To be fair

I often complain about Alicante province. About the Town Halls that seem happy for constructors to pull down nice looking old buildings and replace them with concrete boxes. Anyway, today, I went for a bit of a drive round to cheer myself up. I went to Castalla and Biar, on to Onil, Alcoi, Tibi, Agost and back to home ground around Novelda and Petrer.

I'd forgotten just how breathtaking the scenery around here can be. I passed ripening wheat fields, olives, vines and cherry orchards, I went over at least one pass that was more than 800 metres high (Snowdon is about 200 metres higher) I drove through fog, hail and brilliant sunshine, I watched the steam rising off the tarmac as the rain hit it and I stopped for a couple of splendid coffees that cost less than a quid each. And Biar, as the snap shows, isn't all concrete boxes.

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