Puçol is a modest, busy town on the coast north of Valencia, famous locally for its orange groves, its beach and its long sandy shore. Inland from it the land rises quickly into the Sierra Calderona, a low range of pine, rosemary and dry gullies. The Barranc del Diable, the Devil's Ravine, is one of many small ravines cut into the foothills, and the covacha, a shallow cave, holds a few rock paintings from the Levantine tradition. These belong to the Mediterranean-arc rock art UNESCO listed in 1998, and they are typically small, red and easy to miss unless a guide shows you where to look.
The more famous Valencian monument is on the other side of the plain. La Lonja de la Seda, the Silk Exchange, was built between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries as a trading hall for the city's silk merchants, and its columns twist like rope, holding a Gothic vault that rises to a startling height. UNESCO listed it in 1996, and it is a short walk from the central market. It is the right place to feel how rich Valencia was in its golden age.
Riding here is a blend of coastal traffic and hill roads. Along the coast, the old N-340 and the motorway are fast and busy. Turn inland towards Gilet and Petrés and you reach quiet lanes between orchards and low hills, with a bend now and then and the smell of orange blossom in spring. The Calderona roads climb into pine woods with tidy curves and decent surfaces, though cyclists are numerous at weekends. Summer heat is heavy, and the best months are April, May, October and November.
Fuel is easy in Puçol, which has nineteen thousand people, and the area is full of cafes serving horchata, a cold drink made from tiger nuts, with fartons, the long sweet rolls you dip in it. Nearby Sagunto has a Roman theatre and a hilltop castle with a view across the plain and sea. If you have time, drive there. It is a fine place to end a day in the evening light.