The Road from Santiago

We have hit the Rio Carraixet. Following floods in 1949 and 1957 the river was canalised. At the turn of the road by the river we find the Capilla Dels Peixets Pablo reports. ‘Traditional stories tell that the parish priest of Alboraya carried the viaticum, at night and in the middle of a great storm, to a seriously ill Moorish convert living on the other side of the Carraixet Ravine, today's demarcation of the town of Almácera. When crossing the riverbed, the receding waters caused him to stagger, and the casket in which he was carrying the Sacred Forms fell into the river, which were dragged by the waters to the sea, where some small fish picked them up and brought them to land, delivering them to some fishermen. Currently the controversy continues between Alboraya and Almácera as to whether there were 3 or 2 minnows in the miracle. Almàssera has a huge monument with two fish at the entrance to the town, while Alboraya has placed three on top of its church. This has made them ...

  The thing with the Google Plonk is that, unlike Satnav, which sends heavy goods vehicles down narrow alleyways and turns decent, law abiding cars, into cross country adventurers, it sends us to places we would choose to walk - slightly dubious suburbs, unprepossessing pathways - but enlightens us as to the nature of Spain without having to deal with consequences of our questing spirit.  Today feels a bit like that as we weave from major road to farm vehicle track and a bit of new development cycle way. We are going to approach Valencia from the sea so first we need to head in that general direction.  We start by heading south on an arterial road.  Lets nip into the China Town Restaurant.  I have always wanted to taste a Spanish ‘Chinese’ to see how it has adapted to the climate, in much the same way a British one has.  Trouble is, that would mean having to not eat Spanish and the Chinese as never one out. We might be out of luck here as the website claims...

  We are crossing through the settlements on the plain.  We come first to Museros.  English wiki reports this [in total] ‘ Museros is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Nord in the Valencian Community , Spain.’  Wiki in Spanish is more forthcoming. Museros has about 6700 inhabitants and is 12m above sea level. It’s growth is much the same as other places we have been recently.  From 1979 to 1991 the place was a hold for the PSOE. The 90s saw the PP’s Jose Maria Aznar Monferrer in charge, He was ousted from 1999 to 2003 but returned till 2015.  Currently Cristina Civera Balaguer has been mayor since 2015.  The cabinet are from the PSOE, save for Beatriz Sanchez-Botello.  She oversees E cological Transition and Responsible Consumption. We will follow the long, straight road and come to Albalat dels Sorell. It has 4123 souls dwelling within.  It is irrigated by the Royal Moncada Canal. This was built in the Moorish period [11th century]....

  We are wandering across the plains to the north of Valencia. The region as small towns and hamlets with have swollen through migration for work and away from the city. Rafelbunol is one such as wiki translates a statement putting it ‘the first ring of the metropolitan area of Valencia.’ It probably is difficult to live on fertile land and not to find old stuff.  Beads by the thousand and some sharp things have been found from the Bronze Age, 1800BC.  The current settlement dates back to Moorish times, till James I the acquirer, came along and made it part of the Kingdom of Aragon.  The expulsion of the Moriscos did the place no favours and almost half the population departed.  It is a bit of a thing that places appear in the records when they are hit by disasters.  In 1787 malaria, encouraged by all that standing water in the rice fields, caused much death.  In 1885 cholera visited, killing 78 people. As with other settlements. The post war years saw...

  We are advancing into one of those open spaces created by design, not accident, that every self righteous Spanish town needs for a fiesta. This is especially true since the place went from its easy going 3000 or so populace in the period 1850-1900, creeping up to 5500ish in 1950 and rocketing to the 21000+ it has today.   Until the 1950s this was a land of orchards, with almonds, olives, carobs and vines.  Citrus came with better irrigation but the real economic growth was achieved the Cointra factory started making household appliance and things of clay.  People moved in from Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha. Cointra closed in 2012 but food, automotive and cosmetics have moved in.  Like all proper pueblos, they have a football field named after a favoured son.  Jose Claramunt was a midfielder for Valencia between 1966 and 1978. He won a league medal [1970-71] and Generalisimo one [1967] with the club.  Claramunt was capped 29 times for Spain an...