Our next stop was somewhere we had been before, a beach parking near to El Saler just south of Valencia (39.362676, -0.317954). It was a 4 hour drive to get there and meant that we skipped a bunch of other places that had been recommended to us around Cartagena and Denia (to name just a couple), but we knew once we arrived we’d be right on the beach which is what we love. It was just as we remembered. We wrote about this particular spot a few years ago, nestled right in the Devesa Natural Park with some relatively flat and quiet roads for cycling and miles of quiet beach for walking and jogging, which is exactly what we did.
Read part 1 here
I really can’t recommend this area highly enough if you like long beaches, relative peace and quiet and miles of sea, not to mention one of Spain’s largest cities accessible by cycle track just 10km or so further north. We had planned to stay for 5 nights and then head straight to France, but the police came round on the third day and said they’d fine anybody who stayed longer than one more night…so obviously we moved on the following morning. They were pretty kind about it though. We could have simply moved to the camperstop in El Saler (11 euros a night with services), but decided to move a little further north again, after using the services ourselves for 5 euros first.
On our way south we had spent a night in a camperstop in the amusingly named town of Peniscola, but had been unimpressed by how far away from the sea it had been and so decided to skip a return visit. Instead we tried a personal recommendation from a fellow Brit’ we had got talking too in El Saler.
We spent just one night in Vinaros (40.475754, 0.483371). The parking wasn’t much to look at and there was a sign up saying motorhomes weren’t allowed, but then again the police drove by and waved at us while we were there so we weren’t too nervous. Another motorhome parked nearby told us he’d been there for 2 weeks already, but again bear in mind that this was in April so hardly the high season. It was right by the sea and a river outlet, and a short walk away (although we did it by going for a jog with Leela) is a lovely sea front promenade and golden beach which was heaving with people when the sun popped out.
After Vinaros we travelled another half an hour further north to the Ebro Delta. We would go on to overnight at the riverside parking in Deltebre (40.714268, 0.715799). There is another parking here, close to the Lidl store which does have services, but the riverside parking is far more picturesque. You can sit and watch the River Ebre drift by and go for a walk or cycle along the long riverside cycle path. However, we weren’t really here for the parking, we wanted to go to the beach. The Ebro Delta is one of the largest Wetland areas in the whole Western Mediterrannean. I’d seen it on the map, but until we drove across it I didn’t really appreciate how extensive it is. It’s like being in Holland, with miles of flat farmland. The only difference, of course, is the mountains on the horizon.
We visited the beach at Riumar which, somewhat disappointingly, had a lot of rubbish washed up on it. I guessed it comes out of the river and the tide pushes it back. It is a very long beach though. You can walk for about 10km to the Faro del Fangar. We didn’t though, because it was late in the day and we were sleepy. Instead we lay on our backs and watched the clouds.
In hindsight a night at Ebro was probably a step too far. We knew we wanted to head to France and had planned to stay in El Saler, so two extra moves was a little tiring. However, we saw enough of the Ebro Delta to know that we’d like to go back. It looks like it would be great for cycle and various other activities so we’ll probably return for a week or so in the future.
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