the Algayat. Alto the Algayat is around 600m above sea level (the highest point of the ride and it is all downhill from there) meaning that there are blossoming trees on those terraced hillsides later than some of the lower ones. Continue to El Algueña where workers are making every effort to “unbuild” the mountain, one giant marble stone at a time. From there turn left to CV-841 to El Canton. Another left to the A-9 (Oh yes, we are now in the region of Murcia!) and through El Canton. At the end of that road you will see endless rows of almond trees with pink and white flowers. Take another left towards Hondon de los Frailes and continue through Hondon de las Nieves back towards Aspe. You can either return from Aspe the same way you came up or if you are like me and need to make a loop you can take N325 to Crevillent and come back that way.

Whole ride https://www.strava.com/activities/1542771906

125km is quite a long ride. So there is also nice 40km route if you put your bike in a car and drive to Hondon de Las Nieves and start your ride from there. The shorter route takes the small camino of Rambla Honda, Cami vell de Algueña.

Note: On the ride below I turned left one junction too early and had to turn around when the tarmac ended and try again. So be aware there are many small roads in this area, a bit of pre-planning helps as always.

Small loop https://www.strava.com/activities/1431314514

Distance for the full route approx. 125km. Moving time approx. 5 hours.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard (hard because of the distance)

Route: Aspe – La Romana – El Alguña – El Canton – Barbarroja – Hondon de los Frailes – Hondon de las Nieves – Crevillent – Gran Alacant

Distance for the small loop approx. 40km. Moving time approx. 1½ hours.

Difficulty: Easy

Route: Hondon de las Nieves – La Romana – El Alguña – El Canton – Barbarroja – Hondon de las Frailes – Hondon de las Nieves

You can find several weekly rides from facebook group or you can post in search for company or route. “Gran Alacant Road Cyclist (Bici Gran Alacant)” and local bike shop For Riders have events on their facebook page.

Few things to keep in mind:

Always have something to drink with you and for a bit longer rides maybe a banana or mueslibar
Always have a little money if you need to stop to buy food or drink.
Take the phone with you.
And the most important. Wave to the fellow – cyclists