Bernia Circuit
This is a popular walk and deservedly so. It is a circuit encompassing the main part of the Sierra but excluding its Eastern end. Starting at an altitude of 650 metres gets you into easy contact with the higher part of the mountain. Yet the walk is quite challenging involving some easy short rock scrambles, short traverses across or slightly up scree, some steep climbs and a 30-metre long semi stoop/ crawl through the “Forat”. Views are magnificent especially from the Fort onwards. The ruined Fort is interesting and the “Forat” is a curious feature. This is a tunnel through the “rock spine” of the Sierra some 30 metres long and in part approx a metre high and wide, not claustrophobic as daylight shines through and taken with care, no hazards. Sometimes muddy.
Spanish maps included within these descriptions are provided courtesy of the Spanish IGN and remain © Instituto Geográfico Nacional.
OSM (OpenStreetMap) and OCM (OpenCycleMap) maps are © OpenStreetMap Contributors. The OSM project welcomes contributions from all to enrich the map data, which is made freely available. Land (Thunderforest Landscape) maps are © Thunderforest based on data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The grade of this walk is MS/A, which means
MS – Moderately Strenuous: Up to 600 metres ascent and/or no more than 15 km in length with some rough going taken at a reasonable pace.
A – All on good tracks
| Nearest town | Altea la Vieja |
| Directions to start |
The start is at the Bernia Barbecue car park high up a steep badly surfaced road above Altea La Vieja. Starting from the Village of Altea La Vieja take the CV755 towards Callosa. Pass the RH turns to Alhama and Paradiso and pass a casa on the RHS with a large statue. Go slow along the straight stretch and take the next rather obscure RH turn, signposted Fort Bernia, (just before Km. 19). (If you miss this take the next RH turn which also leads up). Follow this narrow twisting road steep up some 6 km to its end at the Barbecue car park (BBQ). NOT FOR NERVOUS DRIVERS ! |
| Start point (Lat/Long) | 38.657047, -0.052064 Click here to view in Google Maps (in a new browser tab) |
| Length (km) | 9.80 |
| Ascent (metres) | 450 |
| Walking time (hours) | 3.5 |
| Total time (hours) | 4.5 |
| Recommendations or Restrictions |
Comments
Bernia Circuit — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>