Sella - Sea Mist

Photo Gill Round

It was eery and quite amazing how quickly the sea mist rolled up the valley to the village of Sella.

La Casa Blava

January Challenge 2009

The 3 Peaks Challenge

A walk to the summits of 3 local mountains Puig Campana, Ponoch & Sanchet.

Date 18th Jan 2009

Duration 9 hours 41 minutes 32 Seconds

Length 12.1 miles / 19.5 km

Average Speed 1.3 mph / 2 kmh

Vertical Up 5438 ft / 1657 m

Vertical Down 4477 ft / 1365 m

Three Peaks

There was a glow on the left-hand edge of the Puig which we will never forget, after it became clear that the big cloud behind it had actually been smoke all this time. On the following morning it was still glowing and 2 days later we walked into the heart of the burnt landscape from Finestrat.

The previous weekend had been different. It had been months in the planning. We didn’t know if it could be done. It seemed so obvious on the map but involved 6000 feet of ascent in a single short January day.

Sanchet and Ponoch from Puig Campana

We met in the dark like conspirators in the Sella car park. At 7.30 am we left our car behind at Font del Molí, Finestrat, and began walking rather too quickly in the pre-dawn light. We surprised a peregrine on the west face of the Puig that cried out eerily above us. We paused at El Volador to take off clothing in clear bright light. The skeletons of the previous fire stood sentinel to the gift of a perfect day. Up the lovely rising path to the refugio the Realets came aflame. We were completely alone on what was to become a busy summit day. The ascent of the Puig weaves its way up rock steps and ramps to reach a col from where you contour round the front of the mountain until you are out on the open flank of the summit overlooking Benidorm. We weren’t first on the summit amazingly – a runner flashed past us on his way down – but as we were descending there were many groups of people coming up – a baby in a back-pack, dogs, old men in broad hats and Davíd Soler García from the village.

On the Summit of Puig Campana

Benidorm From Puig Campana

Approaching the Col del Pouet we heard the babble of crowds and then discovered that the col was a huge car park. We walked on towards the Paso de Bandaleros and sat down in what is now a black desert but what was then a shady bower for our almuerzo. On the long easy slope to Ponoch we overtook other walking groups and thought we must be first on the summit except for a cyclist in shorts who greeted us as an old friend. It was José Vicente the chemist. He took off to explore the edges of Ponoch while we opened the sandwiches as groups piled around us.

Realets from Ponoch

Ponoch Summit

When he returned we set off together to return to the Bandaleros, sliding over loose stones at many points. Here we parted and descended to Col de Llam and took the donkey trail on the contouring path below Sanchet to the foot of its ridge. It was on this track that two of us were wondering if we could finish the project (Martin was not entertaining similar thoughts). The rocks of Sanchet, our third summit, were intimidating above us. At the foot of the ridge there came the crucial moment of this story which involves a siesta, an orange and a new attitude. We probably only spent half an hour here but it felt like a good restful hour. At the end of this we somehow felt different. Poc a poc was to be the approach. The big boulders provided firm footing. Soon a breeze wafted up from the left edge. Poc a poc, step by step, we ascended the ridge until forced down right into a gully which led to the summit. At the scramble up to the last summit Martin, who was ahead, called down, ‘We’re not alone!’ Here were a husband and wife team who recognised Terry from the same climbing club in the UK. Much climbing talk ensued.

The Sanchet Ascent

Now all that remained was the exposed scramble down to the long scree into the wood and the always welcomed arrival of La Carrasca. From here we walked down to the entrance of the Buddhist valley where Angela picked us up and drove us back to Font del Molí to pick up the car, as we lay back tired and exhilarated – you might say, a bit burnt out, but recovering already.

By Terry Gifford and Gill Round

Three Peaks - the Poem

Three Peaks
Into the Future:
Water, Fire, Rockfall

Walking too fast
from Finestrat's Font Moli,
tripping over tree roots
in a dark start again
until, in a chill
gunmetal grey light,
we surprise the hunter,
a peregrine echoing
high on Puig Campana.
Rounding its summit track
we look down and back
on Benidorm's towers
sucking the ground water
from under our feet.

Descending to the Col de Pouet
we push on towards Ponoch
but take five in a bower
to be burned in the fire
begun in Polop next weekend
when we watch from Sella
a red horizon leaping.
On the summit, in cycling shorts,
stands our village chemist,
deaf and dumb, an able
reader of lips, who leaves
to look over the rim
at what will become black
tree-bones and ashes.

Sanchet is all rock,
and heavy in our heads
on the horizontal donkey
trail below its looming
spine. A siesta is essential
and an orange, a fresh
stance: poc a poc, boulder
by bolder steps to find
on this summit a Hut
Bookings Sec., playing truant
from the phone, one eyebrow
plastered, I ponder, as we pass
below a scar of recent rockfall,
a stark future seen for miles.

Terry Gifford

Fire On Puig Campana

A mountain fire, started by an electricity pylon being blown over in gale force winds, engulfed the whole eastern side of the Puig Campana on the 24th January 2009.

Quote for the Day

Dogs have many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues!