Villajoyosa, the Vila, is one of those towns that makes a bad first impression only on the way in. The approach is lined with apartment blocks, but the old seafront is a long row of houses painted in bright colours, ochre, pink, blue and green, said to have helped fishermen find their own door from the sea. Behind the harbour the church stands fortress-like, built with walls designed to withstand pirate raids, and the whole place smells faintly of the sea and, oddly, of chocolate, because the town is home to one of Spain's best known chocolate makers, founded in the nineteenth century. The Tabla de Pochico lies in the hills a few kilometres inland, in the scrubby, rocky land that rises behind the coast.
The riding here is a study in contrasts. Along the coast the road is busy and crowded, particularly in summer, with traffic crawling between resort towns. But turn inland and the character changes quickly, with narrow roads climbing among terraced slopes, carob and almond trees, and dry stone walls. The Puig Campana, a sharp-toothed mountain of about fourteen hundred metres with a famous notch in its summit, dominates the horizon, and the roads around it are twisty and rewarding. Go in spring or autumn, and start early to avoid the traffic and the heat.
Fuel and food are easy. Villajoyosa has nearly thirty-four thousand people and El Campello over twenty-six thousand, and both have plenty of stations and restaurants. On the seafront you can order fresh fish and rice dishes, and a visit to the chocolate factory shop is almost compulsory, with a small museum attached.
If you find the rock shelters, remember that they are protected and fragile, and some require permission to visit. The hills here are dry, and the scrub can be flammable in summer, so do not leave anything burning and heed the fire warnings. Take a moment at the end of the day to watch the sunset over the Puig Campana, turning the whole mountain a deep rose.