The cave called Cova Fosca means the dark cave, and the name is as plain as the country around it, a series of pale limestone ravines in the interior of the Marina Alta. Vall d'Ebo, Adsubia and Pego lie at the foot of the mountains, with villages of a few hundred people, and a land of terraced slopes where the Moriscos, the Muslim farmers who stayed after the Christian conquest, grew grain, grapes and almonds until their expulsion in 1609. After that the valleys emptied, and the terraces stand as monuments to a vanished community.
At Pego, about five kilometres away, the mountains meet a wetland. The Marjal de Pego-Oliva is a natural park of marsh, reedbeds and rice fields, a remnant of the lagoons that once covered much of the coast, and it supports herons, ducks, fish and many migrant birds. Rice is grown here, and the harvest in September fills the area with combines and the smell of straw. Pego itself has about 11,000 people and a tradition of rice dishes, among them arroz al horno, as well as oranges and the cake called coca de llanda.
The shelters of this district, with their small red paintings of hunters and animals, belong to the Levantine rock art tradition, listed by UNESCO in 1998. They are protected and fragile, so always check locally about access, and treat the sites with care.
The riding is excellent. Roads climb out of Pego towards Vall d'Ebo with hairpins and long views over the marsh and the sea, then run along ridges and down into the villages, and the bends are consistently good. The road is narrow in places, with patched asphalt, and in winter and spring cyclists are numerous, as the Marina Alta is a popular training area. Summer is very hot, and autumn storms can be heavy. A rice dish at a restaurant in Pego after the ride is the natural conclusion.