The Vall de Gallinera is a narrow valley in the mountains of northern Alicante, where eight small villages hang on the slopes among cherry trees, and Benirrama is one of them. The valley lies inland from the Costa Blanca, only an hour or so from the tourist beaches, yet it feels like another century. Terraced slopes, stone walls, irrigation channels and a thin, quiet road follow the Gallinera river, and in late winter and spring the cherry blossom covers the hillsides in white.
Benirrama, Abric II, is one of a group of rock shelters in the barrancs, or ravines, around the valley that hold prehistoric paintings, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998. The landscape itself tells a story, with its limestone cliffs, caves and the sound of water in the gullies.
The valley has a medieval history that is worth knowing. After the Christian conquest of Valencia in the thirteenth century, this was the heartland of a Muslim revolt led by al-Azraq, who held several castles in the mountains for years against King James I. The Moorish population stayed on in the valley for another three hundred and fifty years, until the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609, after which the land was resettled, and the terraces and irrigation systems that you see today are part of that inheritance.
The roads are narrow, steep and twisting, with many tight bends, and they require care, especially in wet weather or when a farm vehicle comes the other way. The surface is fair but patchy, and there is almost no traffic. It is one of the more rewarding small roads of the region, with a very different feel from the coast. Adsubia and Vall d'Ebo are tiny villages with little more than a bar, so plan fuel and food in Pego or Villalonga, the latter being a town of nearly four thousand people.
Local food is simple and good, with rice dishes, orange juice and cherries in season, and the raisins and sweet muscat wine of the Marina Alta. Spring and autumn are the best seasons to ride.