Trail running in the footsteps of the Maquis in Tinença de Benifassà

Like almost every afternoon, I get my shoes, sports clothes, a little water and the “device that we cannot live without,” my mobile, of course...That is, without forgetting my GPS, you never know what you’ll find…

Today I want to go up to the “Portell del Infern”.  My work on the weekend does not allow me enough time and during the week, I need a few more hours, it seems strange, but I miss this place in Tinença.

After a few minutes’ drive, I reach the trail. Today’s route starts at the Ulldecona reservoir. This reservoir, created in the 1950s, was built to irrigate the flat lands on the banks of the Senia River. Now it has the same function and also offers a water oasis in the middle of these capricious limestone mountains. The first steps, always uphill in these lands, takes me away from the reservoir.

In a few kilometres, I am already deep in the history of these mountains, the beginning of the Portell del Infern trail. I continue to climb and the stones on the path are no longer irregular and chaotic, I find stretches of firm cobblestone that has withstood the passage of centuries. This path, historical as they come, was the link between the flat lands of the Senia River and the upper part of Tinença ending in the town of Fredes, the northernmost town of the Region of Valencia, located1,090 metres above sea level. The trail is now one of the most visited wonders of Tinença, no wonder, it runs through a flora micro reserve, with impressive limestone walls and a great incline to reach the top.

I keep climbing relentlessly through the Estrets de la Roñosa and I imagine how difficult life would have been in these mountains in times of the Maquis. On this narrow path, there was no escape, or you made it through or you didn’t.

With these thoughts, I’ve already reached Solà d’en Brull, a small plateau and a resting place for our legs. Here I always take a look at the well-known Pont Foradat, on our right and in the distance; it is a landmark between the Tinença and Els Ports Natural Parks.

I continue on when a noise between the pine trees suddenly pulls me out of my thoughts... a Spanish goat! They never cease to surprise me, I stop for a few seconds, he looks at me and goes on his way and I go on mine.

Now, I know what awaits me, the last climb before I surmount El Portell. Calmly and with the certainty of knowing where I will be able to walk, I follow in the footsteps of old merchants, Maquis, civil guards... observing how the stones on the trail mark the wear and tear of centuries due to the hustle and bustle of life.

Now, almost uninhabited, Tinença de Benifass is a stronghold of peace, tranquillity and nature, where we can enjoy, contemplate and admire, the fruit of centuries of humanisation and coexistence with the environment.

I arrive at the “Portell” almost without even realizing it, the cold wind brings me back to reality, and my heartbeats allow me to admire the geological force that once created those vertical walls and the human strength to forge a path between them “for the umpteenth time”.

I follow my course and think about the writing that I always show visitors during my guided routes, the hiding place of some civil guards and a priest during the civil war, a curious and tragic history in these mountains.

A violet flash attracts my attention, and in a thousandth of a second my brain already knows that there is something interesting here, and there is, the Viola or Pinguicula grandiflora Lam. Subsp. Dertosensis, a native, carnivorous plant that lives on the limestone walls of Tinença and Els Ports. Every time I think of a carnivorous plant, I imagine a large monster with huge teeth that devours people; in short, it must just be the fatigue.

It is here where I must take the one photo that I just can’t stop taking. As I said at the beginning, remember, the mobile for safety purposes, and of course, to capture the moment or image that will forever remind us of the beauty of this place.

Such is Tinença, wild, extraordinary, and unique.