Longest Drive of the Year 20th Nov 2016
Fifteen cars arrived at the Elche Services on the E-15/A-70 in time to have a warming cup of coffee, including two new members, Bo and Britt-Marie Svensson in their pristine and original Dodge Business Coupe.
On rejoining the motorway, we travelled northwards until turning inland towards Jijona and Alcoy where we had our first break at Venta de San Jordi, where Bengt and Eva Lothner joined us, looking as though they had arrived from the north pole, it was rather chilly!
We were not alone – cyclists and motor bikers were up and down the mountains with the odd walker appearing, but that didn`t stop the Phoenix Car Club members.
Having a very scenic drive up to Santuario de La Font Roja, there was a slight hiccup – it was Sunday, we arrived at one of the most popular Santuarios in the area as far as the Spanish were concerned.
There were no spaces in the car park, being filled by coaches, 4×4`s and ordinary road cars. Not to be put off, we toured the car parks then decided to withdraw gracefully.
We continued uphill and down dale, enjoying the wonderful scenery and admiring the autumn colours, eventually taking in a fuel stop then onto our lunch stop at a very Spanish restaurant, La Manzana in Beniexama.
They did us proud – as well as having a birthday party and many locals filling it. Needless to say, we were last to leave and everyone enjoyed the drive, with the only “down” being that there weren`t enough places to stop to take photographs.
Thanks to Johnny Halvorsen and Trish Mansell for a lovely day out.