Murla sits in the Vall de Pop, a broad valley of vines, oranges and almonds where the Girona river runs down from the mountains towards the coast at El Verger. The ravine of Alpadull cuts into the hills above, and in one of its shelters, the third along, there are prehistoric paintings, part of the great scatter of rock art across Mediterranean Spain that UNESCO lists as a single site. Like most of these shelters, it is better approached as a reason to wander a beautiful valley than as a spectacle in itself.
The Marina Alta was raisin country for most of the nineteenth century. Moscatel grapes grown on these terraces were dried and exported through Dénia to Britain and America, and the trade made the region rich for a while. You can still see the riuraus everywhere: long, low buildings with an open arcade along one side, where the grapes were laid out to dry and taken in when rain threatened. Many have been converted into houses or restaurants, and a few still store farm tools. The moscatel lives on in the local sweet wine, and in September the harvest fills the lanes with tractors and the smell of crushed fruit.
The roads through the Vall de Pop are a cheerful mix. The main road between Alcalalí, Xaló and Benigembla is smooth and gently curving, lined with wine bodegas offering tastings, and with a big Saturday market at Xaló that stops traffic in the village. Turn off into the side valleys towards Murla, Tormos and the Vall d'Ebo and the road narrows immediately, climbing in short bends through terraces and pine, with the occasional loose stone washed down after rain. The autumn storms here, the gota freda, can be violent, so check the forecast in October.
Murla has a fortified church, rebuilt from an older tower, that gives the village a stern look. Tormos, across the valley, is a tiny cluster of houses with a laid-back bar.
For fuel, head to Pego to the north or Ondara and the coastal towns to the east; the small villages here rarely have a station. There is food in Xaló and Alcalalí, and in winter you can sit outside in the sun at lunch, which is a strong argument for riding here in January.