The Sénia country has some of the oldest olive trees in Europe. Around Ulldecona and the neighbouring villages, a few specimens are said to be a thousand years old or more, with trunks twisted into great, hollow knots and crowns that still bear fruit. Nobody can say exactly how old, since olive wood rots from the middle, but the trees are a proud local asset, and visitors are sometimes taken to see them. The shelter at Abric d'Ermites II lies on the slopes of the Serra de Godall, about four kilometres from Ulldecona, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. A second site on the ride, Valmayor V, adds a taste of the wider district.
The oil from these groves is excellent, golden and slightly peppery, made mostly from the small arbequina olive. You can buy it at local cooperatives and farm shops, and it makes a heavy but worthwhile souvenir. Locals eat it with bread and salt for breakfast, and drizzle it on everything else. Almonds, carobs and figs grow among the olives, and the whole slope smells of resin and warm earth.
It makes sense that the painters chose this area. The valley has water, game and sheltered ledges, and the slope faces south, catching the winter sun. The shelter is a modest hollow in the rock, with a view over the olive terraces and the plain, and it would have made a fine lookout.
The roads from Ulldecona climb in easy bends through olive groves, then through pine woods to the hermitage, and they are some of the pleasantest in the area, with decent tarmac and not much traffic. Take care in autumn, when harvest vehicles and fallen leaves can make corners slippery. The Mestral wind, from the north-west, blows strongly in winter, and in summer the heat is intense by midday, so go early.
Ulldecona, with more than six thousand people, has everything you need, including fuel. Alcanar, on the coast, is bigger, and Santa Bárbara, to the north, is smaller but adequate. Bring water for the walk, because the last stretch is open and sunny, and consider a cap.