I've found paradise. Riding my bike anywhere but here won't be the same again.

I was up around 8am and checked out of the guest house in Valencia, the bike had been fine tucked up in its secure underground parking spot.

But I couldn't visit Valencia without making a pilgrimage to Spain's premier racing track, reserved for the final and most prestigious round of the annual MotoGP calendar, the Ricardo Tormo circuit. It was just a 15 minute ride out of the city. It was quiet there with no events on, I got a photo of the bike at the entrance and it looked mint.

To stay that way though it needed to stay dry, and the forecast for both Valencia and Madrid was thunderstorms and showers. The only way to avoid the rain was to head further south and west. I wanted to see the Mediterranean one last time before I had to start my journey North back home, and with it being the midpoint of my 12 days off it would have to be today. I decided to ride down to Alicante. Less than two hours ride on the motorways. I arrived at midday and parked right on the front. I'd not realised whilst being on the move, but as soon as I got off the bike in my leathers it was SO hot. The hottest it's been so far.

I'd not had anything to eat or drink yet so from a supermarket just opposite where I'd stopped I got a sandwich, banana, orange and a drink, and sat in the shade looking out over the busy beach, enjoying my supermarket lunch and the views of a coastline I'd shortly have to wave goodbye to. 

I'd checked the weather and made this plan last night: I'd booked a guest house out in the middle of nowhere in a national park, it looked like the roads around there would be good and I'd not done enough riding on twisty roads yet. So I put that address in my SatNav, well, I couldn't even put the exact address in as it was up a road the SatNav didn't recognise. This either meant it was wrong or the road was at best a gravel track, but the SatNav has a lot of tracks stored, so I wasn't sure.

The ride there from Alicante started on motorways for the first hour, then main roads for another hour. I stopped for fuel and could see in the satnav the road now turned more exciting.

It was more than exciting, it was breath taking. For about the last 65km which took nearly an hour the road curved from side to side, the first 30km was two lanes separated by a white line. There was hardly any traffic. The SatNav would warn me of most speed cameras and I'd got an idea of what to look for now. The next 20km the road was slightly narrower but wide enough for two way traffic, but the tarmac was now brand new, jet black, with the only white lines being two new crisp ones on each side. It was like a race track, like Silverstone that's just been resurfaced. The grip provided to the tyres in the Spanish sun was unbelievable, I have never felt the bike feel this well planted, the feeling tempted me to open the throttle early in the corners and squeeze the front brake hard going in.

It was just spectacular. By chance I'd found motorcycling paradise. Other people will have their different opinions and I might see more places in the future, but I can't see anywhere surpassing these roads in this national park in Spain for exhilaration and a test of riding ability. It had everything, tight switch back hairpins, long loops, blind corners, crests, chicanes you could see through and use both sides of the road. Huge changes in elevation. Corners with camber. 

There were no leaves or gravel on the road which remained smoother than anything we have in the UK. There were no side roads. There was no traffic, barely another car. No police and no clouds in the sky.

I'd found paradise.

Packing light had paid off, and these were the roads that a bike like mine is designed for. Ones like a race track.

On the last 10km towards the finish point I was headed to, the tarmac wasn't brand new, but the roads were just as epic. The scenery was stunning. I said the journey from Marseille to Barcelona was beautiful but not like this. Canyons of rocky peaks surrounded me, not desolate but planted with the kind of trees and shrubs seen in the hotter southern European climate. There's a lake here in the middle of the canyon, man made with a large concrete dam at one end. There were a few watersports activity centre huts down by the shore.

I then arrived at the end point and was happy to see a sign for the 'Hospederia Las Cañadillas 1km' pointing down a narrow tarmac lane. The tarmac only lasted 500m though, the next 500m was a rutted, bumpy, gravel track with tight bends and very steep sections. It was a real test for me and the bike that wasn't at home on a surface like this. At the end though was a large detached house with a few cars parked outside, I parked up next to them and checked in. The room was really nice. It was only 5pm, so I just dropped off my rucksack and went straight back out on the bike. This time I followed a different road than the one that had brought me in, to the nearest big town of Villanueva del Arzobispo, about 25km. It took 30 minutes on the same amazing type of technical twisting road. I got fuel in town and checked the petrol station closing time was 10pm, everywhere else in town was closed with the cafes, bars and restaurants not due to open up again until later in the evening.

There was another loop I could do now from Villanueva del Arzobispo back to the remote guest house. It was 50 miles and said would take nearly 1.5 hours. This road turned out to be a serious challenge though, narrower and tighter than the ones I'd done so far today. It was 'un-named' on my SatNav which is usual for unpaved roads but this was paved, although there were three or four patches where there was just gravel across the whole road for about 20 feet each time. There was loose gravel too on around half of the corners. Where there wasn't gravel there was a layer of pine needles that had fallen from the trees lining and overhanging the road. And pine cones. Big, hard, jagged pine cones littered the road sporadically. Tree roots had deformed and broken the surface in areas too. But this didn't make it a bad road, this was a challenging road, and completing it without crashing gave a great sense of accomplishment.

Arriving safely back at the guesthouse I quickly changed into my casual clothes and swapped my gold tinted visor to the clear one, and headed back out to the town of Villanueva del Arzobispo again. I found a nice pizza restaurant that wasn’t meant to open until 9pm but I persuaded them to fire up the ovens 15 minutes early and ate there. It was really nice and I took two slices back in a box they gave me. The ride back to the guesthouse was tricky though. It was completely pitch black at 9.50pm being in the middle of nowhere, and then light rain started to fall! This was before I had the gravel track challenge in the dark.

I was relieved once I got back and to my room, time to plan what to do tomorrow. I think avoiding the rain this whole trip will be impossible, but maybe just one more day out here in paradise.