Spain has been experiencing a particularly rainy period this has us snatching at the fine ones when we can.
It makes it a little difficult to plan some of the trad routes or longer approaches, a lot more days are spent in Sella and Guadalest sport climbing.

Climbing at Serra Gelda

When we do get a break in the weather patterns Robin and I do two routes at Serra Gelda national. Traditional sandstone sea cliff climbing nearby the beaches of Benidorm.
Both routes use the same bottom pitches which are a little scrappy with some loose rock but the upper pitches are worth it, tough sandstone with lots of pockets and super friction plus a beautiful day out by the sea.

Robin on the Serra Gelda sandstone.

Our first route in the Citadel sector did have me climbing the upper corner crack in gusty winds but on our return we made sure to check the wind direction and speed.

Getting a little high from a bit of trad climbing we make our way inland again to Puig Campana and try route Diedros Magicos.
With an early start for the hour walk in we are the first on our route and Robin makes short work of the all the pitches.
With beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and out to sea in the distance makes our route a worth while day out.

Early morning light on Puig Campana.

Calpe was an area we didn't really explore so we drive back for a route in the Penon d'Iflach national park classic line 'via Costa Blanca' on a glorious sunny day.
Parking by the harbor means we can get a early start and be the first on our route. This pays off and though there are other teams around us no one is on our route which means we can take our time on the challenge ahead.

Robin tackling the pitch 5 of Costa Blanca

Looking out to sea and the circling sea gulls makes this a beautiful places to climb. Robin pushes hard on the more difficult pitches and really digs deep on the 6c pitch.
We feel the sense of accomplishment topping out and are greeted by a curious, hungry cat at the top he happily eats some of my sandwich.

Climbing at Penon de Ifach Calpe

Another week in Chulilla goes by and the nights are getting very chilly.

We have a great spot for the night between some olive trees.

There is no campsite in Chulilla and most of the van life climbers use the main car park in the village.

Mid November has a super moon and I feel lucky to be in a place to witness it glowing in all its glory.

My birthday comes at the weekend so we spend it in Calpe staying a very nice but extremely busy campsite and walking in the Peñón de Ifach national park.

After months in the van its small pleasure that I miss… Having a shower whenever I like and this campsite has some pretty good ones.

Now we are in Costa Blanca hoping to spend a good portion of the winter months around this area.

We have been to the Costa Blanca in total of  3 pervious trips during Easter bank holidays.

Sella, Guadalest and places south of Alicante. Van life will give us an opportunity to revisit familiar places and discover new.

After testing out Calpe we drive to Guadalest which is a pretty tourist village in the hills past Benidorm.

The forecast is a little iffy but Guadalest has virtually no approach, easy to make a dash back to Stan if needed.

It turns out that it's hard to predict the weather around this time of year because it's so changeable.

Guadalest's newer routes have some sharp rough limestone and some really lovely routes, most are named making finding them a piece of cake.

We meet another van life couple Rob and Tess and share stories of places we've been to finding we've been in some of the same location at the similar timing.

 It's nice to share our experiences with liked mind people.

They will also be around Southern Spain for a few months, hopefully we'll bump into them again.