Ademuz and Javalambre

More information about our trip to the Cuenca area on 1st November 2001 Previous page                Back to Index

The 'Rincon de Ademuz' is an'island' of the Province of Valencia between the Provinces of Aragon and Castilla la Mancha. It is attractive but gives the impression of a place that nobody is looking after. There are many houses that are derelict and  it seems to lack the investment  seen in neighbouring areas. We stayed at Hostal Casa Domingo (which was OK) in the town of Ademuz and although there are impressive hills around the town there is little else to see there. The only attraction in the area was a 'sculpture competition' but it was poorly promoted.

On our return trip to Navajas we decided to do a bit of rough terrain driving (inadvertently) we set off on what looked like a decent road to Riodeva on the northern side of the Pico de Javalambre. The road was excellent at the start (due to intensive quarrying devastating the upper part of the valley) but then it deteriorates into a gravel track often very steep hugging the rocky mountainside and forested valley. We travelled for 9 kilometers and considered ourselves well and truly remote but then stumbled upon  BBQ area, swings and 5-a-side pitch! We asked a fellow traveller where we were but he didn't seem to know as he had been left there by his coleagues who had gone off in search of mushrooms. He pointed us along the right track and trundled a further 30 minutes along dirt tracks until we reached Camarena de la Sierra.  The village has a 'balnerio' (water spa) which was closed at this time of year and seems to thrive on hill walking and skiing tourism. We checked out the ski station and peak of Javalambre. The road up to the peak is excellent and well marked with snow poles which came in handy as we drove through the cloudbase. The ski station just below the peak has  a few easy slopes (green and blue) and one longer more difficult (red ) run. From the peak there were fantastic views towards Teruel even though we were above some of the clouds. The journey back to Navajas is only 95km around 1 hour and  10 minutes .

An 'ermitage' built into the rock at a derelict mining town in the Riodeva valley

At the summit of Javalambre a mere 2020m (a good 1100 feet taller than Ben Nevis for any imperialists) there was a very cold wind but the car was only parked 50m away!.

For ski information the following link has pictures of Javalambre and other resorts in the Teruel area as well as latest snow reports.               www.Javalambre.com

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