Bonansa means fair weather, a calm sea or that lull after a storm, and it is a rather hopeful name to give a shelter in a land of wind and drought. The place lies on the high ground of the Baix Maestrat, a few kilometres from the village of Xert, known in Spanish as Chert, where the olive terraces start to climb toward the dry mountains of the interior. The shelter is one of the painted places of the Levantine rock art tradition, red figures on limestone that the UNESCO list of 1998 brought to wider notice.
Xert is a village of fewer than a thousand people, and its charm is that nothing much has been done to it. Stone houses cluster around the church, the bars open early and close late, and most of the talk is about the olive harvest. Nearby, Sant Mateu was the medieval capital of the Maestrat, the district named for the military order of Montesa that ruled these lands, and its old streets and Gothic church give a sense of how important this quiet region once was. If you only have time for one extra stop, make it there.
The roads here are among the best-kept secrets of the Valencian side. They leave the coastal plain near Alcalà de Xivert and climb onto a plateau of rolling hills, dry-stone walls and scattered farmhouses. The corners are gentle, the views long, and traffic nearly nonexistent. There is wind on the open stretches, sometimes enough to lean on, and in summer the sun is relentless, so go early or late. April, May and October are the best months.
Wildlife is part of the scene. Red-legged partridges burst out of the verges, kestrels hover over the fields, and in the evening wild boar come to the edges of the olive groves. The scrub is full of rosemary, thyme and gorse, and the smell on a warm afternoon is something you carry home.
Practical matters need forethought. The nearest larger town is Alcalà de Xivert, over twenty kilometres away, so top up on the coast before you climb. Xert has a bar for coffee and a plate of something hot, and little more. Carry water for the walk.